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Leech Therapy session.
Treatment with leeches
The Medical Leech
History could be traced through the invaluable benefits that medicinal leeches have brought to people’s lives. In ancient
Greek history and mythology it is a well-known fact that the gates of
Olympus - the mythical residence of the supreme
Greek gods - were depicted with two leeches.
Another legend from
Greece tells about the white river Aheloi that goes on for
220 km. It received its name from the
Greek god
Achelous, son of
Ocean and
Tethys. According to ancient mythology, during a fight with
Hercules, he turned first into a bull, from which Hercules broke off one horn, and then he turned into a leech. Hercules could not grasp his fingers around the elusive creature, and as a leech, Aheloi plunged into the deep river. The highlanders “Pinda”, inhabiting the riverbanks, believe that Aheloi under the guise of a leech, still lives in the river today.
A millennium ago, one of the first papers on the treatment of liver disease using leeches was created. The author of this work was
Galen – a Greek court physician to the emperor and author of more than
120 studies in anatomy, physiology, pathology and pharmacology. He was also the first to propose leeches be exported to other countries. However, his idea was not supported in his country.
Leech therapy had been implemented in
Egypt for some time prior. By order of the
Egyptian ruler
Ptolemy I, pond leeches were caught and sold in
Asia and
Africa, transported on the
Nile - Egypt's main river. Subsequently, leech fishing has become one of the most important ways to earn an income in Egypt. Leech fishing played a significant role in the fishing policies pursued by the queen, who later became a legend. As you may have guessed, this queen was
Cleopatra – the Egyptian queen, who ruled Egypt with her husband and brother
Ptolemy in 69-30 years BC. e.
After the death of Ptolemy, to keep the throne, she married
Caesar. She was his mistress and later became his wife. As a queen, her only chance to retain power was to produce a successor to the thrown, however, Cleopatra could not get pregnant.
After trying all folk remedies, ointments, drugs, rituals and spells and paid for the most expensive Egyptian healers, at the royal palace arrived a healer named
Cleomenes and said he knew "the surest means". As you may have guessed, it was medical leeches.
After a few sessions of hirudotherapy, of course, all the while sharing a bed with her husband, Cleopatra realized that she was expecting a an heir.
Following this miraculous healing, leeches were widely depicted on the walls of tombs for the next ten generations of
Egyptian pharaohs.
Leeches were also quite popular in
Rome. Leech images can be found on ancient vases, they are also mentioned in the manuscripts of the
Roman connoisseurs of medical healing. For example, Pliny - a statesman, historian and writer, author of the 37-volume encyclopedia study "
Natural History", in volumes 28th and
32nd talks about drugs of animal origin, including the treatment of medical leeches.
It is also known that leeches inspired ancient masters of painting, in the art of vase painting and sculpture. One of the masters of
Attic red-figure vase painting founders of the end of
VI century BC. Euphronios became known for inventing an original ornament. If you look at this ornament more closely, you can be distinguish in each of the two patterns leeches, interwoven with each other. Recognizable and distinguishable pattern even sucker on the front part of the body, the effects of this motif has become a pattern that was used master vase painting for centuries. Many people today have forgotten that it leeches became his prototype.
Museums exhibit special vessels for containing leeches.
Painted vessels such kind of "dance of the leech."
Italian painter of the early
Renaissance Sandro Botticelli known for his numerous paintings of religious and mythological themes.
Familiar to fans of his work and original Distinguishing graceful portraits of this master, including "Julio" (1495). At one of these portraits depicted session setting a few leeches behind the ear to the patient.
In ancient times, healers knew three of the most effective method of treatment. The first and most popular of them was bleeding using medicinal leeches. The second most popular was considered bloodletting. The third method involves the use of blood cans: on the skin of the patient makes a small incision, put the bank and the bank itself stretched "bad" blood.
Practice shows that the most pronounced and persistent therapeutic effect was achieved after the bloodletting using leeches. While doctors had no idea what, except bloodletting helps the sick body leech.
True, there were those who did not recommend leeches because of their "inconvenience" - as you already know, after a session of the wound while still oozing blood.
- published: 17 May 2015
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