Many of the texts cited are here made accessible for the first time, as they have previously only been available in medieval translations into Arabic. The book does not just provide new evidence to back up the standard arguments; it also argues for a change of perspective. By refusing to take Hippocratic medicine as the universal standard of ancient medical practice, greater emphasis is given to the alternatives, and Galen of Pergamum, the great Hippocratic physician, is set in a new historical context.