Medical Education in the Ancient Greek and Islam

In the Abbasid era, the translation movement provided the ground for familiarity of Muslim physicians with the main medical textbooks of the Greek medicine. Reviewing the books of medical history after Islam, it can be concluded that the roots of many post-Islam institutions in medical education originate from the conventional educational methods in the ancient Greece. In fact, Muslims adopted many methods of the Greeks in the field of theoretical education, while Muslims were influenced the least in the area of practical education. Muslims adopted the conventional methods of medical education in Greece, and also brought about some innovations in the field. Furthermore, in the first seven Hijrah centuries, the main educational sources in all levels, elementary to advanced, were Greek medical textbooks. However, Muslims were innovative in giving students’ examinations. Herein, we address the issue that along with getting familiar with the Greek medical textbooks, the Muslim physicians became acquainted with medical education approaches in the ancient Greece, and these methods became the origin of many medical education methods of Muslims.