ABSTRACT
As other contributions to this volume will also be showing, it is a matter of consensus amongst historians of medicine today that the perception of historical figures and their achievements is usually made in a way which meets needs in the present in which that perception is created or current. In other words, with respect to Hippocrates, the image(s) and reputation(s) of Hippocrates created or current in any particular age meets the demands of that age, and may have little if anything to do with the historical figure him-, her-or (in the case of a multi-authored text such as the Hippocratic works) themselves.1 This means, of course, that there are many possible Hippocrateses, even in one generation and one locale, serving different, and sometimes opposed, purposes.
