Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 347: Theonias Medical Symposium

In fact, it was mainly the physicians of Theonia that were talking. On the first day, they were mainly discussing medical theory and all kinds of medical terms coming out from the mouth of those young physicians, which was not only unheard of but even all kinds of unique medical theories and discoveries that have overturned their previous knowledge and experience, leaving them pondering, as if a window had been opened for them to see a new and broader world of medicine, making them excited.

Nicostratus did not eat much dinner as he had spent the whole night thinking about what he heard during the day. At this time, the only thing he hated is that his memory is not good enough to memorise all he learned. Thus he had to lie down in bed trying to remember the things he heard during the day, making him unable to sleep well that night. However, he still went to the Medical School the following morning together with Strasippus, filled with energy.

When they arrived at the gate of the Akademia of Theonia, there were hundreds of physicians waiting there. Naturally, they were not waiting for the two Crotonians but were waiting for the arrival of Theonia's archon, Davos, with great expectation.

Fortunately, Nicostratus was no longer as extreme as he was before he had come to Thurii. Through the exchange the day before, he had conversed with the other physicians, making him deeply understand Davos’s lofty status in Theonia that even the foreign physicians who have heard his speech before spoke of him with respect, which made Nicostratus curious about Davos. Thus he waited as quietly as any other physicians.

Not long after, Davos came, accompanied by the dean of the Medical School, Herpus, together with a dozen guards behind them.

Then a commotion broke out from the physicians trying to meet Davos.

And the guards immediately wanted to stop them but were called back by Davos. He then welcomed them with a smile, and Steichidas immediately asked the physicians to observe the order consciously.

Davos could mostly call those foreign physicians who attended the Medical Symposium last year by name, and he was happy to converse with them.

“Klaus, I remember you. You are that famous physician from Metapontum. What wonderful speech have you brought this time?” Davos said with a smile to the physician in front of him.

“Lord Davos, stop teasing me. In front of you, how could I dare be called a famous physician!?” Klaus said humbly.

“In this sacred place, there is no such thing as ‘Lords’. There are only physicians and scholars who are engaged in medicine.” Davos smiled as he corrected him, “So you can just call me Davos.”

“D-Davos.” Klaus bowed respectfully and then said, “Coriopas of Taranto was unable to attend this symposium for some reason. So he had asked me to bring his apologies and his regret of not being able to hear your wonderful speech!”

Davos' expression became somewhat helpless and sighed, “Although Theonia and Taranto have had some minor misunderstandings and conflicts in the past two years, this should not be an obstacle to academic exchanges!”

After reaching a peace agreement with Messapi, Taranto had gradually recovered their strength. However, they began to feel angry at Heraclea and Metapontum for breaking away from the Tarantine Alliance, and of course, with it, they also hate Theonia that had once rescued them. However, the current might of Theonia can only make them swallow their hatred. Diaomilas, the representative of the radicals, was nearly expelled due to the accusation of the ecclesia about him almost losing all the troops by the ambushed of the Messapi-Peuceti coalition, causing his future political career to end. But in the past two years, by cunningly complying with the people’s wishes and publicly attacking Theonia many times and even denounced the Council as being too weak in dealing with Theonia, which had allowed him to win back the support of the discontent people. Thus, managing to be elected as the archon again at the end of last autumn.

As a result, small frictions became frequent between Taranto and Theonia, such as the Tarantines entering the territory of Metapontum many times without any reason; When the fishing boats of Taranto and Theonia meet at sea, they would often exchange insults and cause conflict; The goods piled up by Theonia's merchant ships at the port of Taranto would often be lost and occasionally be seized, which has caused Theonia's diplomatic envoy to go to Taranto many times to protest. He even joked that ‘The time I spent here in Taranto is more than the combined time travelling to foreign countries in my life!’

But in general, the two sides still maintained restraint. After all, they are still in an alliance, and Taranto still needed the support of Theonia as they are still facing pressure from Messapi and Peuceti. It's just that the newly elected archon played some tricks to vent out the public's discontent and respond to their expectations of him. And Theonia, out of guilt for their poaching of Heraclea and Metapontum, had turned a blind eye and tried to put things to rest.

After exchanging greetings with the physicians, the crowd gathered around him and entered the gate.

