title: The art of providing resuscitation in Greek mythology.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We reviewed Greek mythology to accumulate tales of resuscitation and we explored whether these tales could be viewed as indirect evidence that ancient Greeks considered resuscitation strategies similar to those currently used.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three compendia of Greek mythology: The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology, The Greek Myths by Robert Graves, and Greek Mythology by Ioannis Kakridis were used to find potentially relevant narratives.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirteen myths that may suggest resuscitation (including 1 case of autoresuscitation) were identified. Methods to attempt mythological resuscitation included use of hands (which may correlate with basic life support procedures), a kiss on the mouth (similar to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation), application of burning torches (which might recall contemporary use of external defibrillators), and administration of drugs (a possible analogy to advanced life support procedures). A careful assessment of relevant myths demonstrated that interpretations other than medical might be more credible.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although several narratives of Greek mythology might suggest modern resuscitation techniques, they do not clearly indicate that ancient Greeks presaged scientific methods of resuscitation. Nevertheless, these elegant tales reflect humankind's optimism that a dying human might be restored to life if the appropriate procedures were implemented. Without this optimism, scientific improvement in the field of resuscitation might not have been achieved.
authors.affiliation: From the *Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; †First Department of Critical Care Medicine and Pulmonary Services, Evangelismos Hospital, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece; ‡Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York; and §Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Heraklion, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
authors.forename: Ilias I
authors.initials: II
authors.lastname: Siempos
authors.forename: Theodora K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Ntaidou
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Samonis
mesh_terms: D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000266:history*; D018645:Greek World / Q000266:history*; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D009229:Mythology; D033262:Narration / Q000266:history*; D012151:Resuscitation / Q000266:history*