Graeco-Arabic Medicine
This functional medical system originated over six thousand years ago travelling along the trade routes through Ancient Greece to Europe where it became known as Graeco-Arabic Medicine. It was the most commonly practiced form of medicine until about 150 years ago. It was also carried by the Islamic merchants into the the Arabic world and later India and the Indian subcontinent, where it became known as Unani Tibb or Unani Medicine. Many practitioners of Graeco-Arabic medicine still use the holistic beliefs of this Traditional form of healing.
Modern men and women owes an enormous gratitude to ancient Greece. Almost everything that contributes to the interest and contentment of life came from Greece. Medicine and science; all had their origins there, and indeed provided a standardof excellence that has never been equalled since.
It was Bukrath (aka Hippocrates), 460-377 BC, who freed this form of from the dominion superstition and sorcery and gave it the prestigious status of medical science. Soon after Hippocrates, many scholars built on the system of whom Jalinoos (Galen) 131-210 A.D, Al-Razi (Rhazes) 850-925 A.D. and Abu Ali Ibn Sina (Avicenna) 980-1037 A.D. are most notable.
Unani medicine first established that disease was a natural process and that symptoms were the reactions of the body to the disease. It believes in the humoral theory which presupposes the presence of the four humors - Dam (blood), Balgham (phlegm), Safra (yellow bile) and Sauda (black bile) in the body. Each humor has its own personality - blood is hot and damp, phlegm cold and moist, yellow bile hot and dry and black bile dry and cold. Every person reaches a disposition according to the prevalence in them of the humors which represent the person's healthy state, which are expressed as sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic.
Development of Unani Medicine & Science
In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer identifies the authorities used by his Doctour of Physic: four Unani physicians â€"- Ali ibn al-Abbas al-Majusi (Jesu Haly), al-Razi (Rhazes), Ibn Sina (Avycen) and Ibn Rushd (Averrois). These four Hakims were among the greatest medical figures of the ancient world. Their authority remained throughout the European Middle Ages, and their books were the root of medical instruction in European medical schools, up to even the start of the 20th century.
The Unani physicians arose from the Islamic culture of 1,000 years ago, and their perspective was based upon an idea of medicine as the science by which the functioning of the body could be observed. Their goal was the preservation of health as well as helping the body in its role as a self-healer. They put as much emphasis on the maintenance and balance of health as on the healing arts.
The first hospitals were built under the auspices of the Unani physicians. They were stylish and sophisticated structures, supremely functional, with running water and baths. There were different sections for the treatment of numerous illnesses, with each section headed by a specialist. Hospitals were open 24 hours a day to handle emergency cases and did not turn any patient away.
Unani physicians inherited the medical tradition of Hippocrates and the Greeks, but quickly put their stamp of genius on their achievements.
Click here to discover how the traditions of Unani Tibb live on even to this day.
This functional medical system originated over six thousand years ago travelling along the trade routes through Ancient Greece to Europe where it became known as Graeco-Arabic Medicine. It was the most commonly practiced form of medicine until about 150 years ago. It was also carried by the Islamic merchants into the the Arabic world and later India and the Indian subcontinent, where it became known as Unani Tibb or Unani Medicine. Many practitioners of Graeco-Arabic medicine still use the holistic beliefs of this Traditional form of healing.
Modern men and women owes an enormous gratitude to ancient Greece. Almost everything that contributes to the interest and contentment of life came from Greece. Medicine and science; all had their origins there, and indeed provided a standardof excellence that has never been equalled since.
It was Bukrath (aka Hippocrates), 460-377 BC, who freed this form of from the dominion superstition and sorcery and gave it the prestigious status of medical science. Soon after Hippocrates, many scholars built on the system of whom Jalinoos (Galen) 131-210 A.D, Al-Razi (Rhazes) 850-925 A.D. and Abu Ali Ibn Sina (Avicenna) 980-1037 A.D. are most notable.
Unani medicine first established that disease was a natural process and that symptoms were the reactions of the body to the disease. It believes in the humoral theory which presupposes the presence of the four humors - Dam (blood), Balgham (phlegm), Safra (yellow bile) and Sauda (black bile) in the body. Each humor has its own personality - blood is hot and damp, phlegm cold and moist, yellow bile hot and dry and black bile dry and cold. Every person reaches a disposition according to the prevalence in them of the humors which represent the person's healthy state, which are expressed as sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic.
Development of Unani Medicine & Science
In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer identifies the authorities used by his Doctour of Physic: four Unani physicians â€"- Ali ibn al-Abbas al-Majusi (Jesu Haly), al-Razi (Rhazes), Ibn Sina (Avycen) and Ibn Rushd (Averrois). These four Hakims were among the greatest medical figures of the ancient world. Their authority remained throughout the European Middle Ages, and their books were the root of medical instruction in European medical schools, up to even the start of the 20th century.
The Unani physicians arose from the Islamic culture of 1,000 years ago, and their perspective was based upon an idea of medicine as the science by which the functioning of the body could be observed. Their goal was the preservation of health as well as helping the body in its role as a self-healer. They put as much emphasis on the maintenance and balance of health as on the healing arts.
The first hospitals were built under the auspices of the Unani physicians. They were stylish and sophisticated structures, supremely functional, with running water and baths. There were different sections for the treatment of numerous illnesses, with each section headed by a specialist. Hospitals were open 24 hours a day to handle emergency cases and did not turn any patient away.
Unani physicians inherited the medical tradition of Hippocrates and the Greeks, but quickly put their stamp of genius on their achievements.
Click here to discover how the traditions of Unani Tibb live on even to this day.
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