Centre for Policy on Ageing



The roots of geriatric medicine: care of the aged in Byzantine times (324-1453 AD)
Author(s)	J Lascaratos, E Poulacou-Rebelacou
Journal title	Gerontology, vol 46, no 1, January 2000
Pages	pp 2-6
Keywords	Health [elderly] ; Histories.
Annotation	Geriatrics is a relatively new branch of medicine, although the varying degrees of care given by societies to older people have been known since antiquity. This study examined original Byzantine (324-1453 AD) medical texts and contemporary historical sources in order to bring to light knowledge about ancient medical care. Findings showed that the problems of older age occupied physicians from earliest Byzantine times. They had dealt with the characteristics, symptoms and accompanying diseases of elderly people and endeavoured to confront all the medical problems faced by older people, providing a special healthy regimen for the third age and taking steps for the prevention of diseases in this age group and their treatment. The study and analysis of the original medical and historical texts of the Byzantine period, written in Greek language, prove that the roots of medical care for old age could be traced from ancient Greek and Byzantine medicine. (AKM).
Accession Number	CPA-000121234 A
Classmark	CC: 6A
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.