Author

Galen

· Greek physician, anatomist and philosopher who practiced in Pergamum and Rome

Posthumous or imagined likeness of Galen.
Posthumous or imagined likeness of Galen. Source · Public domain

About Galen

Galen of Pergamum (129–c. 216 CE) was a Greek physician, anatomist and philosopher who practiced in Pergamum and Rome. He treated gladiators, wrote on anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, diagnosis and logic, and became the dominant medical authority of late antiquity, the Islamic world and medieval Europe. His synthesis of Hippocrates, Aristotle and his own animal dissection shaped medicine for more than a millennium.

Notable works

  • On the Natural Faculties
  • On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body
  • On Anatomical Procedures

On this site

Galen: Selected Works

c. 160–210 CE · Ancient · Collection

Galen: Selected Works introduces a physician whose ambition was encyclopedic. The surviving Galenic corpus ranges from technical anatomy and pulse lore to philosophical defenses of method, from therapeutics and compound drugs to autobiography and polemic against rivals.