Abstract
You might ask “What is a hemerodrome (aka herald)?”. A hemerodrome's job was to deliver news by running from one place to another. Perhaps the most famous hemerodrome was the Athenian Pheidippides. Hemerodrome or herald is also known as a day runner, courier, messenger or a town crier.
In antiquity, Pheidippides was sent to Sparta to announce the Persian invasion of Marathon, Greece. Tradition indicates that Pheidippides, a professional long distance runner, ran a considerable distance from Athens, Marathon, and Sparta in the fifth century BCE, as much as 140 miles for more than 40 hours. On his last mission he collapsed and died after he announced the Persian defeat at the hands of the Greeks at the Battle of Marathon. This is where the concept of the marathon (26.2 miles) comes from. In antiquity, this was the fastest way to communicate. Agamemnon and Odysseus also used heralds in their adventures as recorded in the Illiad and Odyssey. Heralds were also untouchable representatives of the ancient Greek god Hermes and the Roman god Mercury.
Heralds played a significant role in delivering messages and served as emissaries or liaisons bearing both good news and bad, representing their city-state and participating in athletic events. This period of antiquity marked the transition from the Archaic period to the Classical period, the time of the Persian Wars. Heralds were also used in the Roman Empire. Caesar used heralds to deliver all kinds of messages across a vast empire. Heralds were also used in medicine.
Roman medicine was initially paternalistic; the father was responsible for his family. It was not until a Greek doctor, Archagathus, arrived in Rome in 219 BCE that the Greeks influenced Roman society to build Rome into an empire. Although the change in healthcare during this period resulted in new approaches in diagnosis and treatment of maladies and injuries, the development of hospitals, as well as the use of herbal medicine, medical devices and instruments, etc., most information was by word of mouth or heralds. In this way, knowledge spread across the empire.
Claudius Galenus often known as Galen of Pergamon was a prominent, self-taught student of anatomy who served as personal physician to Emperor Marcus Aurelius in the second century of the common era. It was not until Pedanius Discorides wrote De Materia Medica, which survived over the centuries in Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Syriac, that there was wider dissemination of medical knowledge.
Telecommunications itself can be traced to antiquity as well. The Romans built a series of roads that connected various parts of the Roman Empire. Roads enabled transportation of goods and services. Linking diverse cultures and people together helped maintain an empire, and of course roads were used to bring an empire down (unintended consequences). Heralds may have used these roads as well to bring medical news to others, although since they were runners, they most likely went off road.
Heralds, messengers, and the written word are all forms of communication that document how societies have progressed. This “evidence”is in the historical record. It is laid out in literary, papyrological, and epigraphical sources.
Why is any of this important? Let us explore the herald in the modern world. We gain knowledge through pedagogical interaction in our formative years and through our university training. However, most knowledge we gain is from what we read in print or see in various nonprint media. Two millennia ago we might have been in the small minority of individuals who could read Galen's or Plato's work. Johannes Guttenberg changed all that in the 1440s with his invention of the printing press. Mass production of printed materials provided a foundation for the Renaissance and enlightenment in the literature, science, art, humanities, and especially medicine.
Today, we use Twitter as a means of informing. It is interesting that birds, carrier pigeons, were used to send messages and Twitter is related to birds. Most likely pigeons were a more inexpensive form of herald than a long distance runner. Nevertheless, we have an extensive historical record, whether it was carved in stone, written on a scroll, or typed into some electronic device. This evidence tells us what happened. We use our journal as a herald. There are many newspapers that incorporate the word herald. Knowledge is how we progress and develop.
Often a herald may deliver news we do not believe or do not trust. We may even equate it to “fake news.” As an intelligent society, we must remain vigilant in our understanding of the information we gather. Hearsay may very well be heresy and we could have misconception on any manner of things. Our decisions in medicine are based on empirical evidence. Those who have come before us laid out a foundation for us to grow out of. Our innovation and discovery force us to change but that is how we progress. If no one listened to Pheidippides or Galen, where would we be?
Perhaps heralds today enlighten us in new ways and perhaps they tell us stories that help us transition from the past and into the future. Telemedicine and telehealth are certainly terms that have helped us become enlightened to a new paradigm in medicine and healthcare. We all continue to serve as heralds. What is written in this peer-reviewed journal adds value to society and our objectives to enhance healthcare and provide access. We are glad we can communicate instantaneously today. Running all over the world might be a bit challenging. We can always partake in that ancient ritual of running, the marathon.
What Is in This Issue?
This issue contains two reviews related to noninvasive blood pressure and electronic mindfulness regarding weight and behavior. Additional research articles are focused on trauma patients, dementia in veterans, e-visits, tertiary care in Turkey, and the use of teledermatology. Each of these reported research efforts can serve as a platform from which you can enable better care in your practice.
This journal, its editors, its editorial board, and the extensive, worldwide cadre of reviewers each serves as a herald. We share our knowledge with each of you and with each other. This is done to help us move from this point to the next. Keep up the excellent work!