Vikos doctors
Encyclopedia
Vikos doctors were folk healers or practical medical practitioners from the Greek
area of Zagori
in the 18-19th century.
word ἰατρός (iatrós, doctor or healer) is often translated as physician
. Vikos doctors were local doctors practicing a form of herbal medicine in the 18th and 19th century.
and particularly from the villages of Tsepelovo
, Fraggades, Papingo, Skamneli
, Koukouli
, Monodendri
and Kapesovo
. They used local herbs to heal ailments of people as well as of livestock. These herbs and parts of some other plants were being collected from the Vikos gorge, hence the attribution. They were descendants of an ancient craft who in the Ottoman
period attained great fame. Some even served as advisors in the courts of the Ottoman Sultans. One named Paschaloglou from Kapesovo
even became a confidente of four Sultans: Abdul Hamit I, Suleiman III, Mustafa IV and Mahmut II.
One of the herbs used was the nightshade Atropa belladonna for cholicspasm
s. The drug atropine
has been extracted from this plant which is medicinally used for this purpose to our own day. It is also said that two Vikos doctors, Pantazis Exarchou and Zonias, used fungi to treat infected wounds well before penicillin
was discovered by Alexander Fleming
. Other plants with suspected or known medicinal properties were also in their repertory and grow abundantly in the area, among them the lemon balm Melissa officinalis, St John’s Wort Hypericum perforatum, absinth Artemisia absinthium
and the elder bush Sambucus nigra
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
area of Zagori
Zagori
Zagori , is a region and a municipality in the Pindus mountains in Epirus, in northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Asprangeloi. It has an area of some 1,000 square kilometres and contains 45 villages known as Zagoria , and is in the shape of an upturned equilateral...
in the 18-19th century.
Etymology
The GreekGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
word ἰατρός (iatrós, doctor or healer) is often translated as physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
. Vikos doctors were local doctors practicing a form of herbal medicine in the 18th and 19th century.
History
The Vikos doctors hailed from the area of central ZagoriZagori
Zagori , is a region and a municipality in the Pindus mountains in Epirus, in northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Asprangeloi. It has an area of some 1,000 square kilometres and contains 45 villages known as Zagoria , and is in the shape of an upturned equilateral...
and particularly from the villages of Tsepelovo
Tsepelovo
Tsepelovo , older form: -on is a village in the Zagori region . It stands at a height of 1,200 meters in a panoramic location on the mountain range of Tymfi. It is the biggest of the 45 villages of Zagori and it was the seat of Tymfi municipality...
, Fraggades, Papingo, Skamneli
Skamneli
Skamneli is a village in the Zagori region , 54 km north of Ioannina. It is built in the fringes of mountain Tymfi , at a height of 1160 m.- Name :...
, Koukouli
Koukouli
Koukouli is a neighbourhood in the city of Patras, Achaia, Greece....
, Monodendri
Monodendri
Monodendri may refer to:*Monodendri, Ioannina, a village in Zagori in Ioannina Prefecture, Greece*Monodendri, Achaea, part of the municipality of Vrachneika in Achaea Prefecture, Greece...
and Kapesovo
Kapesovo
Kapesovo is a village in the Zagori region , it is 43 km north of Ioannina. The name Kapesovo is slavic and means garden. The village used to be more south near Baya , where lots of vegetables were grown and it was called "Kapouska". It was later moved to its current position for health reasons...
. They used local herbs to heal ailments of people as well as of livestock. These herbs and parts of some other plants were being collected from the Vikos gorge, hence the attribution. They were descendants of an ancient craft who in the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
period attained great fame. Some even served as advisors in the courts of the Ottoman Sultans. One named Paschaloglou from Kapesovo
Kapesovo
Kapesovo is a village in the Zagori region , it is 43 km north of Ioannina. The name Kapesovo is slavic and means garden. The village used to be more south near Baya , where lots of vegetables were grown and it was called "Kapouska". It was later moved to its current position for health reasons...
even became a confidente of four Sultans: Abdul Hamit I, Suleiman III, Mustafa IV and Mahmut II.
One of the herbs used was the nightshade Atropa belladonna for cholicspasm
Spasm
In medicine a spasm is a sudden, involuntary contraction of a muscle, a group of muscles, or a hollow organ, or a similarly sudden contraction of an orifice. It is sometimes accompanied by a sudden burst of pain, but is usually harmless and ceases after a few minutes...
s. The drug atropine
Atropine
Atropine is a naturally occurring tropane alkaloid extracted from deadly nightshade , Jimson weed , mandrake and other plants of the family Solanaceae. It is a secondary metabolite of these plants and serves as a drug with a wide variety of effects...
has been extracted from this plant which is medicinally used for this purpose to our own day. It is also said that two Vikos doctors, Pantazis Exarchou and Zonias, used fungi to treat infected wounds well before penicillin
Penicillin
Penicillin is a group of antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi. They include penicillin G, procaine penicillin, benzathine penicillin, and penicillin V....
was discovered by Alexander Fleming
Alexander Fleming
Sir Alexander Fleming was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy...
. Other plants with suspected or known medicinal properties were also in their repertory and grow abundantly in the area, among them the lemon balm Melissa officinalis, St John’s Wort Hypericum perforatum, absinth Artemisia absinthium
Artemisia absinthium
Artemisia absinthium is a species of wormwood, native to temperate regions of Eurasia and northern Africa....
and the elder bush Sambucus nigra
Sambucus nigra
Sambucus nigra is a species complex of elder native to most of Europe.It is most commonly called Elder, Elderberry, Black Elder, European Elder, European Elderberry, European Black Elderberry, Common Elder, or Elder Bush when distinction from other species of Sambucus is needed...