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{{Short description|Greek physician, surgeon, and philosopher (c. 129–216 AD)}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
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{{Infobox scientist
| name        = Galen
| native_name = Κλαύδιος Γαληνός
| image       = Galenus.jpg
| caption     = A 17th-century engraving by Georg P. Busch<ref name="portraits">Since no contemporary depictions or descriptions of Galen are known to have existed, later artists' impressions are unlikely to have reproduced his appearance accurately.</ref>
| birth_date  = 129 AD
| birth_place = [[Pergamon]], [[Asia Minor]]
| death_date  = {{Circa|216}} AD (aged {{Circa| 87|lk=no}})
| death_place = Unknown
| fields      = [[Anatomy]]<br>[[Medicine]]<br>[[Philosophy]]
}}

'''Aelius Galenus''' or '''Claudius Galenus'''<ref name="alexandru21">{{cite journal|author =S. Alexandru|year = 2021|title = Critical Remarks on Codices in which Galen Appears as a Member of the ''gens Claudia''|journal = Mnemosyne|volume = 74|issue = 4|pages = 553–597|doi = 10.1163/1568525x-12342720|s2cid = 225298224}}</ref> ({{langx|el|Κλαύδιος Γαληνός}}; September 129 – {{circa|216|lk=no}} AD), often [[Anglicization|anglicized]] as '''Galen''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|g|eɪ|l|ən}}) or '''Galen of Pergamon''',<ref>[http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/galen "Galen"] entry in ''[[Collins English Dictionary]]''.</ref> was a [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] and [[Greeks|Greek]] [[physician]], [[surgeon]], and [[Philosophy|philosopher]].<ref>''Life, death, and entertainment in the Roman Empire''. David Stone Potter, D. J. Mattingly (1999). [[University of Michigan Press]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=HPjqJWakX7IC&pg=PA63 p. 63]. {{ISBN|0-472-08568-9}}</ref><ref>"''[https://books.google.com/books?id=DQY9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1 Galen on bloodletting: a study of the origins, development, and validity of his opinions, with a translation of the three works]''". Peter Brain, Galen (1986). [[Cambridge University Press]]. p. 1. {{ISBN|0-521-32085-2}}</ref><ref name="nutton73">{{cite journal|author = Nutton Vivian|year = 1973|title = The Chronology of Galen's Early Career|journal = Classical Quarterly|volume = 23|issue = 1|pages = 158–171|doi = 10.1017/S0009838800036600|pmid = 11624046|s2cid = 35645790}}</ref> Considered to be one of the most accomplished of all [[medical research]]ers of [[Ancient history|antiquity]], Galen influenced the development of various scientific disciplines, including [[anatomy]],<ref>{{cite journal|pmc = 1081972|page=212|volume=21|issue=2|journal=Med Hist|title=Galen on the affected parts. Translation from the Greek text with explanatory notes|doi=10.1017/s0025727300037935|year=1977}}</ref> [[physiology]], [[pathology]],<ref name="brock"/> [[pharmacology]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=al9FH5tynlAC&q=galen+on+pharmacology|title=Galen on Pharmacology: Philosophy, History, and Medicine : Proceedings of the Vth International Galen Colloquium, Lille, 16–18 March 1995|first=Armelle|last=Debru|date=1997|publisher=Brill|via=Google Books|isbn=978-9004104037}}</ref> and [[neurology]], as well as philosophy<ref name="Galen on the brain">{{cite journal|last1=Rocca|first1=Julius|year=2003|title=Galen on the Brain: Anatomical Knowledge and Physiological Speculation in the Second Century AD|journal=Studies in Ancient Medicine|publisher=Brill|volume=26|pages=1–313|doi=10.1163/9789047401438|pmid=12848196|isbn=978-90-47-40143-8}}</ref> and [[logic]].

The son of [[Aelius Nicon]], a wealthy Greek architect with scholarly interests, Galen received a comprehensive education that prepared him for a successful career as a physician and philosopher. Born in the ancient city of [[Pergamon]] (present-day [[Bergama]], Turkey), Galen traveled extensively, exposing himself to a wide variety of medical theories and discoveries before settling in [[Ancient Rome|Rome]], where he served prominent members of Roman society and eventually was given the position of personal physician to several [[Roman emperor|emperors]].

