oday, most medical students take a solemn vow, repeating the Hippocratic Oath, named for Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician we call the "Father of Medicine." Although we know little about him--he has been described as the "most famous but least known Greek physician"--in his own day, Hippocrates (ca. 460-370 B.C.) was spoken of with respect by Plato and Aristotle. He was born at the island of Kos, near Ionia (the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea), and after practicing medicine throughout Greece, he devoted considerable time to teaching students.
None of the surviving late fifth- and early fourth-century B.C. Greek medical treatises--numbering about 70 and collectively known as the Hippocratic corpus--can be securely ascribed to the great physician himself. They could have been compiled by his students, who conceivably added to their master's notes, handbooks, and lecture materials. Perhaps in part from a library on Kos, the texts--gathered together in Alexandria at a later date--reflect the rich legacy of the Ionian school of medicine.
The article describes a case of trepanation and has a couple of nice large photos of the skull. Read the whole thing.