A representation of an individual with cancer has been present since the fourth century BC. Satyrus, the autocrat of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, contracted cancer in the region between his groin and scrotum. Satyrus endured an increasing amount of suffering as the malignancy metastasized. He was unable to fall asleep and suffered from convulsions.
In that region of the body, advanced malignancies were regarded as incurable, and there were no analgesics that were sufficiently potent to alleviate the anguish. Consequently, clinicians were rendered powerless. Satyrus ultimately passed away at the age of 65 due to the malignant disease.
Even during this period, cancer was widely acknowledged. The process of breast cancer development was described in the text “Diseases of Women,” which was composed in the late fifth or early fourth century BC:
hard growths form […] out of them hidden cancers develop […] pains shoot up from the patients’ breasts to their throats, and around their shoulder blades […] such patients become thin through their whole body […] breathing decreases, the sense of smell is lost […]
Various types of malignancies are described in other medical works from this era. A woman from the Greek city of Abdera passed away due to chest cancer, while a man who had throat cancer was able to tolerate it after his physician surgically removed the tumor.
What is the origin of the term “cancer”?
What is the origin of the term “cancer” in the Latin and ancient Greek words for crab? Galen, a physician, offers one explanation. Pierre Roche Vigneron/Wikimedia
The term “cancer” was coined during the same time period. Malignant tumors were being described by physicians using the term karkinos, which is derived from the ancient Greek word for crab, in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BC. It was not until later that Latin-speaking physicians employed the Latin term for crab, cancer, to characterize the same disease. Consequently, the appellation persisted.
In antiquity, individuals were perplexed as to why clinicians would assign diseases animal names. One explanation was that the crab is an aggressive animal, similar to how cancer can be an aggressive disease. Another explanation was that the crab can hold onto a specific part of a person’s body with its talons and be difficult to remove, similar to how cancer can be difficult to remove once it has developed. Others hypothesized that the tumor’s physical characteristics were the cause.
In his work A Method of Medicine to Glaucon, the physician Galen (129–216 AD) compared the morphology of breast cancer to that of a crab.
We have often seen in the breasts a tumour exactly like a crab. Just as that animal has feet on either side of its body, so too in this disease the veins of the unnatural swelling are stretched out on either side, creating a form similar to a crab.
There was a lack of consensus regarding the cause of cancer.
Divergent perspectives regarding the origins of cancer were prevalent during the Greco-Roman period.
A widely accepted ancient medical theory asserts that the human body is composed of four humors: black bile, blood, yellow bile, and phlegm. These four humours need to be kept in a state of balance; otherwise, a person becomes sick. Previously, it was believed that an excessive amount of black phlegm would lead to the development of malignancy.
Contrary to this perspective was the physician Erasistratus, who lived between 315 and 240 BC. He did not offer an alternative explanation, as far as we are aware.
What was the progression of cancer?
A variety of methods were employed to treat cancer. At that time, it was believed that medication could be used to treat early-stage malignancies.
Pharmaceutical substances were derived from a variety of sources, such as metals (arsenic), plants (e.g., cucumber, narcissus bulb, castor bean, acrid vetch, and cabbage), and animals (e.g., crab ash).
Galen asserted that he was occasionally able to eradicate nascent cancers by administering this type of medication and repeatedly purging his patients with emetics or enemas. He asserted that the progression of more advanced malignancies was occasionally halted by the same treatment. He did, however, mention that surgery is an alternative in the event that these medications are ineffective.
Surgical intervention was typically postponed as a result of the high mortality rate that is associated with blood loss. Malignancies that affected the apex of the breast were the focus of surgical interventions that were most effective. Leonidas, a physician who lived in the second and third centuries AD, described his method, which involved cauterization (burning):
I usually operate in cases where the tumours do not extend into the chest […] When the patient has been placed on her back, I incise the healthy area of the breast above the tumour and then cauterize the incision until scabs form and the bleeding is stanched. Then I incise again, marking out the area as I cut deeply into the breast, and again I cauterize. I do this [incising and cauterizing] quite often […] This way the bleeding is not dangerous. After the excision is complete I again cauterize the entire area until it is dessicated.
Cancer was feared as a result of the prevalent belief that it was an incurable illness. Silius Italicus, a poet who lived from 26 to 102 AD, was among those who committed suicide in order to alleviate their suffering from illness.
Furthermore, patients would implore the gods for a miraculous cure. Innocentia, an aristocratic woman who lived in Carthage (present-day Tunisia) during the fifth century AD, served as an example of this. Despite her doctor’s skepticism, she informed him that divine intervention had successfully cured her breast cancer.
Innocentia, a native of Carthage in present-day Tunisia, was miraculously cured of her breast cancer by the mercy of God.
From the past to the future
Starting in the 4th century BC, we encountered the tyrant Satyrus. Since that time, approximately 2,400 years have elapsed, and our comprehension of the causes, prevention, and treatment of cancer has undergone substantial changes. Additionally, we are aware that there are over 200 distinct types of cancer. Exceptionally long lifetimes are achieved by certain individuals who have cancer that is effectively managed.
However, there is still no universal “cure” for cancer, a disease that affects approximately one in five individuals during their lifetime. Globally, approximately 20 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million cancer-related fatalities were recorded in 2022. It is evident that we have a significant distance to cover.