Galen's understanding of anatomy and [[medicine]] was principally influenced by the contemporary theory of the [[Humorism|four humors]]: black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm, as first advanced by the author of ''On the Nature of Man'' in the [[Hippocratic Corpus|Hippocratic corpus]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nutton|first=V.|date=2005|title=The Fatal Embrace: Galen and the History of Ancient Medicine|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/science-in-context/article/abs/fatal-embrace-galen-and-the-history-of-ancient-medicine/B593B7BD348DB7E16303AA46FD2E42E6|journal=Science in Context|language=en|volume=18|issue=1|pages=111–121|doi=10.1017/S0269889705000384|pmid=16075496|s2cid=10878807|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Galen's views dominated and influenced [[Western medicine|Western medical science]] for more than 1,300 years. His anatomical reports were based mainly on the [[dissection]] of [[Barbary macaque|Barbary apes]].<ref name=":0"/> However, while dissections and [[vivisection]]s on humans were practiced in [[Alexandria]] by [[Herophilus]] and [[Erasistratus]] in the 3rd century BCE under Ptolemaic permission, by Galen's time these procedures were strictly forbidden in the Roman Empire. As Galen discovered that the facial expressions of the Barbary apes were particularly vivid, Galen switched to [[pig|pigs]] for his research to avoid prosecution. [[Aristotle]] had used pigs centuries earlier for his study of anatomy and physiology. Galen, like others, reasoned that animal anatomy had a strong conciliance with that of humans.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dean-Jones |first=Lesley |title=At the Crossroads of Greco-Roman History, Culture, and Religion: Papers in Memory of Carin M. C. Green |publisher=Archaeopress Publishing |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-78969-014-9 |editor-last=Bell |editor-first=Sinclair |pages=229–248 |chapter=Galen and the Culture of Dissection}}</ref> Galen would encourage his students to go look at dead gladiators or bodies that washed up in order to get better acquainted with the human body.

Galen's theory of the physiology of the [[circulatory system]] remained unchallenged until {{Circa|1242|lk=no}}, when [[Ibn al-Nafis]] published his book ''Sharh tashrih al-qanun li' Ibn Sina'' (''[[Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon]]''), in which he reported his discovery of [[pulmonary circulation]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=West|first1=John|title=Ibn al-Nafis, the pulmonary circulation, and the Islamic Golden Age|journal=Journal of Applied Physiology|date=1985|volume=105|issue=6|pages=1877–1880|pmc=2612469|pmid=18845773|doi=10.1152/japplphysiol.91171.2008}}</ref> His anatomical reports remained uncontested until 1543, when printed descriptions and illustrations of human dissections were published in the seminal work ''[[De humani corporis fabrica]]'' by [[Andreas Vesalius]],<ref name="Vesalius1543">{{cite book
|author=[[Andreas Vesalius]]
|title=De humani corporis Fabrica, Libri VII
|publisher=[[Johannes Oporinus]]
|location=[[Basel]], [[Switzerland]]
|language=la
|year=1543
|url=http://vesalius.northwestern.edu/
|access-date=7 August 2010
|archive-date=1 September 2016
|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/6321/20160901184031/http://vesalius.northwestern.edu/
|url-status=dead
}}</ref><ref>O'Malley, C., ''Andreas Vesalius of Brussels, 1514–1564'', Berkeley: University of California Press</ref> where Galen's physiological theory was accommodated to these new observations.<ref>Siraisi, Nancy G., (1991) Girolamo Cardano and the Art of Medical Narrative, Journal of the History of Ideas. pp. 587–88.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Bigotti|first=Fabrizio|title=Physiology of the Soul. Mind, Body and Matter in the Galenic Tradition of the Late Renaissance (1550-1630)|publisher=Brepols|year=2019|isbn=978-2-503-58161-3|pages=21–40|language=English}}</ref>

