Hippokrátēs of Kos (Ἱπποκράτης) is seen by many as the founding father of medicine, and in his lifetime, he set about to advancing the systematic study of clinical medicine, summing up the medical knowledge of previous schools, and prescribing practices for physicians through the Hippocratic Corpus and other works (although he Corpus itself was most likely not written by him, but assembled in and slightly after his time). Hippokrátēs separated the discipline of medicine from religion, believing and arguing that disease was not a punishment inflicted by the Theoi but rather the product of environmental factors, diet, and living habits.
Hippokrátes is also credited with penning the Hippocratic Oath, the most widely known of Hellenic medical texts. In its original form, it requires a new physician to swear, by a number of healing Gods, to uphold specific ethical standards. Of historic and traditional value, the oath is considered a rite of passage for practitioners of medicine in many countries, although nowadays various modernized versions are often used; the message delivered is still the same, 'Do no Harm'.
I'd like to share Ioannis Stratakis' reading of the ancient Hellenic version of it with you today because it sounds bloody amazing!
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