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Schäfer, Alfred [German version] A. Introduction (CT) An accurate account of the reception history of ancient obstetrics is difficult to come by since crucial aspects of obstetric practice were never recorded or were only mentioned in passing. Until well into modern times, normal childbirth was considered almost exclusively a female domain that generally saw very little medical involvement at all. For that reason, the relevant works by ancient authors ( Corpus Hippocraticum, Herophilus, Celsus, Philumenus, Soranus) whose reception history, by contrast, is fairly we…

Schäfer, Daniel (Cologne) [German version] A. Introduction (CT) Although the term 'geriatrics' is a 20th cent. creation (J. L. Nascher, 1909), diagnostic and dietetic elements of health care for the elderly were already recorded for ancient medicine. The main sources of its reception, which was very significant in practice until into the 18th cent., were, on one hand, sporadic references in the Corpus Hippocraticum (Aphorisms 3,31; De victu 1,33) to diseases of old age and the age dependence of various ailments, their progress and the recommended diet, and,…