Hippocrates Now: The Father of Medicine in the Internet Age

(Paperback)

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Description

This book is available as open access through the Knowledge Unlatched programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. We need to talk about Hippocrates. Current scholarship attributes none of the works of the Hippocratic corpus to him, and the ancient biographical traditions of his life are not only late, but also written for their own promotional purposes. Yet Hippocrates features powerfully in our assumptions about ancient medicine, and our beliefs about what medicine and the physician himself should be. In both orthodox and alternative medicine, he continues to be a model to be emulated. This book will challenge widespread assumptions about Hippocrates (and, in the process, about the history of medicine in ancient Greece and beyond) and will also explore the creation of modern myths about the ancient world. Why do we continue to use Hippocrates, and how are new myths constructed around his name How do news stories and the internet contribute to our picture of him And what can this tell us about wider popular engagements with the classical world today, in memes, quotes and online

Reviews

Helen Kings engaging examination of web-based appropriations of Hippocrates is especially salient reading during the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lock-downs. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
Do you want to invoke Hayek or Marcuse King leaves you to make your own choice. Dont prickle. Enjoy it! * International Journal of the Classical Tradition *
Leaves the reader both alarmed and amused (in equal measure) by the credulity and the duplicity of the surfing public ... Thoroughly and meticulously researched. * Classics for All *
This examination of the idea, or ideas, of Hippocrates in the contemporary world is both necessary and timely A thought-provoking work of classical reception that will be of considerable interest to medical historians both with and without the discipline of Classics. * Social History of Medicine *
As illuminating as it is entertaining. * Medical Humanities *
Make no mistake, this is a scholarly work, up to [Kings] usual high standards and with the sorts of original research and novel insights we expect, but its a little playful too. * International Journal for the Classical Tradition *
A welcome and sorely needed antidote to the confusion generated by the reception of Hippocrates and the Hippocratic corpus in popular culture ... Hippocrates Now comes as a gift to all of us who are on the front lines of history instruction in 2022, and it represents the best of what classical reception work has to offer contemporary conversations. * The Classical Review *

Author Bio

Helen King is Professor Emerita of Classical Studies at The Open University, UK. She has published widely on ancient medicine and its reception in the Renaissance and early modern world including, most recently, The One-Sex Body on Trial (2013).