Modern understanding of disease is very different from the way it was understood in<unk>  Greece and Rome. The way modern physicians approach healing of the sick differs greatly from the methods used by early general healers or elite physicians like Hippocrates or Galen. In modern medicine, the understanding of disease stems from the "germ theory of disease", a concept that emerged in the second half of the 19th century, such that a disease is the result of an invasion of a micro-organism into a living host. Therefore, when a person becomes ill, modern treatments "target" the specific pathogen or bacterium in order to "beat" or "kill" the disease. In<unk>  Greece and Rome, disease was literally understood as dis-ease, or physical imbalance. Medical intervention, therefore, was purposed with goal of restoration of harmony rather than waging a war against disease. Surgery was regarded by Greek and Roman physicians as extreme and damaging while prevention was seen as the crucial first step to healing almost all ailments. In both prevention and treatment of disease in classical medicine,<unk>  and<unk>  was central. The eating of correctly-balanced<unk> s made up the majority of preventative treatment as well as to restore harmony to the body after it encountered disease.
Food and diet in ancient medicine
African Americans and birth control
Catholic Church and HIV/AIDS
Women's medicine in antiquity
Chumash traditional medicine
Ancient Iranian medicine
Georgian folk medicine
Cunning folk