Tracing the art of the physician in the ancient world, this book captures the healers' attempts to conquer pain over the centuries. Looking at the civilizations of the ancient world - Greece at the time of Hippocrates, Rome under the Caesars, the Egypt of the Pharohs, the India of Ashoka and China as Mencius knew it - Dr Guido Majno has returned to the orginal sources to unravel history from documents as varied as personal letters, buried artifacts and early treatises. He has reconstructed ancient experiments in a modern laboratory and has evaluated ancient remedies with today's methods.