Ancient Greek Medicine Exam #1 with correct answers 100% 2026

Ancient Greek Medicine Exam #1 with correct answers 100% 2026 What types of evidence could you use to describe disease in antiquity? - Correct Answer First hand account, letters, documents, literary sources, artifacts, secondary sources, military accounts, skeletal evidence, material culture (Weaknesses: bias, errors, assumptions/speculations often prevalent) Population distribution - Correct Answer Small villages and cities, predominantly rural Mobility - Correct Answer Minimal movement (exception: armies and traders). Thus, slow spread of disease, endemic (not pandemic) diseases. Nutrition - Correct Answer Limited types of food (based on terrain, climate, etc.). Populations often malnourished. Sanitation - Correct Answer Terrible. No concept of infectious disease, so sick and healthy populations often co-mingled. Mortality-Life Expectancy - Correct Answer Low life expectancy (between 20-30 years, but there is dispute amongst scholars). Infants at high risk of death. Epidemiology - Correct Answer Study of causation and distribution of disease Pathocoenosis - Correct Answer localized diseases with effects on one another, an economy or household of diseases. Diseases interact with one another (malaria hinders syphilis, etc.) Hard to discern when discussing antiquity. Paleopathology/Bio-Archaeology - Correct Answer Uses skeletal remains and material culture to discern patterns of disease, etc. Discrepancies prevalent, results/findings may not be indicative of entire population. (Cribra orbitalia: indicates anemia of the eye; linear enamel hypoplasia: lines in the teeth indicate evidence of malnutrition and stress) What can be gleaned about the general patterns of disease from a demographic profile of ancient civilizatons? - Correct Answer Diseases were generally endemic because populations did not often move. When diseases did spread, it was through armies and trading. Malnourishment and diseases stemming from it were prevalent, as was infectious disease due to poor sanitation. What should you be aware of when using primary sources to describe the patterns of disease? Of what value are the ancient perceptions of health and disease? - Correct Answer There is often a language barrier. Similarly, there may be errors in the transcription/translation process of primary sources, or the manuscripts themselves may be damaged or fragmentary. Within the sources themselves, information may be biased or focus on only one group of people (frequently, focus was placed primarily on the elite). Diseases and old age - Correct Answer Ancient physicians saw old age as an eminent phase of life, didn't draw attention to specific diseases of the old. Instead, made note of exceptions to the rule (those who lived to an old age and remained hearty). Epidemics, pandemics, and communicable diseases - Correct Answer Endemic disease common. "Plagues" often were local, for the most part. (Exception: Antonian plague spread by Roman army from Persia to Rome). No concept of infectious disease, communicable diseases caused by miasma ("bad air"). Occupational diseases and health hazards - Correct Answer Most evidence of occupational diseases is found through anecdotal accounts. Interest in occupational diseases was minimal because focus was primarily placed on the elite. Prominent diseases in antiquity - Correct Answer Puretoi/Febres=fever. Malaria. Puretoi, Febres, and Malaria - Correct Answer Fever, different types of fever judged by patterns (length of fever, dissipation and return, etc). These patterns are akin to that of malaria. Greek Archaic Period - Correct Answer 7796-479 BC (Polis, Colonization, Greek Alphabet) Machaon and Poldalirius - Correct Answer Sons of Asclepius, described by Homer. Knowledge of drugs descends from Chiron the Centaur (as did Asclepius'). Podalirius treats diseases, Machaon treats wounds. Ninyas the Egyptian (cited by Anonymus Londinensis) - Correct Answer Belief that there are two types of affection, congenital (innate) and acquired (result of residues and body heat). This theory found in other Egyptian medical papyri, but not much is known about Ninyas himself. Ninyas is one of many whom believe that diseases arise from the residues of nutriment (as opposed to some change in the body's elements). Empedocles (fl. 460 BC) - Correct Answer Thought of the world as built up from four stable elements (earth, air, fire, water) whose potentially unstable combinations/proportions produced everything that could be perceived. Closely intertwined philosophy and medicine, practiced medicine both practically and theoretically. Beliefs: -Digestion was mechanical -Thought maternal milk was putrefied superfluous blood -Heat was used to account for differences between sexes (males warmer than females), and explain sleep (a cooling process) Alcmaeon of Croton (fl. late 6th c. BC or early 5th c. BC) - Correct Answer Counterpart to Empedocles. Beliefs: