The writers examine the course of Greek ophthalmology from the Hellenistic period to the foundation of the first universities (19th century). In particular, the study refers to Galen, Antyllus, the Byzantine doctors Oribasius, Aetius of Ameda, Paul of Aegina, Alexander of Tralles, Nonnus Theophanes, Theophilus Protospatharius, Michael Psellos, Meletius Monachus, Nemesius bishop of Emeses and John Actuarius. The practice of empirical ophthalmology during the Ottoman domination of Greece is also examined, as is the earliest available evidence of modern Greek ophthalmological knowledge, deriving from the Ionian Islands.
The earliest scientific foundations of ophthalmology are to be discerned in the time of Hippocrates. It is then that medical thinking began to separate itself from the therapeutic views of the Asclepeions and the physical and rational approach to the patient, in accordance with the views of the father of Medicine which also affected the treatment of ophthalmological diseases.
However, the distinction of Ophthalmology as a speciality, (notwithstanding Herodotus' famous passage which indicates the existence of doctors specializing in Ophthalmology in Ancient Egypt (Herodotus, Lib. III, Ch. 84-85~ 12-16)) begins later in the Hellenistic period, for it is then that the first foundations in human anatomy and physiology were laid [22]. It is for this reason that our study begins with this period. The classic works of Hirschberg [15] and of Kostomires [21] give a good account of the basic ophthalmological knowledge of the Greeks in pre-Hippocratic times.
Of Hippocrates' successors we should remember Chrysippus (3rd century B.C.) whom several historians consider to be the first surgeon to operate on cataracts [9,10,19]. In the same period Evenor of Evepius also thrived and was rewarded with the rights of a hereditary citizen of Athens and a "golden wreath" for "being useful, through his skill, to many of her citizens" [20].
The Alexandrine period is basically represented by Herasistratus and the anatomist Herophilus, who wrote a book dealing specifically with the eyes and to whom we owe many present-day anatomic ophthalmological terms,