Medicine, Urbanisation and Religion in Classical Cos

The recent investigations in the city of Cos by the Politecnico of Bari have increased our knowledge of the plan and the architectural pattern of the urban centre. The review of epigraphic evidence and ancient sources offers insight into people’s life and the social background of the polis. This analysis, however, refers only incidentally to physicians and the school of medicine of Cos, which were tightly related to the synoecism of Cos. Despite of this, we are not sure about the location of the school and where the physicians practiced their art. The school was probably provided with a library, iatreia and teaching places, but at the moment none of these has been discovered. As regards medical practice in Cos, but also in other Greek poleis, adequate evidence suggests the involvement of physicians in the gymnasia. In Cos we know of at least three gymnasia, the most important for the extension (synoecism) being the Western gymnasium, which occupied a very large area within the urban tissue. These public areas served most of the major festivals of the polis, accommodated important events in the urban life and they were probably also involved in medical practice. Ancient sources record a wide use of public medicine practiced by Hippocratic physicians in Athens and other poleis, which concerns the health of the city and the prophylaxis (precaution) from epidemics. The pertinent spaces where medicine was practiced, as well as the teaching and research activity, may have been related to the gymnasia.