The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c14.5

c14.5

If one were to hold to these considerations one could be tempted not to pursue the enquiry and to conclude right now that no intellectual communication could have taken place between India and the Hellenic world before Alexander and that the analogies observed between the medical doctrines of India and Greece of that epoch are purely fortuitous, no matter how numerous and precise they may be. However, it must be observed that intellectual exchanges do not necessarily suppose complete and reciprocal knowledge, not even direct contacts. It will, therefore, not be correct on our part to say that because India and Greece had not known each other very well in antiquity, nothing could have passed from one to the other. To pursue the examination of the question of their relationship, it will suffice to find out if any intermediary had existed between them. We know that the Persian Empire had been this intermediary.