As well as telling the story of the development of medical ideas, from the early Greeks to the massive handbooks of Late Antiquity, this book looks at the place of medicine in ancient society. Vivian Nutton explores the life and work of doctors, looking at the diseases they faced, the ways in which they obtained their knowledge, and whether they were respected by the community. He also investigates the relationship between medicine and the various religious beliefs of antiquity, asking if there were fixed boundaries between medicine and magic; finally he examines the differences in approaches to medicine between a great city such as Rome to territories such as Egypt or Roman Britain.