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Herbal History of Greece
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Herbal History of Greece
By 400 BC, when herbal medicine had advanced in
Greek, Roman and Egyptian cul- tures, the first
real change in perspective was instigated by the
Greek physician Hypocrites.
Hypocrites treated ailments and their cures as physical, natural elements, rather than spiritual and supernatural.
This was quite a contrast to the beliefs of the
time.
Aristotle had imbued plants with a sentient and ethereal essence, a soul. Illness was often deemed
more a possession of evil spirits, and treatments
regarded as exorcism.
Even much later, Shamanistic practices involved
the patient taking healing herbs while the shaman
took hallucinogens in order ascend to the plane
of evil spirits to fight them away from the afflicted
body.
Hypocrites used direct observation, scrupulous records,
and repeatable effects to document herbal uses.
Hypocrites also advocated strengthening the body's natural defenses with air and proper diet as a way
to prevent disease.
This notion came to be the basis for what we know
today as naturopathy.
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