The influence of ancient theories on medieval medicine

• Hippocrates


  An ancient Greek physician living in Rome in the 5th century BC
• Galen


  An ancient Roman physician in the 2nd century AD
• Ibn Sina (Avicenna)


  Islamic scholar who translated and made sense of the work of Hippocrates and Galen after the Roman Empire had ended and the Islamic Empire had become a centre of learning
• Medieval physicians in Catholic Europe were discouraged from challenging the ideas of Hippocrates and Galen because their medical theories fitted in with the teachings of the Bible
• Four humours

  Four bodily fluids - yellow bile, black bile, blood and phlegm - used in ancient times to analyse and describe people's state of health
• The theory of the four humours was the most important non-religious theory used to explain illness in the Middle Ages
• It was believed that the four humours had to remain in balance for good health, and if the humours became unbalanced, this led to illness
• Galen's theory of opposites


  The idea that the humours could be balanced by using opposites, e.g. treating a patient with too much blood (hot and dry) with cucumber (cold and wet)
• Galen's ideas fitted with the teachings of the Catholic Church, and because the Catholic Church controlled universities and medical teaching, Galen's ideas remained central to learning about the body, disease and medicine in the medieval period