Galen saw himself as both a physician and a philosopher, as he wrote in his treatise titled ''That the Best Physician Is Also a Philosopher''.<ref>{{cite book
|author=Claudii Galeni Pergameni
|title="That the best physician is also a philosopher" with a Modern Greek Translation
|editor=Odysseas Hatzopoulos
|publisher=Odysseas Hatzopoulos & Company: Kaktos Editions
|location=[[Athens]], [[Greece]]
|year=1992}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
|author=Theodore J. Drizis
|title=Medical ethics in a writing of Galen
|journal=Acta Med Hist Adriat
|volume=6
|issue=2
|pages=333–336
|date=Fall 2008
|pmid=20102254
|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/64672
|access-date=7 August 2010}}</ref><ref>Brian, P., 1977, "Galen on the ideal of the physician", ''South Africa Medical Journal'', 52: 936–938 [http://archive.samj.org.za/1977%20VOL%20LI%20Jul-Dec/Articles/11%20November/4.10%20HISTORY%20OF%20MEDICINE%20-%20GALEN%20ON%20THE%20IDEAL%20OF%20THE%20PHYSICIAN.%20P.%20Brain.pdf pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224020900/http://archive.samj.org.za/1977%20VOL%20LI%20Jul-Dec/Articles/11%20November/4.10%20HISTORY%20OF%20MEDICINE%20-%20GALEN%20ON%20THE%20IDEAL%20OF%20THE%20PHYSICIAN.%20P.%20Brain.pdf |date=24 February 2021 }}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite book|last=Bigotti|first=Fabrizio|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6SByvQEACAAJ|title=Physiology of the Soul: Mind, Body and Matter in the Galenic Tradition of Late Renaissance (1550-1630)|date=2019|publisher=Brepols|isbn=978-2-503-58161-3|language=en}}</ref> Galen was very interested in the debate between the [[Dogmatic school|rationalist]] and [[Empiric school|empiricist]] medical sects,<ref>Frede, M. and R. Walzer, 1985, ''Three Treatises on the Nature of Science,'' Indianapolis: Hacket.</ref> and his use of direct observation, dissection, and [[vivisection]] represents a complex middle ground between the extremes of those two viewpoints.<ref>{{cite journal|author = De Lacy P|year = 1972|title = Galen's Platonism|journal = American Journal of Philology|volume = 1972|issue = 1|pages = 27–39|doi=10.2307/292898|jstor = 292898}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author = Cosans C|year = 1997|title = Galen's Critique of Rationalist and Empiricist Anatomy|journal = Journal of the History of Biology|volume = 30|issue = 1|pages = 35–54|doi=10.1023/a:1004266427468|pmid=11618979|s2cid = 35323972}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author = Cosans C|year = 1998|title = The Experimental Foundations of Galen's Teleology|url = https://philpapers.org/rec/COSTEF-4|journal = Studies in History and Philosophy of Science|volume = 29|issue = 1|pages = 63–80|doi=10.1016/s0039-3681(96)00005-2|bibcode = 1998SHPSA..29...63C|url-access = subscription}}</ref> Many of his works have been preserved or translated from the original Greek, although many were destroyed and some credited to him are believed to be spurious. Although there is some debate over the date of his death, he was no younger than seventy when he died.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Todman|first=D.|date=2007|title=Galen (129–199)|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-007-0625-5|journal=Journal of Neurology|language=en|volume=254|issue=7|pages=975–976|doi=10.1007/s00415-007-0625-5|pmid=17676358|s2cid=33437522|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Biography==
Galen's Greek name {{lang|grc|Γαληνός}} (''Galēnós'') comes from the adjective {{lang|grc|γαληνός}} (''galēnós'') 'calm'.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dgalhno%2Fs γαληνός],
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek–English Lexicon'', on Perseus Digital Library</ref> Galen's Latin name (Aelius or Claudius) implies he had [[Roman citizenship]].<ref>[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-review/article/abs/galen-and-roman-medicine-or-can-a-greek-become-a-latin/7257B40ABA94E375F6253389004D8DE4 Galen and roman medicine]</ref>

Galen describes his early life in ''On the affections of the mind''. He was born in September 129 AD.<ref name="nutton73"/> His father, [[Aelius Nicon]], was a wealthy [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]], an architect and builder, with eclectic interests including philosophy, mathematics, logic, astronomy, agriculture and literature. Galen describes his father as a "highly amiable, just, good and benevolent man". At that time [[Pergamon]] (modern-day [[Bergama]], Turkey) was a major cultural and intellectual centre, noted for its [[Library of Pergamum|library]], second only to that in Alexandria,<ref name="brock"/><ref name="metzger">[https://books.google.com/books?id=NrEeAAAAIAAJ Metzger BM. New Testament Studies: Philological, Versional, and Patristic. Brill 1980], {{ISBN|978-90-04-06163-7}}</ref> as well as being the site of a [[Asclepeion|large temple]] to the healing god [[Asclepius]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Galen {{!}} Biography, Achievements, & Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Galen|access-date=18 December 2020|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> The city attracted both [[Stoicism|Stoic]] and [[Platonism|Platonic]] philosophers, to whom Galen was exposed at age 14. His studies also took in each of the principal philosophical systems of the time, including [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] and [[Epicurean]]. His father had planned a traditional career for Galen in philosophy or politics and took care to expose him to literary and philosophical influences. However, Galen states that in around 145 his father had a dream in which the god [[Asclepius]] appeared and commanded Nicon to send his son to study medicine.<ref name="nutton73"/><ref name=":0"/>

===Medical education===
Following his earlier liberal education, Galen at age 16 began his studies at the prestigious local healing temple or [[asclepeion]] as a θεραπευτής (''therapeutes'', or attendant) for four years. There he came under the influence of men like [[Aeschrion of Pergamon]], Stratonicus and Satyrus. Asclepiea functioned as spas or sanitoria to which the sick would come to seek the ministrations of the priesthood. Romans frequented the temple at Pergamon in search of medical relief from illness and disease. It was also the haunt of notable people such as the historian Claudius Charax, the orator [[Aelius Aristides]], the sophist [[Polemon of Laodicea|Polemo]], and the consul [[Cuspius Rufinus]].

