Abandonment of terminally ill patients in the Byzantine era. An ancient tradition?

Our research on the texts of the Byzantine historians and chroniclers revea led an apparently curious phenomenon, namely, the abandonment of terminally ill emperors by their physicians when the latter realised that they could not offer any further treatment. This attitude tallies with the mentality o f the ancient Greek physicians, who even in Hippocratic times thought the t reatment and care of the terminally ill to be a challenge to nature and hub ris to the gods. Nevertheless, it is a very curious attitude in the light o f the concepts of the Christian Byzantine physicians who, according to the doctrines of the Christian religion, should have been imbued with the spiri t of philanthropy and love for their fellowmen. The meticulous analysis of three examples of abandonment of Byzantine emperors, and especially that of Alexius I comnenus, by their physicians reveals that this custom, followin g ancient pagan ethics, in those time stook on a ritualised form without an y significant or real content.