Greek medical research

[Ormicus]

Dear RAT members,

I am doing historical research about greek medical knowledge.
It focuses on the aid given to those wounded in battle.

An important part of the research is focused on the effects of the treatment given to patients. I will discuss the methods used by ancient physicians with modern day physicians, surgeons an anesthiologists.
At this part i give a number of practical cases of battle wounds. I will explain how it was treated in ancient greece. The i will ask the medical specialist what the chance of survival and recovery is using that kind of treatment. Then i will ask them what they would have done with the available equipment.
So far i have 3 cases:
First patient has an arrow in the upper leg. I has penetrated deep and has struck the bone.
Second patient has a spear wound in the lower belly 2 and a halve inches deep.
Third patient has been trampled in the retreat of his army. The patient suffers from internal bleeding and is not treated till days after the battle.

All these questions have been worked out in greater detail in my paper. Unfortunately this paper is in Dutch.

So this is where i need your help!
What other wounds are common in battle?
Is there any literature that summons up all the methods used to treat war wounds?
I have been working with the book of C. Salazar, but she does not give a detailed description off the methods used in greece. (mostly Rome)
Has shock been described in any ancient texts? I know it has been described as paleness and fainting, but never as a life threatning condition.

Cheers, Thomas.

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

Very interesting,though i have a suspicion that in all these cases the modern doctors will condemn the patients with a frequency of 95%
The most common wound depicted in art is thigh wounds from spears. This is shown in different ways like a capture of the moment when the oponent is striking with his spear and the spearhead is stuck in the thigh,or a dead man on the ground with bleeding cuts in his thighs, or even etruscan frescos where some war prisoners are being executed,stripped with tied hands and bleeding thigh wounds. I have also seen etrsucan frescos where hoplites strike eachther in the thighs with spears.
The other most frequent wound depicted in pottery is i think spear wounds in the sides. This corresponds with the need for re-enforcement of the sides of cuirasses.
Khaire
Giannis

[Macedon]

Check out Sextus Julius Africanus. I was studying

Sextus Julius Africanus Hist. et Scr. Eccl., Cesti (fragmenta).

and I found a lot of stuff I bet you would consider very interesting. Unfortunately I work from the Greek original so you will have to find a translation.

[Macedon]

Another one I came across today was Herodot 7.181 where the Persians are trying to save a Greek warrior they had hacked down by applying first aid with myrrh and bandages.

[Epictetus]

What about Galen? He treated the gladiators of Pergamum, and he wrote prolifically.

[Macedon]

I have only browsed through a very small portion of his work. So many books, all about medicine (109 works in TLG (OK, many notably short but still...)!!!! hock: hock: ).... For sure there will be some combat med practices mentioned but I cannot say where. It will take a very patient and dedicated man to look through them...

[Astiryu1]

According to "The Physician's Desk Reference (PDR) for Herbal Medicines" Myrrh (a.k.a. Commiphora Molmol) has astringent, disinfectant, and granulate forming effects.

I would say that is pretty good as a poultice for various blade inflicted wounds.

[huojin]

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[Gulan]

I recently asked a similar question, and received very interesting material to study.classics.mit.edu/Browse/browse-Hippocrates.html

As for wounds, as far as I learned we can divide the course of hoplite combat into several phases.
One of those being the spear fight, and the other extremely close combat with swords,and all other means of fighting that would include broken weapons, helmets, rocks and hands/boxing and wrestling,even shields as offensive weapons.

So you may be looking at wounds from blunt objects, and all kinds fractures and dislocations,especially in non covered areas. For example I imagine one direct hit from the rim of the heavy shield or helmet would fracture and dislocate lower jaw destroying much of the teeth in the process.

Also concussion is very likely injure in ancient Greek warfare, taking both offensive and defensive style of combat into consideration, as well as the equipment.

Also, I imagine feet, and various bone fractures of tarsal bones, cuts and amputations could occur since they fought barefoot.

I imagine the injuries of the right arm, the one used for attack, and therefore unprotected one, were relatively common. So you may be looking at some cuts,maybe even to the axillary/brachial artery.
Also for the arm, shoulder joint,being the most fragile, would sustain much stress in fight,and it can be injured easily when you stab with your spear, especially if you suddenly hit the hard surface as the armor or shield.

Injuries to the thigh and groin were probably very common,since those were most likely the least protected areas and most exposed to fight.

[M. Caecilius]

Which time period are you looking at? Hoplite warfare only, or do you include the Hellenistic Phalanx where? Would the famous episode of Philipp V's state funeral for the dead of a skirmish with the Romans be of any help - the soldiers who witnessed the wounds of their comrades panicked, as they were not used to the wounds caused by the Gladius Hispaniensis of the Romans, provided there's not too much anti-Macedonian propaganda in that episode.

It might also be worth looking at the Roman sources, such as Celsus and possibly Pliny the Elder. Though Roman, they liberally use Greek and Hellenistic sources, although they are not always precise in indicating which part they got from which source.

Finally, it might be worth checking out the Xantener Berichte, Volume 16, on "Waffen in Aktion" (Weapons in Action", 2009, although it focuses largely on Roman and "barbarian" peoples. Notwithstanding this, it might give you some methodological clues.