The pseudo-hippocratic treatise on flesh and the testimony of Phaedo

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between the pseudo-Hippocratic treatise On flesh and the passage of the Phaedo 96b-d. The description of the Platonic text is very similar in content and structure, with the signed physician. The author starts explaining about the creation of the various organs of the human body through heat and cold. He details on the phenomena of putrefaction and food. He stresses the importance of obtaining evidence of the sensations of the body. Although it is not sufficient evidence to claim that Plato read this treaty, we can make a connection between the two works through a theme that was common to them, the impact of natural philosophy on medicine and on the discussions of the centuries V and IV BCE.