Hippocratic Corpus

The Hippocratic Corpus (Latin: Corpus Hippocraticum), or Hippocratic Collection, is a collection of around 60 early Ancient Greek medical works closely associated with the physician Hippocrates and his teachings. The Hippocratic Corpus covers many diverse aspects of medicine, from Hippocrates' medical theories to what he devised to be ethical means of medical practice, to addressing various illnesses. Even though it is considered a singular corpus that represents Hippocratic medicine, they vary (sometimes significantly) in content, age, style, methods, and views practiced; therefore, authorship is largely unknown. The ancient commentaries on this corpus, from writers such as Attalion and Oribasius, are myriad. Hippocrates began Western society's development of medicine, through a delicate blending of the art of healing and scientific observations. What Hippocrates was sharing from within his collection of works was not only how to identify symptoms of disease and proper diagnostic practices, but more essentially, he was alluding to his personable form of art, "The art of true living and the art of fine medicine combined." The Hippocratic Corpus became the foundation upon which Western medical practice was built.

Hippocrates' contribution to medicine

Hippocrates was born c. 460 BCE on the Greek island of Kos. The verifiable details of his life are few, despite centuries of hagiographic accounts. According to tradition, Hippocrates was born into a hereditary order of priest-like physicians known as Asclepiads. At the time, the practice of medicine involved spiritual and supernatural elements, corresponding to the prevailing belief that health and illness were conferred by the gods.