# The Invention of Medicine: From Homer to Hippocrates - Hardcover

by **Robin Lane Fox** (Author)

**A preeminent classics scholar revises the history of medicine.**Medical thinking and observation were radically changed by the ancient Greeks, one of their great legacies to the world. In the fifth century BCE, a Greek doctor put forward his clinical observations of individual men, women, and children in a collection of case histories known as the Epidemics. Among his working principles was the famous maxim Do no harm. In _The Invention of Medicine_, acclaimed historian Robin Lane Fox puts these remarkable works in a wider context and upends our understanding of medical history by establishing that they were written much earlier than previously thought. Lane Fox endorses the ancient Greeks' view that their texts' author, not named, was none other than the father of medicine, the great Hippocrates himself. Lane Fox's argument changes our sense of the development of scientific and rational thinking in Western culture, and he explores the consequences for Greek artists, dramatists and the first writers of history. Hippocrates emerges as a key figure in the crucial change from an archaic to a classical world.  
Elegantly written and remarkably learned, _The Invention of Medicine_ is a groundbreaking reassessment of many aspects of Greek culture and city life.

### Author Biography

**Robin Lane Fox** is an emeritus fellow at New College, Oxford. He's the author of many books on ancient and classical history, including _Augustine_, _Alexander the Great_, and _The Classical World_, which was named one of the Top Ten Nonfiction Books of 2006 by the _Washington Post Book World_. He lives in Oxford, England.

**Number of Pages:** 432

**Dimensions:** 1.4 x 9.3 x 5.7 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** December 08, 2020

## Details

- **Price:** 35.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 35.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- The Invention of Medicine: From Homer to Hippocrates - Hardcover

---

> Source: [Smart supply deals](https://smartsupplydeals.com/products/the-invention-of-medicine-from-homer-to-hippocrates-hardcover)
> Updated: 2026-07-23