Galen's father died in 148, leaving Galen independently wealthy at the age of 19. He then followed the advice he found in Hippocrates' teaching<ref>{{cite web|url=http://daedalus.umkc.edu/hippocrates/HippocratesLoeb1/page.66.php?size=240x320|title=Hippocrates Collected Works I|website=daedalus.umkc.edu|access-date=11 December 2009|archive-date=30 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930083013/http://daedalus.umkc.edu/hippocrates/HippocratesLoeb1/page.66.php?size=240x320|url-status=dead}}</ref> and traveled and studied widely including such destinations as [[Smyrna]] (now [[İzmir]]), [[Roman Corinth|Corinth]], [[Crete]], [[Cilicia]] (now [[Çukurova]]), [[Cyprus]], and finally the great medical school of [[Medicine in ancient Greece|Alexandria]], exposing himself to the various schools of thought in medicine. In 157, aged 28, he returned to Pergamon as physician to the gladiators of the High Priest of Asia, one of the most influential and wealthy men in Asia. Galen claims that the High Priest chose him over other physicians after he eviscerated an ape and challenged other physicians to repair the damage. When they refused, Galen performed the [[surgery]] himself and in so doing won the favor of the High Priest of Asia. Over his four years there, he learned the importance of diet, fitness, hygiene, and preventive measures, as well as living anatomy, and the treatment of fractures and severe trauma, referring to their [[wounds]] as "windows into the body". Only five deaths among the gladiators occurred while he held the post, compared to sixty in his predecessor's time, a result that is in general ascribed to the attention he paid to their wounds. At the same time he pursued studies in theoretical medicine and philosophy.<ref name="nutton73"/><ref name="ustun">Ustun C. Galen and his anatomic eponym: Vein of Galen. Clinical Anatomy Volume 17 Issue 6 454–457, 2004</ref><ref name="grant">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tyip3Kf68TYC&pg=PP9|title=Galen on Food and Diet|last1=Galen|first2=Mark|last2=Grant|date= 2018|publisher=Psychology Press|via=Google Books|isbn=9780415232333}}</ref><ref>Gleason, M. Making Men: Sophists and Self-Presentation in Ancient Rome. Princeton 1995</ref>

===Rome===
[[File:Claudius Galenus (1906) - Veloso Salgado.png|thumb|upright=.9|Galen dissecting a monkey, as imagined by [[Veloso Salgado]] in 1906]]

Galen went to [[Ancient Rome|Rome]] in 162 and made his mark as a practicing physician. His public demonstrations and impatience with alternative views on medicine brought him into conflict with other doctors practicing in the city.<ref name=":0"/> When the [[Peripatetic school|Peripatetic]] philosopher Eudemus became ill with [[quartan fever]], Galen felt obliged to treat him "since he was my teacher and I happened to live nearby".<ref>Luis Garcia-Ballester, 2002, Galen and Galenism, Burlington: Ashgate-Variorum, p. 1641</ref> He wrote: "I return to the case of Eudemus. He was thoroughly attacked by the three attacks of quartan ague, and the doctors had given him up, as it was now mid-winter."<ref>Arthur John Brock, 1929, ''Greek Medicine'', London: J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., p. 207.</ref> Some Roman physicians criticized Galen for his use of the [[prognosis]] in his treatment of Eudemus. This practice conflicted with the then-current [[Standard treatment|standard of care]], which relied upon [[divination]] and [[mysticism]]. Galen retaliated against his detractors by defending his own methods. Garcia-Ballester quotes Galen as saying: "In order to diagnose, one must observe and reason." This was the basis of his criticism of the doctors who proceeded alogos and askeptos.<ref>Luis Garcia-Ballester, 2002, Galen and Galenism, Burlington: Ashgate-Variorum, p. 1663</ref>

However, Eudemus warned Galen that engaging in conflict with these physicians could lead to his assassination. "Eudemus said this, and more to the same effect; he added that if they were not able to harm me by unscrupulous conduct they would proceed to attempts at poisoning. Among other things he told me that, some ten years before, a young man had come to the city and had given, like me practical demonstrations of the resources of our art; this young man was put to death by poison, together with two servants who accompanied him."<ref>Arthur John Brock, 1929, ''Greek Medicine'', London: J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., p. 212.</ref> When Galen's animosity with the Roman medical practitioners became serious, he feared he might be exiled or poisoned, so he left the city.<ref name="Eichholz">D.E. Eichholz, 1951, ''Galen and His Environment, Greece & Rome'' 20 no. 59, Cambridge University Press, pp. 60–71</ref>

Rome was engaged in foreign wars in 161; [[Marcus Aurelius]] and his then co-Emperor and adoptive brother [[Lucius Verus]] were in the north fighting the [[Marcomanni]].<ref>Elizabeth C. Evans, 1956, ''Galen the Physician as Physiognomist'', American Philological Association</ref> During the autumn of 169 when Roman troops were returning to [[Aquileia]], a great plague, most likely one of the first appearances of smallpox (then referred to as the [[Antonine Plague]]) in the Mediterranean world, broke out, and the emperor summoned Galen back to Rome. He was ordered to accompany Marcus and Verus to Germany as the court physician. The following spring Marcus was persuaded to release Galen after receiving a report that [[Asclepius]] was against the project.<ref name="Littman">R. J. Littman and M. L. Littman, 1973 Galen and the Antonine Plague, The American Journal of Philology 94 no. 3, pp. 243–255</ref> He was left behind to act as physician to the imperial heir [[Commodus]]. It was here in court that Galen wrote extensively on medical subjects. Ironically, Lucius Verus died in 169, and Marcus Aurelius himself died in 180, both victims of the plague.

