Ancient Greek Medicine
Entry posted by Lyger
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Reading the Iliad (translated by Richmond Lattimore) as summer reading for Lit Hum next year.
The ancient Greeks sure knew a lot about medicine. You can tell. They've got such detailed descriptions of exactly which internal organs were stabbed for each hero who falls.
In all seriousness though, it really does go to show how much about the human body they knew. They knew which organs and parts of the body were vital and would cause death if harmed, and which parts of the body could sustain injury without being fatal. They knew the relative positions of the organs inside the body, and probably had a good idea of the function of each organ.
It's pretty cool to go into this already with a pretty good background on the ancient Western world and epic poetry. It also really goes to show that the Aeneid really is Homer fanfiction. Vergil uses a lot of techniques and styles that I'm seeing in the Iliad, like really long, almost tangential metaphors, for instance. It's also interesting to note some things like lines that are repeated pretty much word for word; I believe I read somewhere that since the Iliad and the Odyssey were originally orally recited, memorized epics, the repeated verses were meant to make it easier on the guy doing the memorizing.
On a completely unrelated note I started Serial Experiments Lain and boy is it a mind trip. o_O
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