Galen was both a universal genius and a prolific writer: about 300 titles of works by him are known, of which about 150 survive wholly or in part. Perhaps the most proficient of all medical researches of yesteryears, he exerted great influence on the development of various scientific disciplines including logic, anatomy, philosophy, physiology, pharmacology, neurology, and pathology. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Some Rights Reserved (2009-2020) under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license unless otherwise noted. Galen was seriously hampered by the prevailing social taboo against dissecting human corpses, however, and the inferences he made about human anatomy based on his dissections of animals often led him into errors. Galen, Greek Galenos, Latin Galenus, (born 129 ce, Pergamum, Mysia, Anatolia [now Bergama, Turkey]—died c. 216), Greek physician, writer, and philosopher who exercised a dominant influence on medical theory and practice in Europe from the Middle Ages until the mid-17th century. Galen was the greatest physician of ancient Rome. Having returned to the city in 169 CE, he remained there until his death in 216 CE - the exact date and place of burial are unknown. Luckily, the Church fathers approved of Galen’s work. Galen’s works in many ways came to symbolize Greek medicine to the medical scholars of Europe and the Middle East for the next fifteen centuries. He published hundreds of works that influenced later Roman and Greek doctors, but also medicine in the Byzantine and Muslim Worlds. Ancient History Encyclopedia Limited is a non-profit company registered in the United Kingdom. He became a great surgeon and he wrote extensively on the discipline, contributing to the advancement of surgical practice in the Classical World. Galen associated the four temperaments to humors. He believed there were “invisible pores” that allowed the blood to seep through the walls of the heart. Venice, 1565, A drawing of a Hippocratic bench from a Byzantine edition of Galen’s work in the 2nd century AD, Tags: anatomy, ancient greek medicine, Ancient medicine, Galen, Hippocrates, Medicine, Physician. Galen believed that anatomy was the foundation of all medicine and that knowledge of the body was a pre-requisite for every medical practitioner, a view which has been enormously influential. Books However, nothing written, especially those items penned during the 2nd century CE and before, could be studied or read without the approval and scrutiny of the Church. Galen of Pergamum, left, with Hippocrates on the title page of Lipsiae (1677), a medical book by Georgii Heinrici Frommanni. Sort through the facts in this quiz of Syria, Iraq, and other countries of the Middle East. So, why should we remember him? Read more. Galen’s physiology was a mixture of ideas taken from the philosophers Plato and Aristotle as well as from the physician Hippocrates, whom Galen revered as the fount of all medical learning. If you have any other question or need extra help, please feel free to … It was not until the Renaissance that many of his theories were refuted. Lucian of Samosata’s A True History, Psyche and Cupid: Mythology’s Greatest Love Story, Galen: The Father of Modern Medicine and Anatomy, hope of being healed by the god Asclepius, vivisection of humans was prohibited at this time, traditional healers had used rites and spells. His disciple and collaborator Erasistratus (315-240 BCE) was one of the first to distinguish between the arteries and veins. After Verus’ sudden death in 169, Galen returned to Rome, where he served Marcus Aurelius and the later emperors Commodus and Septimius Severus as a physician. The latter was an idea that would go unchallenged for more than 1500 years. Galen was born in Pergamos in Asia Minor in the year 129 C.E.

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