Galen was the physician to Commodus for much of the emperor's life and treated his common illnesses. According to Dio Cassius 72.14.3–4, in about 189, under Commodus' reign, a pestilence occurred which at its height killed 2,000 people a day in Rome. This was most likely the same plague (the so-called "Antonine Plague" and most likely smallpox) that struck Rome during Marcus Aurelius' reign.<ref name="Littman"/> Galen was also physician to [[Septimius Severus]] during his reign in Rome. He complimented Severus and [[Caracalla]] on keeping a supply of drugs for their friends and mentioned three cases in which they had been of use in 198.<ref name=Eichholz/>

===The Antonine Plague===
The [[Antonine Plague]] was named after Marcus Aurelius' family name of Antoninus. It was also known as the Plague of Galen and held an important place in medicinal history because of its association with Galen. He had first-hand knowledge of the disease, and was present in Rome when it first struck in 166, and was also present in the winter of 168–69 during an outbreak among troops stationed at Aquileia. He had experience with the epidemic, referring to it as very long lasting, and described its symptoms and his treatment of it. His references to the plague are scattered and brief. Galen was not trying to present a description of the disease so that it could be recognized in future generations; he was more interested in the treatment and physical effects of the disease. For example, in his writings about a young man afflicted with the plague, he concentrated on the treatment of internal and external ulcerations. According to Niebuhr, "this pestilence must have raged with incredible fury; it carried off innumerable victims. The ancient world never recovered from the blow inflicted upon it by the plague that visited it in the reign of M. Aurelius."
The mortality rate of the plague was 7–10 percent; the outbreak in 165–168 would have caused approximately 3.5 to 5 million deaths. [[Otto Seeck]] believes that over half the population of the empire perished. J. F. Gilliam believes that the Antonine plague probably caused more deaths than any other epidemic during the empire before the mid-3rd century.<ref name=Littman/> Although Galen's description is incomplete, it is sufficient to enable a firm identification of the disease as related to [[smallpox]].

Galen notes that the [[exanthema]] covered the victim's entire body and was usually black. The exanthem became rough and scabby where there was no ulceration. He states that those who were going to survive developed a black exanthem. According to Galen, it was black because of a remnant of blood putrefied in a fever blister that was pustular. His writings state that raised blisters were present in the Antonine plague, usually in the form of a blistery rash. Galen states that the skin rash was close to the one [[Thucydides]] described. Galen describes symptoms of the alimentary tract via a patient's diarrhea and stools. If the stool was very black, the patient died. He says that the amount of black stools varied. It depended on the severity of the intestinal lesions. He observes that in cases where the stool was not black, the black exanthema appeared. Galen describes the symptoms of fever, vomiting, fetid breath, [[catarrh]], cough, and ulceration of the larynx and trachea.<ref name=Littman/>

===Later years===
Galen continued to work and write in his final years, finishing treatises on drugs and remedies as well as his compendium of diagnostics and therapeutics, which would have much influence as a medical text both in the [[Science in the middle ages|Latin Middle Ages]] and [[Islamic Golden Age|Medieval Islam]].<ref name=":0">{{Citation|last=Hankinson|first=R. J.|title=The man and his work|date=2008|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-galen/man-and-his-work/25F9E23C8EAC769F17D7F5CFDE8C7659|work=The Cambridge Companion to Galen|pages=1–33|editor-last=Hankinson|editor-first=R. J.|series=Cambridge Companions to Philosophy|place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-81954-1}}</ref>

The 11th-century ''[[Suda]]'' lexicon states that Galen died at the age of 70, which would place his death in about the year 199. However, there is a reference in Galen's treatise ''"On Theriac to Piso"'' (which may, however, be spurious) to events of 204. There are also statements in Arabic sources<ref>Amari, M. Biblioteca Arabo-sicula, 2nd vol., Loscher, Turin, Rome, pp. 503–504.</ref> that he died in Sicily at age 87, after 17 years studying medicine and 70 practicing it, which would mean he died about 216. According to these sources, the tomb of Galenus in [[Palermo]] was still well preserved in the tenth century. Nutton<ref>{{cite book|last =Nutton |first =V.|title = Ancient Medicine |publisher = Routledge|date = 2004|pages = 226–227|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=I8yIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA226|isbn = 9781134884568}}</ref> believes that ''"On Theriac to Piso"'' is genuine, that the Arabic sources are correct, and that the ''Suda'' has erroneously interpreted the 70 years of Galen's career in the Arabic tradition as referring to his whole lifespan. Boudon-Millot<ref>Boudon-Millot V (ed. and trans.) Galien: Introduction générale; Sur l'ordre de ses propres livres; Sur ses propres livres; Que l'excellent médecin est aussi philosophe Paris: Les Belles Lettres. 2007, lxxvii–lxxx</ref> more or less concurs and favors a date of 216.

