Between “science” and magic: pre-Hippocratic Greek origins of medicine and surgery

Before Hippocrates Greek medicine and surgery, which certainly has its origins in myth, was influenced by Mesopotamia, the Hittites and the Egyptians. Moreover, the early civilization of Crete and Mycenaean culture influenced all ancient civilizations, demonstrating that trade and circulation of knowledge made the Mediterranean a meeting place between peoples and cultures, including the medical arts, which developed through an initial path of priestly magic, rituals, and knowledge from the east that influenced early Greek civilization.