This is an essay which compares and contrasts the Inca civilization to the Greek civilization.

1. Ayasha Mays <br />March 9, 2011<br />Honors WLit<br />Inca vs. Greece <br />“Far away in location, but close in similarity.” This is the relationship between the Inca and Greek empire. Although, these ancient civilizations are on opposite sides of the world, they were both very successful empires with many similarities such as medicine, architecture, and religion. Both countries were very skilled in medicine. The Greeks were famous for their columns and the Incas were famous for their roads. Both the Incas and the Greeks were polytheistic.<br />Both countries were very advanced in medicine. The Incans believed that all sicknesses were caused by the act of supernatural forces.The medicine of the Incas still in practice in Peru, it’s a mixture of herbal and spiritual treatment.The Inca doctors were capable to treat complex wounds with a high rate of survival.It’s unbelievable, but the skull of the image belongs to a man who survive the surgery. The Incans were known for possessing special knowledge of medicinal herbs. For example, coca leaves, were used as anesthesia to reduce the pain during surgeries. The Inca medicine knew how to successfully treat sicknesses in the immune system. They had treatments capable of increasing the natural production of white cells. The Inca doctors knew how to treat the urinary track and respiratory disorders, and how to restore the proper functioning of the digestive system. There were three types of doctors that would help cure the patient. The first doctor would find out the origin of the sickness by researching the daily life of the patient. The second doctor was responsible for using his knowledge about the disease, and mix together herbs to cure the patient. The third doctor was responsible for treating the soul of the patient. Besides coming up with herbs that could be used as remedies, the Incas were also surgeons. They practiced trepanation, a procedure that is performed to relieve pressure caused by fluid buildup, by cutting off a piece of skull. The Incans were highly skilled that by 1400 the survival rates reached 90% and the infection levels were low, a great statistic, seeing that the procedure was fatal (Norris, Scott. quot;
Inca Skull Surgeons Were quot;
Highly Skilled,quot;
Study Finds”).<br /> Inca was not the only ancient civilization that was highly advanced, but so was Greece.<br />Hippocrates was known as the “father of medicine” because he was the first to lay the foundation of medicine as a branch of science. Hippocrates came up with the theory of the four Humors. He believed that people were made out of four substances: blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm. If the patient was healthy then all of the four humors were balanced. If the patient had too much of one humor, then he would be unbalanced, and ill. Hippocratic writing is a collection of sixty treatises written by students. It is called the Hippocratic writing because it is believed that Hippocrates was the author of the writings on preventive medicine. The writings introduced patient confidentiality, a practice which is still in use today. Hippocrates recommended that physicians record their findings and their medicinal methods, so that these records may be passed down and employed by other physicians. It is an oath historically taken by doctors swearing to practice medicine ethically. Medicine was not the only similarity between the two civilizations, another is architecture. <br />The Incans possessed exceptional architectural skills. A great example is the Incan system of roads. The Incas created approximately 60,000 km of roads to travel on. The roads were lined with finely shaped stones that were coated with mud and clay finishing, and sanded into tight jigsaw like patterns. The stones were also very important and used often as a building material. The stones were among the finest in the world because of the precise cutting. They had a very simple process of cutting the rocks. They would insert a wooden wedge into cracks in the stone and soaking it with water until the wood expands and fractures the rock. <br />Most Greeks had simple homes because they had very detailed public buildings. The public buildings were usually cubed or rectangle and made from limestone, a mineral of which Greece had in abundance, and cut into large blocks and dressed. The Greeks had two styles of architecture, ionic and doric, and later on added another style known as Corinthian. The ionic style was thin and elegant, and stands on a base which separates the shaft from the platform. The doric style was formal and austere, and sat on the pavement without a base. Their vertical shafts were filled with parallel concave grooves, and topped with a smooth capital. The corinthian style column is similar to the ionic column but a bit more slender. It is topped with a very distinct capital that was filled with detailed carvings. Although the styles were different from each other they were all famous for their details. The last similarity between the two countries was religion.<br />Religion is another similarity between the two civilizations. Both the Greeks and Incans were polytheistic. The Greeks worshipped gods and goddesses such as Athena and Zeus, but each city- state would devote itself to a particular god or set of gods. The gods and goddesses took on human form and exhibited human characteristics and emotions. The only difference between humans and gods were that they were immortal. They never had meat because animals were always sacrificed to the gods to make them happy. The Incans, on the other hand, worshipped gods and goddesses of the nature, such as Earth goddess Pachamama and the sun god, the Inti. The Incas called themselves “children of the sun” because they always sacrificed children to the sun god, Inti. Both the Greek and the Incan believed that the gods could intervene to help or hinder them. <br />Although these empires are on opposing sides of the world, there are similarities that the two have in common. Both countries were very skilled in medicine. The Greeks were famous for their columns and the Incas were famous for their roads. Both the Incas and the Greeks were polytheistic. The Inca were famous for their surgeries, and the Greeks for their idea of the humors. <br />Sources<br />Salpietra, Melissa. quot;
Inca Skull Surgery .quot;
PBS. <br />Nova Beta, 01/01/10 . Web. 9 Mar 2011<br />quot;
Greek Architecture.quot;
Crystalinks. Ellie <br />Crystal , n.d. Web. 9 Mar 2011.<br />Norris, Scott. quot;
Inca Skull Surgeons <br />Were quot;
Highly Skilled,quot;
Study Finds.quot;
<br /> National Geographic . National Geographic <br />News, 12/5/08. Web. 9 Mar 2011.<br />