Laodicea health altar and analogies in ancient medicine

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the bas relief impressions of compositional, structural, figurative meanings of the medical school represented by the Laodicea health altar created in the time of Emperor Caesar Augustus (27 BC–14 AD). Materials and methods: The golden ratio, the proportional geometry and the structure used in the Laodicea Health Altar’s intricate relief were analyzed to find out the analogical relation between mathematics, nature and physics in the development of medicine in this time of melding Greek, Egyptian and Turkish science and philosophy. Results: It’s clear that applications of Egyptian geometry and the integral use of the Golden Ratio on the Laodicea Health altar is considered as the measurement systems. At the same time, Laodicea’s medical school used the scientific analogy of the human body, proportions of nature and the golden ratio not only applies to architecture and nature but also to the universe, the human body and medicine. Conclusion: The discovery of this altar proves that Laodecia and Turkey were at the forefront of the movement from mythos to logos in developing hard science in the medical field as it combined mathematics, physics and the Golden Ratio into medicine.