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The medical triad of physician-patient-pharmacist, ca. 1600s
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The medical triad of physician-patient-pharmacist, ca. 1600s
This 17th-century painting of a pharmacy equates the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (460 BCE–370 BCE) with Greek gods. It shows Asklepios (right), the god of medicine and healing, leaning on a bust of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. Also, a physician reads medical books while a pharmacist mixes up medicine and Hygeia, the Ancient Greek patron goddess of pharmacy and daughter of Asklepios, cares for a patient. By combining the gods’ presence with the bust and practitioners, the artist presents Hippocrates as a key patron of Western medicine.