Medicine Today from 1250 BC to 216 AD Ancient Greece

1. Herbal medicine during the Islamic civilization produced more than 1400 medicinal plants and Muslims were pioneers in developing modern pharmacy and chemistry practice (Farag, M., Mohammed, M. S., Foud, I., Ahmed, W. J., Mohamed, M. S., 2015).

2. Ancient Egyptains used garlic (Allium sativum) as a treatment for cardiac and circulatory disorders (Farag, M., Mohammed, M. S., Foud, I., Ahmed, W. J., Mohamed, M. S., 2015).

3. Ayurveda is a medical system primarily practiced in India for over 5000 years, and includes diet and herbal remedies, while emphasizing body, mind and spirit in disease prevention and treatment (Morgan, 2002).

4. Eye salve in a 1,000-year-old Anglo-Saxon medical textbook known as Bald's Leechbook, onion, garlic, wine and cow's bile crushed together and left in a bronze vessel for nine days and nights, has shown in laboratory testing to kill Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) faster than any antibiotic. (Pitt, 2015).

5. Gaius Plinius Secundus, or Pliny the Elder, 23-79 AD, writes Natural History, the first encyclopaedia a source of scientific information and theory (Stannard, 2019).

6. Folklore use of pharmacological treatment of disease began with the use of herbs (Schulz et al., 2001). Methods of folk healing throughout the world commonly used herbs as part of their tradition (Schulz, Hansel, & Tyler, 2001).

6.1. Traditional Chinese medicine has been used by Chinese people from ancient times. Although animal and mineral materials have been used, the primary source of remedies is botanical (Li, 2000).

6.1.1. Traditional Chinese medicine is still in common use in China. More than half the population regularly uses traditional remedies, with the highest prevalence of use in rural areas (Li, 2000).

6.1.2. Many herbal remedies found their way from China into the Japanese traditional healing with herbs native to Japan and were classified in the first pharmacopoeia of Japanese traditional medicine in the 9th century (Saito, 2000).

6.1.3. Chinese herbs are divided into four functional categories: Yang-invigorating, Yin-nourishing, Qi-invigorating, and Blood-enriching (Leong, Chen, & Ko, 2018)). Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) was used to treat gastro intestinal upset, Astragalus (Astragalusmembranaceus) relieved stress and Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum) as a cathartic (laxative) (Farag, Mohammed, Foud, Ahmed, & Mohamed, 2015).

6.2. Many modern synthetic drugs have their origin in bioactives from natural plant products and 67% of chemotherapy drugs have a natural origin (Wangkheirakpam, 2018).

6.3. According to the World Health Organization in 2000, 80% of the world population is dependent on traditional and folk medicines for the treatment of their ailments (Wangkheirakpam, 2018).

7. Pedanius Dioscorides, 40-90 AD, was a Greek physician and pharmacologist that traveled as a surgeon with emperor Nero and the Roman armies, whose work De Materia Medica was the foremost classical source of modern botanical terminology and the leading pharmacological text for 16 centuries (Rogers, n.d.)

8. The concept of the four bodily humors: health being a result of their harmony and illness of their imbalance that shaped Galenical Medicine was adapted from the Ayurveda (Farag, M., Mohammed, M. S., Foud, I., Ahmed, W. J., Mohamed, M. S., 2015).

9. Panacea goddess of medicine, Hygeia goddess of health and hygiene, Iaso goddess of recuperation, Aceso goddess of the healing process, Aglaia goddess of beauty and splendor (Cartwright, 2013).

10. Machaon, 800-700 BC, was a trauma surgeon and his techniques and skills constitute the origins of modern surgery and trauma medicine. He and his brother Podalirius, a physician, were the chief medical officers of the Greek army as it besieged Troy (Koutserimpas & Samonis, 2018)

11. Galen, 129-210 AD, based clinical medicine on observation and experience, resulting in a integrated and comprehensive system of a complete medical philosophy that dominated medicine throughout the Middle Ages and until the beginning of the modern era (National Institute of Health, 2015).

12. Asklepios, 1250 BC, demi-god, son of Apollo, trained in healing and the secrets of medicine using plants and herbs by a centaur named Cherion. He had 2 sons, Machaon and Podaleirios, and 4 daughters, Iaso, Panacea, Aceso, and Aglaia (Cartwright, 2013).

13. Hippocrates of Kos, 420 BC, maintains that diseases have natural causes which is based on observation of clinical signs and rational conclusions, and the body consisted of four fluids or 'humors' black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood, and does not rely on religious or magical beliefs, the origin or rational medicine, and puts forth the Hippocratic Oath (Yapijakis, 2009).