Trompoukis Constantinos, Kourkoutas Dimitrios
Department of History of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Greece.
Can J Ophthalmol. 2007 Jun;42(3):455-9.
In distant eras, mythology was a form of expression used by many peoples. A study of the Greek myths reveals concealed medical knowledge, in many cases relating to the eye.
An analysis was made of the ancient Greek texts for mythological references relating to an understanding of vision, visual abilities, the eye, its congenital and acquired abnormalities, blindness, and eye injuries and their treatment.
The Homeric epics contain anatomical descriptions of the eyes and the orbits, and an elementary knowledge of physiology is also apparent. The concept of the visual field can be seen in the myth of Argos Panoptes. Many myths describe external eye disease ("knyzosis"), visual disorders (amaurosis), and cases of blinding that, depending on the story, are ascribed to various causes. In addition, ocular motility abnormalities, congenital anomalies (cyclopia), injuries, and special treatments, such as the "licking" method, are mentioned.
The study of mythological references to the eye reveals reliable medical observations of the ancient Greeks, which are concealed within the myths.
在遥远的时代，神话是许多民族使用的一种表达方式。对希腊神话的研究揭示了隐藏的医学知识，在许多情况下与眼睛有关。
对古希腊文本进行分析，以寻找与视觉理解、视觉能力、眼睛、其先天性和后天性异常、失明以及眼外伤及其治疗相关的神话参考。
荷马史诗包含对眼睛和眼眶的解剖学描述，基本的生理学知识也很明显。在阿耳戈斯·潘诺普忒斯的神话中可以看到视野的概念。许多神话描述了外部眼病（“睑痉挛”）、视觉障碍（黑矇）以及失明病例，根据故事的不同，这些失明病例归因于各种原因。此外，还提到了眼球运动异常、先天性异常（独眼畸形）、损伤以及特殊治疗方法，如“舔舐”法。
对与眼睛相关的神话参考的研究揭示了古希腊人可靠的医学观察，这些观察隐藏在神话之中。
