V. Kanellou () Kingston University London, UK E-mail: vkanellou@hotmail.com the dead to life; this angered the ruler of the dead, Hades, who complained to the ruler of all gods, Zeus. Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt in order to maintain peace and order. Nevertheless, the great Zeus realised the good Asclepius had brought to man and, thus, made him into a god and placed him among the stars; Asclepius was trans- formed into the constellation Ophiuchus (serpent-bearer). The main attribute of Asclepius, a physician’s staff with an Asclepian snake wrapped around it, survives to this day as the symbol of the modern medical profession [1]. Asclepius’s sons, Machaon and Podalirius, appeared in Homer’s Iliad as physicians of the Greek army in the Trojan War. His daughters, Hygeia and Panacea, were remembered for their healing abilities and were made god- desses. Hygeia was the goddess of health and became almost as famous as her father. Panacea (=‘cure all’) was the goddess of remedies and herbal preparations that relieved pain or cured illness [1]. All the empirical doctors that followed were referred to as Asclepiads because they claimed to be the descendants of Asclepius. They practiced medicine in healing temples that were called Asclepieia. They promoted healing by using herbal preparations and sacred animals, such as snakes. They also recommended rest, diet, baths and visits to the gymnasium and the patients paid medical fees, called ‘iatra’. The Asclepiads interpreted dreams in order to diagnose an illness and prescribe drugs. In many areas in Greece, such as Trikala, Epidaurus, Dilos and Cos, remains of the Asclepieia are still preserved. Hippocrates, the father of scientific medicine, began his medical career in the Asclepieion of Cos [1–3]. Hippocrates was the son of doctor Herculidis. He was born on the island of Cos in 460 B.C. and died in Larissa in 377 B.C. According to Hippocrates, the three funda- mental principles of medicine are observation, experience and rationalism. He based his medical practice on the observation and study of the human body. He held the belief that illness had a physical and rational explanation V. Kanellou Ancient Greek medicine as the foundation of contemporary medicine Ancient Greece is regarded as the birthplace of modern medicine. In Greek mythology, the patron god of medicine, Apollo, taught Chiron, a centaur (half man-half horse), the art of healing. The wise and peaceful centaur Chiron became renowned for his skill in medicine and Apollo entrusted him with the education of his son, Asclepius. Asclepius, the sovereign of Trikke (today, known as Trikala), Thessaly, is considered to be the first doctor- demigod in Greek history and has been worshipped for 12 centuries. According to the historian Pindar, Asclepius per- formed operations on patients and used drugs to heal them. He became so skilled in surgery that he could even restore Tech Coloproctol (2004) 8:S3–S4 DOI 10.1007/s10151-004-0095-z