Autopsy (Seeing for Oneself)

Autopsia literally means 'seeing for oneself,' and Greek inquirers prized firsthand observation as the most reliable kind of evidence. Herodotus (5th c. BCE) repeatedly marks the difference between what he personally saw (opsis) and what he was merely told. The same regard for eyewitness travel and inspection runs through later historiography and Hippocratic medicine alike, establishing direct observation as a benchmark of credible knowledge in the Greek tradition.

Where to read it

• Fragments & Testimonia440 BCE

  Herodotus· Thurii (Magna Graecia)
• De natura pueri370 BCE

  Hippocrates· Kos
• Fragmenta370 BCE

  Democritus
• Tusculanae Disputationes43 BCE

  Cicero· Formiae
• In Hippocratis De natura hominis175 CE

  Galen· Rome