After a short walk, a man rushed out in front, shocking Martius, who was about to run forward to stop the man.

As he gets closer, they could hear the man shouting excitedly, “Davos, it's completed! We made it! We have finished the model design of the stone bridge on the Saraceno River! And after our test, we found that there is no problem!”

Finding that it was Marticoris, Martius slowed down. However, this has reminded him to immediately order the guards to patrol around and stop any rash intruders.

With this news, Davos also became happy, “That's great! Give the stone bridge model and data to Heracleides the Younger, and once I am done here, I would go check your wonderful results!”

“There is also another good news! We have designed a new pulley block, which can make the lifting arm rotate 360 degrees. So you must go check it and give us some suggestions to improve.” Marticoris continued.

Davos became happier and immediately gave his promise.

Now, Marticoris is no longer as negligent as when he first came to Amendolara. He is now also started undertaking some management tasks while doing research in the Institute of Mathematics. After saying a few words, he hurriedly ran away.

“Who is that man?” Nicostratus was curious about the person who spoke to Davos.

“Marticoris, he is the vice dean of the Institute of Mathematics, a crazy mathematical genius!” Said one of the Theonian physicians.

“It's great that Theonia is finally about to build stone bridges!” A Heraclean physician said happily. In Heraclea, there are many rivers, and during rainy seasons, the river would sharply rise, almost turning the place into a marsh. Although they had already asked Theonia to help them build several wooden bridges before, most of them end up getting submerged in the water during the rainy season, so the Heracleans were worried about the durability of the wooden bridges after being repeatedly soaked by the river water and in a long time. But with the stone bridges, they would feel more at ease.

After seeing the vice dean of the Institute of Mathematics had also asked the young archon for advice, made Nicostratus, who had a good impression of Davos' cordial greetings just now, looked forward to his speech even more.

Davos stood on the podium, with the seated physicians below him.

At their expectant gaze, Davos cleared his throat and said unhurriedly, “As we have already greeted each other at the gate of the Akademia just now, I will not do the same here.”

The physicians gave out a burst of chuckles as each physician who had come on the stage would introduce themselves and greeted their peers, which has gradually become the norm during the Medical Symposium.

Davos smiled, reaches out his right hand as if he was holding something, “What do you think I am holding in my hands?”

There is nothing! Some people immediately have such thoughts.

Without waiting for their answer, Davos said, “It is air. The omnipresent air, which was the name we have given it. Although it looks like there is nothing, every one of us, even animals, can not do without it. If you don't believe me, you can cover your mouth and nose with sacks and isolate yourself from the air, and soon you will suffocate and die.

All of us knows this very well, but why is the seemingly empty air so important to us? What is the relationship between it and our body? Today, I will talk about this issue, hoping to arouse your thinking.”

As soon as Davos spoke, the physicians widened their eyes and pricked up their ears. Even Herpus and Steichicodas, who were in the front row, leaned forward with a hint of excitement on their faces.

“For air to connect to our body, it must first enter the body. The entrance, we all know it very well. It is our mouth and nose. But where is the exit?” Davos looked at everyone, “Some people will say it's our buttocks because there is a fart.”

Another round of laughter burst out.

“Of course not. One could even say that the air that enters our mouth has little to do with the fart we let out.” Davos said, facing a wooden mannequin about the size of a human, “Thanks to our physicians of the Medical School for their unremitting research on human anatomy, as well as the exquisite craftsmanship of Thurii that they were able to make the most realistic and exquisite human body structure model in the world. And I will use this model to explain it to everyone.”

In this era, it is illegal to desecrate the bodies in the Greek city-states, and they may even face the death penalty. However, the search for truth prompted a few physicians to risk their lives to dissect corpses silently to solve the mysteries in their minds, and one of the famous physicians was Hippocrates. But in Theonia, because of the high status of physicians, and the fact that Herpus was a part of the Senate, and with Theonia also establishing the Ministry of Health last year, and more importantly, with the support of the archon, Davos, the Senate specially introduce a law for “dissection”. Allowing the Medial School to also use the unclaimed corpses of slaves or the corpses of unrecognised enemies on the battlefield for medical research, but each corpse must be registered in the Ministry of Health and must not be dissected in public places. After use, the remains must be buried in a specified location in time to avoid causing plagues, etc.