Health & Medicine in the 8th century

16 sourced entries, 707 CE to 791 CE, oldest first. Also see Health & Medicine across every century or everything else in the 8th century.

• 707The first Islamic hospital (bimaristan) is founded in Damascus (approximate date).source
• 724Shōmu orders that houses of the Japanese nobility be roofed with green tiles, as in China, and have white walls with red roof poles (approximate date).source
• 729Chinese eating sticks are introduced in the next 20 years in Japan, where people heretofore have used one-piece pincers. The Japanese call them hashi.source
• 735King Liutprand of the Lombards raises his nephew Hildeprand to co-kingship, after a serious illness (approximate date).source
• 735A major smallpox epidemic starts in Japan, which reduces the population by 30%.source
• 737A major Japanese smallpox epidemic that started in 735 finally runs its course, but only after causing an estimated 25% to 35% mortality among the adult population in the country.source
• 740December – King Liutprand of the Lombards attempts to counter the growing independence of the Lombard duchies in southern Italy.source
• 742For the municipal census of the Chinese capital city Chang'an and its metropolitan area of Jingzhou (including small towns in the vicinity), the New Book of Tang records that in this year there are 362,921 registered families with 1,960,188 people.source
• 745Genbō, Japanese scholar-monk, is exiled to Dazaifu on the island of Kyushu.source
• 745Bubonic plague in Asia Minor kills 1/3 of the population, and subsequently sweeps through the Peloponnese (Balkan Peninsula) (approximate date).source
• 747Bubonic plague breaks out in Sicily, Calabria (Southern Italy), and Monemvasia (modern Greece).source
• 754Jianzhen, Chinese Buddhist monk, arrives in Nara, where he is welcomed by former emperor Shōmu and empress Kōmyō. During his visit Jianzhen introduces sugar to the Japanese court, using it to mask the flavors of foul-tasting herbal tea.source
• 754A Tang census shows that 75% of the Chinese live north of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze) River. The capital of Chang'an has a population of 2 million and more than 25 other cities have well over 500,000 citizens (approximate date).source
• 756July 14 – Xuan Zong flees the capital of Chang'an (along with the imperial court) for Sichuan, as rebel forces advance through the Tongguan Pass toward the city. Meanwhile, An Lushan is ailing, perhaps with diabetes. He is nearly blind and suffers from extreme irascibility.source
• 774Unrest in the Northumbrian Church appears to lead to the expulsion of King Alhred, who is driven from his capital York. He sails from Bamburgh into exile amongst the Picts, where he is received by King Ciniod I. He is replaced by Æthelred I, the 11-year-old son of the late king Æthelwald Moll.source
• 791Summer – Charlemagne loses most of his riding and baggage horses during an equine epidemic; many Saxons take advantage of Charlemagne's Avar setback and rebel once more.source