ABSTRACT
T hroughout history, man has striven to understand the liver’s function and disorders.Early representations o f the liver were seen in the form of clay models o f sheep livers from the Assyro-Babylonian era (3000-2000 BCE).1 Ancient cultures believed that the liver was responsible for generating heat and blood, qualities essential for life and soul. But it was not until the Classical Age of Greece when early beliefs, ideas and concepts of pathogenesis o f liver disease were developed. Greek physicians regarded the liver, and particularly the portal system, as the starting point of many disorders. Hippocrates (460-375 BCE) believed that the liver secreted two humors, yellow and black bile, out of the four which constituted the essential components of bodily processes.2 The correct proportion of humors assured good health, and humor disproportion was responsible for development o f disease. Excess yellow bile was believed to be associated with the qualities o f warmth and dryness. Yellow bile induced acute disease and acted on the brain to cause restlessness and delirium. In contrast, black bile, with cold and dry qualities, produced chronic disease, debility and other nervous system disorders.
