Bacchus, King of Assyria, and subsequently a deity, was claimed by some
of the Eastern nations as the discoverer of medicine. He is supposed
to have taught the medicinal value of the ivy, but it is more likely
that he owes his medical reputation to his supposed invention of wine.
Some old writers identify him with Noah. Hammon, or Ammon, or Amen,
traced to Ham, the second son of Noah, has been honoured as having
originated medicine in Egypt. Some attribute the name of sal ammoniac
to the temple of Ammon in the Libyan oasis, on the theory that it
was first produced there from the dung of camels. Gum ammoniacum is
similarly supposed to have been the gum of a shrub which grew in that
locality. Zoroaster, who gave the Persians their religious system, is
also counted among the inventors of medicine, perhaps because he was so
generally regarded as the discoverer of magic.