Explore the history of medicine from prehistoric societies to the modern world. Follow the major periods and developments in medical knowledge, disease, treatment, surgery and public health.
History of Medicine
The history of medicine covers changing ideas about disease, the human body and treatment, from early medical practices to modern scientific medicine. Explore the subject through its major periods, diseases, discoveries and developments.
Prehistoric Medicine
Archaeology provides evidence of prehistoric health, disease, injury and treatment.
Ancient Medicine
Ancient medical traditions provide some of the earliest written and archaeological evidence for the treatment of disease and injury.
Ancient Egyptian Medicine · Ancient Greek Medicine · Roman Medicine
Medieval Medicine
Explore medieval medical practice, beliefs about disease, treatment and the development and transmission of medical knowledge.
The Black Death
The Black Death is a major case study in medieval disease, medical belief, treatment and responses to epidemic illness.
Black Death: Causes, Cures and Beliefs
Plague continued to return in later centuries, including Plague in the 15th Century.
Renaissance Medicine
Changing approaches to anatomy and observation challenged established medical ideas and altered understanding of the human body.
Infectious Disease
Vaccination, germ theory and laboratory science transformed the understanding and treatment of infectious disease.
The Fight Against Infectious Disease
Public Health
Public health developed in response to disease, population growth, urbanisation and changing understanding of the relationship between living conditions and health.
Public Health in the Industrial Revolution
Modern Medicine
Scientific research, new drugs, surgery, diagnostic technology and organised healthcare transformed medicine during the modern period.
Medicine and Warfare
Warfare created new medical challenges and accelerated developments in surgery, trauma treatment, blood transfusion and medical technology.
Medicine in the First World War
Themes in Medical History
Some questions in medical history cross chronological boundaries, including the causes of disease, religion, science and technology, public health and the factors that produced medical change.
Medicine Through Time Timelines
Medicine Through Time timelines provide chronological routes through the subject.
Teaching and Revision
Teaching resources and revision resources are available separately.