==Medicine==
{{further|Humorism}}
Galen contributed a substantial amount to the understanding of pathology. Under the [[Hippocratic Corpus|Hippocratic]] bodily [[humors]] theory, differences in human moods come as a consequence of imbalances in one of the four [[Body fluid|bodily fluids]]: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. Galen promoted this theory and the typology of [[Four temperaments|human temperaments]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal|last=Kilgour|first=Frederick G.|date=1957|title=GALEN|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24940775 |journal=Scientific American|volume=196|issue=3|pages=105–117 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0357-105|jstor=24940775|bibcode=1957SciAm.196c.105K |issn=0036-8733|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In Galen's view, an imbalance of each humor corresponded with a particular human temperament (blood{{snd}}sanguine, black bile{{snd}}melancholic, yellow bile{{snd}}choleric, and phlegm{{snd}}phlegmatic). Thus, individuals with sanguine temperaments are extroverted and social; choleric people have energy, passion, and charisma; melancholics are creative, kind, and considerate; and phlegmatic temperaments are characterised by dependability, kindness, and affection.<ref name= MarkGrant>{{cite book|first1= Mark|last1=  Grant|date = 2000|title = Galen on Food and Diet|publisher = Psychology Press|isbn = 9780415232333}}</ref>

Galen was also a skilled surgeon, operating on human patients. Many of his procedures and techniques would not be used again for centuries, such as the procedures he performed on brains and eyes.<ref name="Galen on the brain"/> His surgical experiments included ligating the arteries of living animals.<ref>{{cite book|author=Lois N. Magner|title=A History of Medicine|publisher=CRC Press|url  =https://books.google.com/books?id=qtUzscI9_VIC&pg=PA91 |page=91|isbn =9780824786731|year=1992}}</ref> Although many 20th-century historians have claimed that Galen believed the lens to be in the exact center of the eye, Galen actually understood that the crystalline lens is located in the anterior aspect of the human eye.<ref name="Clinical Ophthalmology">{{cite journal|vauthors=Leffler CT, Hadi TM, Udupa A, Schwartz SG, Schwartz D|title=A medieval fallacy: the crystalline lens in the center of the eye|journal=Clinical Ophthalmology|volume=2016|issue=10|pages=649–662|year=2016|pmc=4833360|pmid=27114699|doi=10.2147/OPTH.S100708 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

At first reluctantly but then with increasing vigor, Galen promoted Hippocratic teaching, including [[Venipuncture|venesection]] and [[bloodletting]], then unknown in Rome. This was sharply criticized by the [[Erasistratus|Erasistrateans]], who predicted dire outcomes, believing that it was not blood but ''[[Pneuma (Stoic)|pneuma]]'' that flowed in the veins. Galen, however, staunchly defended venesection in his three books on the subject<ref>Brain P (trans.) Galen on Bloodletting: A study of the origins, development, and validity of his opinions, with a translation of the three works. Cambridge 1986</ref> and in his demonstrations and public disputations. Galen's work on anatomy remained largely unsurpassed and unchallenged up until the 16th century in Europe. In the middle of the 16th century, the anatomist [[Andreas Vesalius]] challenged the anatomical knowledge of Galen by conducting dissections on human cadavers.<ref name="auto"/> These investigations allowed Vesalius to refute aspects of Galen's theories regarding anatomy.

===Anatomy===
[[File:Galen's "Physiological system" Wellcome M0000376.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|An interpretation of Galen's human "physiological system"]]

Galen's interest in human anatomy ran afoul of Roman law that prohibited the dissection of human cadavers since roughly 150 BC.<ref>'Tragically, the prohibition of human dissection by Rome in 150 BC arrested this progress and few of their findings survived', Arthur Aufderheide, 'The Scientific Study of Mummies' (2003), p. 5</ref> Because of this restriction, Galen performed anatomical dissections on living ([[vivisection]]) and dead animals, mostly focusing on [[primate]]s.<ref name="brock"/> Galen believed that the anatomical structures of these animals closely mirrored those of humans. Galen clarified the anatomy of the [[trachea]] and was the first to demonstrate that the [[larynx]] generates the voice.<ref>{{cite book|author=Claudii Galeni Pergameni|title=Galen on anatomical procedures: De anatomicis administrationibus|editor=translated by [[Charles Singer|Charles Joseph Singer]]|publisher=Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press/Wellcome Historical Medical Museum|location=London|year=1956|pages=195–207}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Claudii Galeni Pergameni|title=Galen on Anatomical Procedures|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine|volume=49|issue=10|pages=833|date=October 1956|doi=10.1177/003591575604901017|pmc=1889206}}</ref> In one experiment, Galen used bellows to inflate the lungs of a dead animal.<ref>{{cite book|author=Claudii Galeni Pergameni
|title=De usu partium corporis humani, libri VII|editor=Nicolao Regio Calabro (Nicolaus Rheginus)|chapter=De usu partium corporis humani, libri VII, cap. IV|publisher=ex officina Simonis Colinaei|location=Paris|language=la|year=1528|pages=339
|chapter-url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k542146.image.f8|access-date=7 August 2010}}</ref><ref name=Baker1971>{{cite journal
|author=A. Barrington Baker|title=Artificial respiration, the history of an idea|journal=Medical History|volume=15|issue=4
|pages=336–351|date=October 1971|pmid=4944603|pmc=1034194|doi=10.1017/s0025727300016896}}</ref> Galen's research on [[physiology]] was largely influenced by previous works of philosophers Plato and Aristotle, as well as from the physician Hippocrates. He was one of the first people to use experiments as a method of research for his medical findings.<ref>{{Cite web|title=BBC – History – Historic Figures: Galen (c. 130 – c. 210)|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/galen.shtml|access-date=18 December 2020|website=www.bbc.co.uk|language=en-GB}}</ref> Doing so allowed him to explore various parts of the body and its functions.

