Printed Page 118-0(cont.)

A History of Western Society: Printed Page 118

Chapter Chronology

PRIMARY SOURCE 4.5

Physician with Young Patient

This plaster cast from about 350 B.C.E. shows a physician examining a child, while Asclepius, the god of healing, observes. Asclepius holds a staff with a snake coiled around it, which remains the symbol of medicine today. This cast was made through a process known as intaglio in which the picture was carved onto a cylinder-shaped gemstone, then rolled across wet clay to produce the image.

image
(Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

EVALUATE THE EVIDENCE

  1. Question

    How is the physician diagnosing the health or illness of the child?

  2. Question

    Given what you have read about Hellenistic medicine, why might the artist have included the god Asclepius in this scene?