Health and wellbeing in the ancient world
3.2 Help or harm?
It should be clear by now that ancient medicine was not simply about recommending a diet to achieve ‘balance’ in the body, or about caring for the sick: it also used some dramatic and invasive forms of intervention in the body.
Figure 10 A man surrounded by bottles of prescription medication
An older man clutches his head in dismay at the bottles of prescription medication surrounding him.
Activity 4
Consider the use of noxious or dangerous remedies in modern medicine. How similar or different is it from the forms of ancient medicine you have studied here?
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OpenLearn - Health and wellbeing in the ancient world
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