Among Galen's major contributions to medicine was his work on the [[circulatory system]]. He was the first to recognize that there are distinct differences between [[venous blood|venous]] (dark) and [[arterial blood|arterial]] (bright) blood. In addition to these discoveries, Galen postulated much more about the nature of the [[circulatory system]]. He believed that blood originated in the liver, which follows the teachings of Hippocrates. The liver converted nutrients gathered from ingested food into blood to be used in the circulatory system.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Aird|first=W. C.|date=July 2011|title=Discovery of the cardiovascular system: from Galen to William Harvey: Discovery of the cardiovascular system|journal=Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis|language=en|volume=9|pages=118–129|doi=10.1111/j.1538-7836.2011.04312.x|pmid=21781247|s2cid=12092592|doi-access=free}}</ref> The blood created in the liver would eventually flow unidirectionally into the right ventricle of the heart via the great vein.<ref name=":1"/> Galen also proposed a theory on how blood receives air from the lungs to be distributed throughout the body. He declared that the venous artery carried air from the lungs into the left ventricle of the heart to mix with created blood from the liver.<ref name=":1"/> This same venous artery allowed for an exchange of waste products from the blood back into the lungs to be exhaled.<ref name=":1"/> In order to receive air from the lungs in the left ventricle, the new blood needed to get there from the right ventricle. Thus, Galen asserted that there are small holes in the septum dividing the left and right sides of the heart; these holes allowed the blood to pass through easily to receive air and exchange the aforementioned waste products.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kuusela|first=P. J.|date=2014|title=The heart exhibits right to left communication between the fibres of the muscular part of the interventricular septum|url=https://journals.viamedica.pl/folia_morphologica/article/view/FM.2014.0006|journal=Folia Morphologica|language=en|volume=73|issue=1|pages=42–50|doi=10.5603/FM.2014.0006|pmid=24590522|issn=1644-3284|doi-access=free}}</ref> Although his anatomical experiments on animal models led him to a more complete understanding of the circulatory system, [[nervous system]], [[respiratory system]], and other structures, his work contained scientific errors.<ref name="Galen on the brain"/> Galen believed the circulatory system to consist of two separate one-way systems of distribution, rather than a single unified system of circulation. He believed venous blood to be generated in the liver, from where it was distributed and consumed by all organs of the body. He posited that arterial blood originated in the heart, from where it was distributed and consumed by all organs of the body. The blood was then regenerated in either the liver or the heart, completing the cycle. Galen also believed in the existence of a group of blood vessels he called the [[rete mirabile]] in the carotid sinus.<ref name="MarkGrant"/> Both of these theories of the circulation of blood were later (beginning with works of [[Ibn al-Nafis]] published {{Circa|1242|lk=no}}) shown to be incorrect.<ref name="Furley1984">Furley, D, and J. Wilkie, 1984, ''Galen On Respiration and the Arteries'', Princeton University Press, and Bylebyl, J (ed), 1979, ''William Harvey and His Age'', Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press</ref>

Galen was also a pioneer in research about the human spine. His dissections and vivisections of animals led to key observations that helped him accurately describe the human spine, [[spinal cord]], and [[vertebral column]]. Galen also played a major role in the discoveries of the [[central nervous system]]. He was also able to describe the nerves that emerge from the spine, which is integral to his research about the nervous system.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pasipoularides|first=Ares|title=Galen, father of systematic medicine. An essay on the evolution of modern medicine and cardiology|journal=International Journal of Cardiology|year=2014|volume=172|issue=1|pages=47–58|doi=10.1016/j.ijcard.2013.12.166|pmid=24461486}}</ref> Galen went on to be the first physician to study what happens when the spinal cord is transected on multiple different levels.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Galen: A Pioneer of Spine Research : Spine|language=en-US|work=LWW|url=https://journals.lww.com/spinejournal/Abstract/1999/11150/Galen__A_Pioneer_of_Spine_Research.12.aspx|access-date=18 December 2020}}</ref> He worked with pigs and studied their [[neuroanatomy]] by severing different nerves either totally or partially to see how it affected the body. He even dealt with diseases affecting the spinal cord and nerves. In his work ''De motu musculorum'', Galen explained the difference between [[motor nerve|motor]] and [[sensory nerve]]s, discussed the concept of [[muscle tone]], and explained the difference between [[agonist (muscle)|agonists]] and [[antagonist (muscle)|antagonists]].

