Medicine: From Biblical Canaan to Modern Israel

In this book leading historians and physicians tell the history of medicine in Israel and the Holy Land. They take us from Babylonian cuneiform medical records and their influence on the Talmud, through the Biblical and Talmudic periods to developments during Ottoman times and finally the British Mandate, when the Jewish community created many of the health bodies which were crucial for the new State.

Included in the comprehensive coverage of topics are: a chapter on Military Medicine which covers the era of the Crusaders, Napoleon’s Campaign at Jaffa and Acre, Allenby’s Palestine Campaign and medical innovations from Israel’s wars; while the traditional, or folk, medicine of Arabs and Jews and the history of Islamic medicine, including the contribution of leading Jewish physicians such as Maimonides, is also presented.

The book considers medical care in contemporary Israel. The modern era chapters consider the delivery of health care and its parameters, emergency medicine and key ethical issues which have impacted on medicine. Two chapters describe the importance of rehabilitation medicine, for Israel’s disabled, and the growing interest in complementary, or alternative, medicine. The book concludes with a chapter on Medicine in Israel Today highlighting the research and innovation for which Israel is known internationally.

This book will appeal to all those interested in the history of medicine from ancient to modern times, and also those who wish to see how important aspects of medicine are provided in today’s Israel.