Professional Profile of the Physician in Antiquity

This project assembles a single profile of the professional physician in antiquity that reflects the opinions of several ancient Greek and Roman authors. This research clarifies the antique view of medicine and the medical profession, both by examining the consistencies in the profile of the physician and by examining its development over time. The sources examined include 1) Hippocrates, known as the Father of Medicine, to whom the Hippocratic Oath is ascribed; 2) Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher who discusses the physician in his dialogues The Republic and Gorgias; and 3) Galen, the most eminent Roman physician who authored many medical texts. Three methods are used: 1) a dialectical method that examines the definitions the sources present, 2) a diachronic method that orders the definitions historically, and 3) a comparative method that analyzes the similarities between the ancient sources among themselves and against the modern view of the physician. This project finds that the modern profile of the physician, represented by the Modern Hippocratic Oath, was established in antiquity, with specific emphasis on education, theory, practice, and ethics. The only trait that firmly existed in antiquity without parallel in modern day is exclusivity.