Mythical Greece, Egyptian Alexandria and ancient Rome were the cradle of ancient medicine where the beginnings of anatomy and physiology were combined with nature philosophy of great personalities such as Hippocrates and Galen. A modern contribution i.e. medical chemistry, to European medicine was made by Arab physicians Rhazes and Avicena. Only when clerical dogmatism was overcome, after the discovery of the New world and the development of universities the road to scientific progress was opened on which started the great surgeon and physician Andreas Vesalius.

        Key words: ancient medicine, A. Vesalius, scientific medicine.