ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by formulating a response to the question concerning the relevance of the Oath to the history of medicine and to current and emerging problems in medical ethics. The Hippocratic Oath is a distinguished classical text that has for centuries served as the keystone of professional ethics in medicine and as the template for all subsequent revisions to ethical codes of conduct. The chapter describes recent advances in the study of intertextuality the comparative investigation of connections among texts from different collections and traditions that are revolutionizing our understanding of the origins and influence of significant works of ancient literature. It shows that the sequential order of topics in the Oath corresponds point by point to the serial order of the topics in the various classifications of the definition explained in Plato's Sophist. The chapter concentrates on two fundamental principles governing the organization and representation of information in ancient texts and other media: order and repetition.
