Hippocrates of Kos—the father of modern medicine

Excerpt

The island of Kos is part of the Dodecanese islands in the Greek archipelago. This group of 12 islands, which used to be called the Southern Sporades, is historically connected to the neighboring Cyclades. The entire region has an uninterrupted Greek tradition. Kos is situated south of the sponge divers' island Kálymnos and north of Nísyros at the mouth of the Gulf of Kos. Only four nautical miles separate Kos from Asia Minor (Fig. 1). The island is 45 km long and its width ranges between 2 and 11 km. The northeast tip juts out into the gulf and is situated between the Halicarnassus and Knidos peninsulas. …