Elephantiasis from the Hellenic Antiquity Until Now-a-days

Laios, K.¹, Tsoucalas, G.², Vrachatis, D. A.^3*, Demou, E. E.⁴ & Karamanou, M.^5,6

¹National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece & Surgery Department, Konstantopouleio-Agia Olga General Hospital, Athens, Greece
²History of Medicine, Anatomy Department, School of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece
³General Hospital of Athens “G.Gennimatas”, Athens, Greece
⁴Surgery Department, Konstantopouleio-Agia Olga General Hospital, Athens, Greece
⁵Department of History of Medicine and Medical Deontology, Medical School, University of Crete, Crete, Greece
⁶Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, Athens, Greece

Dr. Vrachatis, D. A., General Hospital of Athens “G.Gennimatas”, Athens, Greece.

Keywords: Elephantiasis; Hellenic Medical Literature; Byzantine Medicine

Abstract

In Greek antiquity a series of diseases were named after an animal. This custom had its roots in early prehistoric times, when medicine was not entirely separated from superstition. According to this concept, a disease was receiving its name after an animal in order through a magical way the disease itself to leave the patient and “magically” transported to the animal. Furthermore, the animal as a representative of the power of the nature could also magically help the patient to recover. With the development of the Greek rational medicine since 6^th century BC, Greek medico-philosophers tried to explain with a logical way the animal names of various diseases pointing out the resemblance of the characteristics of the diseases with the animals’ features and appearance.

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