Traditional Hellenic Medicine can be seen as a holistic system of health with wellness practices which have been passed down through generations of Greek people. It includes:

The experience of millennia of use and experimentation.

Folk medicine technologies which are taught informally through practice.

The home remedies that Greek people take with them to live in other continents.

Preventative and curative cultural traditions.

The survival techniques of Greece’s prehistoric inhabitants.

Using a holistic perspective to understand Traditional Hellenic Medicine, we find well-known theories and practices such as Humoralism and the Mediterranean Diet. This class will explore the other components of Traditional Hellenic Medicine, which are often under documented due to their informal, prehistoric or spiritually-oriented nature. We will look at holistic systems and examples of folk medicine from around the world, as well as from the beginning of time. Using a holistic health analysis methodology, we will outline some of the basic practices of Traditional Hellenic Medicine, including home remedies and herbalism that is still in use today.

Part 1:  Pharmacognosy, Pre-history & Artistic Representation

Introduction to Holistic Perspectives

Comparative view of clinical and folk branches of THM

Prehistoric & Instinctual Pharmacognosy

Ancient artistic representations of THM & entheogenic plant use

Part 2: Holistic Perspectives in Ancestral Practices & Herbalism

Using a holistic health system to analyze traditional medicine

Examples of Greek ancestral practices using the holistic health approach

Categories of ancestral herbalism – external, edible, soothing teas and specialized herbs

Applications in public health policy