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(Left) Engraving of a Bust of Hippocrates, 1638 (Right) Anthology of Hippocratic Writings, 1588

Photomontage of two images. On the left is a black and white engraving depicting the profile of a bald man with a full beard. On the right is the title page of a book consisting of drawings and texts. The black and white drawings depict physicians performing various tasks. The text is in Latin and presents the title of the work, the author, the translation, and the publisher, Mercuriale.

(Left) Library of the University of Oklahoma (Right) National Library of Medicine

(Left) Born in 460 BCE, on the Greek island of Kos, Hippocrates is generally considered to be the “father of medicine.” A physician of almost mythic fame, it is challenging today to separate his actual body of work from the writings attributed to him or the texts that espoused his philosophy. This engraving by Peter Paul Rubens represents the supposed bust of Hippocrates.

(Right) Title page of a Venetian edition of an anthology of Hippocratic writings featuring various representations of the physicians of ancient Greece, like Hippocrates and Galen.