Hippocrates (c.460-377 BC), the son of the physician Herakleis and Phainarete, is embraced by the Island of Kos as a Koan.  He is considered to have been the most important representative of the Medical School of Kos, and one of the most important representatives of the science of Medicine in the ancient world. In the center of the Town of Kos stands a Plane Tree of Hippocrates, now supported by scaffolding, under which the physician supposedly taught. It was he who formulated the professional ethics of doctors that has been observed through the centuries. Among his known teachers were the tutor Herodikos from Selymbria in Thrace, and the philosophers Gorgias, Prodikos, and Demokritos. As a young man, he left Kos and worked as a doctor in Thessaly, a region which the Koans had ties of affinity. Tradition has it that when the Peloponnesian War broke out, he helped the Athenians effectively in the great plague, although the evidence is uncertain. He is reputed to have lived for some time in the court of the Persian king Artaxerxes, although according to other versions of the tale, he refused his services. Hippocrates died in Thessaly at the age of 80 years.  The Koans accorded honors to Hippocrates, which assumed the form of a hero cult and included sacrifices. During Imperial Roman times, coins were minted, on the obverse of which is the effigy of Hippocrates with stave and snake or with a vendouse for cupping. His name is associated with the medical profession’s Hippocratic Oath* because of his attachment to a body of ancient Greek medical writings, probably none of which was written by him. Some five or six are generally granted to be genuine, among these, the famous oath. The following Aphorisms attributed to Hippocrates refer to the art of the physician including:

“Life is short, and the Art long; the occasion fleeting: experience fallacious, and judgment difficult. The physician must not only be prepared to do what is right himself, but also to make the patient, the attendants, and the externals cooperate”.

*The Hippocratic Oath is one of the most widely known of Greek medical texts. It requires a new physician to swear upon a number of the healing gods that he will uphold a number of professional ethical standards. Over the centuries, it has been rewritten often in order to suit the values of different cultures influenced by Greek medicine. On the sculpture of Hippocrates in Kos pictured above, the text, in an abbreviated statement is sited thus: “I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury or wrongdoing”. The more familiar words of this oath most often quoted are: “Physician, first, do no harm”.

PHOTOS: Sculpture: Three views of a bronze sculpture of the Koan physician, Hippocrates, shown in the act of teaching and healing. The sculpture is installed in a small harbor front park in the Town of Kos on the island of Kos. Bottom Right: The ancient Plane Tree of Hippocrates, its limbs help aloft by a steel armature, its trunk open and protected with paint. Tradition sites this tree as the spot where Hippocrates taught his students.

JOURDAN ARPELLE-ZIEGLER                                        BACK TO MAP  PAGE