Abstract
The literature of asthma is deeply rooted in the historical past. It is described in the Book of Exodus,1 in the writings of Homer, and in the aphorisms of Hippocrates.2 Asthma was subsequently described by Galen,3 among others. Maimonides in the twelfth century in his book The Treatise on Asthma gave clinical acuity to the fluctuating picture of asthma.4