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Herodotus · Histories §2.84.1

Specialization of Physicians in Egyptian Medicine

Passage 300 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

This section describes the high degree of specialization in Egyptian medicine, where each physician treats only one specific disease, such as those of the eyes, head, teeth, abdomen, or obscure illnesses.

§2.84.1ἡ δὲ ἰητρικὴ κατὰ τάδε σφι δέδασται· μιῆς νούσου ἕκαστος ἰητρός ἐστι καὶ οὐ πλεόνων.
On the other hand, medicine is distributed among them as follows: each physician is a physician of one disease and not of more.
πάντα δʼ ἰητρῶν ἐστι πλέα· οἳ μὲν γὰρ ὀφθαλμῶν ἰητροὶ κατεστᾶσι, οἳ δὲ κεφαλῆς, οἳ δὲ ὀδόντων, οἳ δὲ τῶν κατὰ νηδύν, οἳ δὲ τῶν ἀφανέων νούσων.
And all places are full of physicians; for some are established as physicians of the eyes, others of the head, others of the teeth, others of the things of the belly, and others of obscure diseases.

Notes

  1. §2.84.1πάντα δʼ ἰητρῶν ἐστι πλέα — The neuter plural subject πάντα takes the singular verb ἐστι. Here, πάντα implies "all places" or "everywhere in the country."
  2. §2.84.1τῶν κατὰ νηδύν — The prepositional phrase κατὰ νηδύν ("concerning the belly") is substantivized with the neuter plural genitive article τῶν, functioning as a genitive limiting the omitted noun ἰητροί.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §2.84.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.84.1

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