Doctors in Ancient Greece
...eputation as a successful physician, he may be called to cities and people will seek his services. In this manner a physician, will still being holding the social status of a craftsmen, will attain a greater level of respect in society. Examples of this include Democedes of Croton, who became the physician and confidant of the Persian king Darius and Eryximachus, a physician who participated in Plato’s Symposium. In the larger cities, the populations were significant enough to warrant permanent doctors, who would set up permanent offices. Some cities even supported public doctors. Plato describes the selection procedure for public physicians in Athens: candidates would present their case before the Assembly by speaking about his skills and by introducing patients who could bear witness to such skills. This is the same process the city would follow to elect all State funded positions including artisans and shipbuilders. While it is accepted that the larger cities would employ public physicians , the actual duties of the public physician are largely unknown. It appears that his only contractual requirement was to reside in the community for a set period, usually one year. To be installed as a public physician was beneficial for both the physician and the community in which he was residing. The physician would have a guaranteed income and would not have to wander and compete with entrenched local interests and the city would gain a resident physician of publicly recognised ability. While it is often surmised that this was in order to provide free medical care to the citizens, there is no evidence of this. The role of the public physician did not guarantee clients for the doctor. All manner of healers would be competing in the market place and the cult of Aesculapius was widespread during the classical period. The public physician would also be required to attend the military in time of war. There was no formal training for doctors; instead, as befit its standing as a craft, an apprenticeship was served. Later, during the classical period, the knowledge of medicine would pass along family lines. Hippocrates and his followers attempted to provide some regulation to the profession, however there was such diversity, even within Hippocrates’ followers, that such regulation would have been largely ineffective. Medical ‘schools’ were set up on Cos and Cnidos and those who had been apprenticed there were viewed as being superior, both ethically and in ability. This was problematical as there was no proof of such education except the word of the physician. Patients were treated as befitted their social status. The more important the client the better and wider the medical treatments available. This issue is addressed in Plato’s Laws, where it is recognised that there is unequal treatment and no legal responsibility for a physician to see a patient; ‘Athenian – There are men that are doctors… and others that are doctors ’assistant’ but we call the latter also, to be sure, by the name of “doctors.” Clinias – We do. Athenian – These...