Chapter 7 Holism of Body and Mind in Hippocratic Medicine and Greek Tragedy
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Abstract
It is contended that ancient Greek medicine is fundamentally ‘holistic’ in the literal sense that it views the human organism as a complete mental and somatic unity; and it is further argued that these ideas are not purely medical but are rooted in early Greek language and thought: a systemic and synoptic view of the body in health and disease and of the mind in order and disorder can be traced in many texts of creative as well as medical writers. It is seen that the most vital physical organs (concrete) identified by different Hippocratic authors coincide and correspond with the very same bodily parts that are associated by the Attic tragedians with significant (abstract) mental and emotional activity. Through a close analysis of terminology in plays including Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound and Euripides’ Hippolytos a new understanding of usage is reached. Terms discussed include kardia, thymos, phrenes, hepar, myelos and psyche.