Ancient Greece: Trials, Philosophy, And Medicine

We owe much of modern society to the ancient Greeks and their achievements, without them we would be far behind where we are right now in terms of trials, philosophy, and medicine. In the field of law, the Greeks laid the foundation for trial by jury with their trials. The same holds true with philosophy, their achievements in how we think have brought us into the modern world. Medicine is a field that was greatly impacted by the ancient Greeks, doctors still follow an idea that Hippocrates had about medicine and their achievements have saved many lives. The ancient Greeks set the foundation for modern society with their advancements in trials, philosophy, and medicine.

Firstly the Ancient Greek's advancements in philosophy paved the way for

In modern western society trials are held by jury. According to The BBC, “They used from 500 to 1501 people, in part as protection against bribes: who could afford to bribe 500 people?” This quote, about Athens, refers to how they had a trial by jury. In modern society we still have juries that decide if someone is guilty or not, we have fewer jurors than the Greeks, but they both serve the same purpose. The idea of a trial by jury stems from the Greeks, particularly the Athenians. They also swore in before a trial just as many people do today. In the text “Criminal Procedure in Ancient Greece By Trial of Socrates'' it states that the oath they would swear in with was “I will cast my vote (according to) the laws and decrees passed by the Assembly and by the Council, but, if there is no law, then (according to) my sense of what is most just, without favor or enmity. I will vote only on the matters raised in the charge, and will listen impartially to the accusers and defenders alike.” In the present day, many people swear in to court. This is a small part of ancient Greek society that is still present in the modern world. Currently, we swear differently with different oaths but still many people choose to swear into

The ancient Greeks invented the idea that every disease has a natural cause and a cure. In the text “Principles and Practices of Urology” “Hippocrates began teaching that every disease had only natural causes. He is known as the great Greek physician. Hippocrates was the first physician known who considered medicine to be a science, and to be separate from religion.” In the modern world, it has become common knowledge that illness and disease have natural causes. We also consider medicine to be a science just as he did. Without Hippocrates, we would either not have the medical field in its current state or we just wouldn’t have the field of medicine. Take the Covid 19 pandemic, or any other pandemic or epidemic in recent history, without his advancement so many more people would have gotten sick and died. When medicine students become doctors they recite an oath created by Hippocrates. The oath reads “I will follow that treatment which, according to my ability and judgment, I will consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is harmful. I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such advice…” Doctors still take this oath when becoming doctors. The oath sets the principles of the entire field of medicine. Without it, we wouldn’t have medicine in the way that we do