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There is evidence that the beginning of the human study of medicine was around 3500 B.C.E. Religious priests and medicine men were the first medical practitioners. In ancient Mesopotamia, c. 3500 B.C.E., there were two kinds of medicine men–the "ashipu" who diagnosed the disease or injury, and the "asu" who practiced healing medicine and was practiced in herbal remedies. Practices in this early period included bandaging and making plasters for wounds. Although many patients were treated in their home, the first houses of medicine were often placed near rivers, so the evil substances and spirits would be washed away. This tradition continues into the Greek and Roman periods, both societies placing their centers of healing near the ocean, a river or spring. Temples to gods and goddesses of healing were often used as healing centers, with spiritual and scientific remedies practiced there.

Ancient Indian medicine, or the Vedic tradition, encouraged the balance of body, mind and spirit between 3000 B.C.E. to about 800 B.C.E. They had knowledge of surgery and even the beginnings of plastic surgery were founded here.

Ancient Egyptian medicine was quite advanced for c. 2500 B.C.E. They had a solid understanding of anatomy because human dissection did not have the taboo much later Christian societies experienced. There are a few medical texts that have been preserved to the present that help us understand the medical practices of ancient Egypt. The Edwin-Smith papyrus, written c. 17th century B.C.E. and probably based on much older knowledge, is a text on trauma surgery. It is suspected to be written based on military battles and battle wounds. Most medical practitioners were literate and often priests. Once again, there is the connection with gods and medicine– the earliest physician was Imhotep, who lived c. 2725 B.C.E., and who was later lauded as a deity and called the god of medicine and healing. This practice of religious center and medical center was continued through the Greek and Roman periods, as well as into the Islamicate and Christendom.

Before Islamic hospitals, there were the “Ascelpia” in Greece and the “Xendodocheia” in the Byzantine empires. These pre-Islamic healing centers were a mixture of spiritual healing and temples of faith. They offered cures via sacrifices to the gods and purgative drugs. These temples were worship sites for a healing god, usually the Greek god Asklepios. Patients would often come to the temple with an offering to the god and then sleep in the temple overnight, awaiting a visit from Asklepios in their dreams, sometimes in the form a serpent which was said to have healing properties. .

These ascelpia took the environment of their grounds into account as well as their healing rituals. Most of the ascelpia were centered on a spring or a fountain and were near a gymnasium or theater. This was encouraged by the medicine at the time, which focused on balance of the whole human, both of body and mind. There were no official schools of medicine at the time, most practitioners learned their art through apprenticeships or assisting a practitioner. Even after the Christian conversion of Constantine, the Askelpian cult continued their practices and rituals well into the fourth century. In the late 300’s, Theodosius outlawed any pagan traditions and the cult finally died.

After the Christening of Constantine, as well as the influx of refugees into cities as populations grew and land did not, the church became the center for healing. The term xendocheia is begun to be used, which became known as a hostel for the poor. Bishops became known as spiritual healers, physicians of the soul.

One such bishop and institution of health was Saint Basil of Caesarea. Saint Basil built a hostel for the poor and the ill and placed it in the care of a monastery. It is described by fifth century historian Sozomen as “a storehouse of piety where disease is regarded in a religious light and sympathy put to the test.” Similar to the Askelpian cults, the idea of healing through incubation (sleeping in the temple) was also practiced under Christian empires. Patients would sleep in specific rooms that housed relics of a saint and hoped for the saint to appear in their dreams.

The church was often charged with the care of the sick, although students were not allowed to study theology and medicine at the same time. Statue 590 stated that students of theology could not even reside in the same area as medical students, because “books of the craft of the world should not be read with books of holiness in one light.”

These centers of health in antiquity helped shape the many new advances Islamicate scholars would pursue in medicine.

As for healing centers in the Islamicate world, the first bimaristans were mobile centers that date back to the time of Muhammed (PBUH). They were transported by beast of burden, primarily camels. Before there were major towns and cities, the mobile bismaristans were able to travel to patients and the remote areas of the region.