Galen (redirected from Claudius Galenus of Pergamum)

Galen (gā`lən), c.130–c.200, physician and writer, b. Pergamum, of Greek parents. After study in Greece and Asia Minor and at Alexandria, he returned to Pergamum, where he served as physician to the gladiatorial school. He resided chiefly in Rome from c.162. Noted for his lectures and writings, he established a large practice and became court physician to Marcus Aurelius. He is credited with some 500 treatises, most of them on medicine and philosophy; at least 83 of his medical works are extant. He correlated earlier medical knowledge in all fields with his own discoveries (based in part on experimentation and on dissection of animals) and systematized medicine in accordance with his theories, which emphasized purposive creation. His work in anatomy and physiology is especially notable. He demonstrated that arteries carry blood instead of air and added greatly to knowledge of the brain, nerves, spinal cord, and pulse. Until the 16th cent. his authority was virtually undisputed, thus discouraging original investigation and hampering medical progress.

Bibliography

See study by O. Temkin (1973).

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Galen

 Latin Galenus

(born AD 129, Pergamum, Mysia, Anatolia—died c. 216) Greek physician, writer, and philosopher. He became chief physician to the gladiators in AD 157. Later, in Rome, he became a friend of Marcus Aurelius and physician to Commodus. Galen saw anatomy as fundamental and, based on animal experiments, described cranial nerves and heart valves and showed that arteries carry blood, not air. However, in extending his findings to human anatomy he was often in error. Following Hippocratic concepts (see Hippocrates), he believed in three connected body systems—brain and nerves for sensation and thought, heart and arteries for life energy, and liver and veins for nutrition and growth—and four humours (body fluids)—blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm—that needed to be in balance. Few had the skills to challenge his seductive physiological theory. He wrote about 300 works, of which about 150 survive. As they were translated, his influence spread to the Byzantine Empire, Arabia, and then western Europe. A revival of interest in the 16th century led to new anatomical investigations, which caused the overthrow of his ideas when Andreas Vesalius found anatomical errors and William Harvey correctly explained blood circulation.

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Galen

Latin name Claudius Galenus. ?130--?200 ad, Greek physician, anatomist, and physiologist. He codified existing medical knowledge and his authority continued until the Renaissance