The History of Cardiology: From Beginning to the End of the Galen Era

Writings regarding of the history of general medicine as translations or original works has a long history in our country, but when it comes to the history of specialized medicine less attention was paid. The purpose of this article is to open a narrow path and to motivate the young thinkers to do research.From the time the man began to converse and express wisdom, he spoke about his heart; however he did know the role of neither this part nor its diseases. The theories which have been propounded over the centuries have mostly been incorrect and far from reality.In Babylonian, Assyrian and Egyptian medicine, there have been indirect allusions to myocardial infraction and bacterial endocarditic. The Egyptians and the Chinese in particular have spoke about sphygmology which is one of the first direct physical signs of heart disease. In Hippocrates's writings, the heart muscle and valves are pointed out, but he believed that there was no blood in the arteries.Aristotle was among the first who dissected animals and talked about the circulatory blood. After the birth of Christ and in Romans era, there have been some symptoms of cardiac which retrospectively lead us to the etiology of heart disease. Galen in the second century gives us some information about the circulatory system; also mislead us regarding its physiology.