Writer: Yavuz İşçen

May 2010

Unfortunately we do not have much information about the life of Aretaeus, the medical pundit and who thought be born and lived around Göreme. Since he has lived during Roman period, most of the sources defined him as Greek originated. However Aretaeus is an Anatolian physician from Cappadocia. It is known that he has lived between the years of 130 and 200 and studied medicine in famous Alexandria city and then been a physician in Rome. In pagan Rome during a period when people were explaining the illnesses with supernatural powers and trying to heal by magic, the importance of Aretaeus raises. His attitude based on his clinical approach including keeping the patient under observation, listening the problems of the patient carefully, searching for the reasons, diagnosing and looking for therapy ways.   His approach nevertheless found its place after 16^th century when the medicine developed and this caused his being famous as a physician. This situation shows us that he was a medical pundit who lived beyond his era. Aretaeus had superior ability, his approaches on various topics of medicine and most of his definitions are still being used and counted among the base of the modern medicine. His definitions and ideas about diabetes, migraine, mania, melancholia, broncho spasm induced by exercises, tracheotomy, celiac disease can be shown as examples for that.

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