Trauma management in ancient Greece: value of surgical principles through the years.

This article surveys in an interdisciplinary fashion the evolution of ancient Greek medicine and traumatology in particular. In sounding out the key methods and themes of Greek medicine, we cite a range of medical treatises and correlate them to the rich evidence of ancient Greek art (iconography), which often is explicit in its depiction of the management of disease and of trauma in particular. The article begins its survey from Homer, our first source of medical information, and highlights the pioneering work of Hippocrates and the secularized professional guild of the "sons of Aesclepius."