The Social Profile of Hippocrates’ Patients

Abstract

The seven books of the Hippocratic Epidemics appear to make it possible to describe the social profile of the patients who frequented Greek doctors from the mid-fifth to the mid-fourth centuries, and in particular to decide whether doctors attended mainly to the well-to-do. Previous studies have concentrated on the epigraphical evidence for the high status of many of the Thasian patients who are named in Books 1 and 3. But we need to account for the artisan occupations of some of the patients who are described in the other five books (are these patients typical?) and for the marked stylistic and other discrepancies that distinguish Books 1 and 3 from the rest. Endorsing an unconventionally early date for these books, the author suggests that the mention of artisan occupations in the other books is a sign of a degree of social democratization in the medical profession.