Medical ethics in ancient times

Moral self-regulation is all the more important in ancient medicine since medical training and practice in the Greek-Roman world were not subjected to any legal or state regulations. Physicians on the one hand had to acquire scientific skills, through voluntary efforts, and on the other hand had to offer the image of a "friend-physician" with respect for the personality of the patient. This code of conduct would distinguish the professionally serious physician from the many quack-doctors who claimed to be healers. Conversely, the famous text of the so called "Hippocratic Oath" cannot be considered as a significant example of the prevailing positions in ancient medicine, because it draws inspiration from philosophical-religious concerns typical of the Pythagoric sect.