Longlisted for the RUNCIMAN AWARD, 2021Medicine is one of the great fields of achievement of the Ancient Greeks.
Hippocrates is celebrated worldwide as the father of medicine and the Hippocratic Oath is admired throughout the medical profession as a founding statement of ethics and ideals.
In the fifth century BC, Greeks even wrote of medicine as a newly discovered craft they had invented. Robin Lane Fox’s remarkable book puts their invention of medicine in a wider context, from the epic poems of Homer to the first doctors known to have been active in the Greek world.
He examines what we do and do not know about Hippocrates and his Oath and the many writings that survive under his name.
He then focuses on seven core texts which give the case histories of named individuals, showing that books 1 and 3 belong far earlier than previously recognised.
Their re-dating has important consequences for the medical awareness of the great Greek dramatists and the historians Herodotus and Thucydides.
Robin Lane Fox pieces together the doctor’s thinking from his terse observations and relates it in a new way to the history of Greek prose and ideas. This original and compelling book opens windows onto many other aspects of the classical world, from women’s medicine to street-life, empire, art, sport, sex and even botany.
It fills a dark decade in a new way and carries readers along an extraordinary journey form Homer’s epics to the grateful heirs of the Greek case histories, first in the Islamic world and then in early modern Europe.
Delivery options
Orders are processed and dispatched Monday to Friday.
Estimated Dispatch Times:
Items are usually dispatched within twenty-four to seventy-two hours. Dispatch time does not include delivery. If one or more items are not available when you place your order there may be a delay in dispatch, so that we can send your items in as few parcels as possible.
Latest UK Delivery Estimates
- 1st Class - 1-2 working days
- 2nd Class - 2-3 working days
- Free Click and Collect at Daunt Books Marylebone
Latest International Delivery Estimates
- Europe - Standard 7-10 working days
- Europe - Tracked and Signed 4-7 working days
- Rest of the World - Standard 15-20 working days
- Rest of the World - Tracked and Signed 10-15 working days
Ongoing Covid restrictions, reduced air and freight capacity, high volumes and winter weather conditions are all impacting transportation and local delivery across the globe.
Overseas Delivery Information
We are experiencing delays with deliveries to many countries, but in most cases local services have now resumed. For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin.
Overseas Customs
If you are ordering goods for delivery outside of the UK, please note that your consignment may be subject to import duties and taxes, which are levied once the goods reach the country of destination.
Any such charges levied in relation to customs clearance must be paid by you. It is accepted by you that Daunt Books has no control over additional charges in relation to customs clearance. We recommend that you check with your local customs officials or post office for more information regarding importation taxes/duties that may be applicable to your online order as this changes country to country.