Galen's work on animals led to some inaccuracies, most notably his anatomy of the uterus which largely resembled a dog's. Though incorrect in his studies of human reproduction and reproductive anatomy, he came very close to identifying the ovaries as analogous to the male testes. [[Reproduction]] was a controversial topic in Galen's lifetime, as there was much debate over if the male was solely responsible for the seed, or if the woman was also responsible.

Through his vivisection practices, Galen also proved that the voice was controlled by the brain. One of the most famous experiments that he recreated in public was the squealing pig: Galen would cut open a pig, and while it was squealing he would tie off the recurrent laryngeal nerve, or vocal cords, showing they controlled the making of sound. He used the same method to tie off the ureters to prove his theories of kidney and bladder function. Galen believed the human body had three interconnected systems that allowed it to work. The first system that he theorized consisted of the brain and the nerves, responsible for thought and sensation. The second theorized system was the heart and the arteries, which Galen believed to be responsible for providing life-giving energy. The last theorized system was the liver and veins, which Galen theorized were responsible for nutrition and growth. Galen also theorized that blood was made in the liver and sent out around the body.

===Localization of function===
One of Galen's major works, ''On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato'', sought to demonstrate the unity of the two subjects and their views. Using their theories, combined with Aristotle's, Galen developed a tripartite soul consisting of similar aspects.<ref name="gill2007"/><ref name="auto"/> He used the [[Plato's theory of soul|same terms as Plato]], referring to the three parts as rational, spiritual, and appetitive. Each corresponded to a localized area of the body. The rational soul was in the brain, the spiritual soul was in the heart, and the appetitive soul was in the liver. Galen was the first scientist and philosopher to assign specific parts of the soul to locations in the body because of his extensive background in medicine.<ref name= lloyd2007>{{cite journal|author = Lloyd G|year = 2007|title = Pneuma between body and soul|journal = Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute|volume = 13|pages = S135–S146|doi = 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2007.00409.x}}</ref> This idea is now referred to as localization of function.<ref name=hankinson1991>{{cite journal|author = Hankinson R. J.|year = 1991|title = Galen's anatomy of the soul|journal = Phronesis|volume = 36|issue = 2|pages = 197–233|doi = 10.1163/156852891321052787}}</ref> Galen's assignments were revolutionary for the time period, which set the precedent for future localization theories.

Galen believed each part of this tripartite soul controlled specific functions within the body and that the soul, as a whole, contributed to the health of the body, strengthening the "natural functioning capacity of the organ or organs in question".<ref name="hankinson1991"/><ref name="auto"/> The rational soul controlled higher level cognitive functioning in an organism, for example, making choices or perceiving the world and sending those signals to the brain.<ref name="hankinson1991"/> He also listed "imagination, memory, recollection, knowledge, thought, consideration, voluntary motion, and sensation" as being found within the rational soul.<ref name="hankinson1991"/> The functions of "growing or being alive" resided in the spirited soul.<ref name="hankinson1991"/> The spirited soul also contained our passions, such as anger. These passions were considered to be even stronger than regular emotions, and, as a consequence, more dangerous.<ref name="hankinson1991"/> The third part of the soul, or the appetitive spirit, controlled the living forces in our body, most importantly blood.<ref name="hankinson1991"/> The appetitive spirit also regulated the pleasures of the body and was moved by feelings of enjoyment. This third part of the soul is the animalistic, or more natural, side of the soul; it deals with the natural urges of the body and survival instincts. Galen proposed that when the soul is moved by too much enjoyment, it reaches states of "incontinence" and "licentiousness", the inability to willfully cease enjoyment, which was a negative consequence of too much pleasure.<ref name="hankinson1991"/>

In order to unite his theories about the soul and how it operated within the body, he adapted the theory of the ''pneuma'',<ref name="lloyd2007"/> which he used to explain how the soul operated within its assigned organs, and how those organs, in turn, interacted together. Galen then distinguished the vital ''pneuma'', in the arterial system, from the psychic ''pneuma'', in the brain and nervous system.<ref name="lloyd2007"/> Galen placed the vital ''pneuma'' in the heart and the psychic ''pneuma'' (''spiritus animalis'') within the brain.<ref>{{cite book|author=Dennis Sepper|editor-first1=Lawrence |editor-last1=Nolan |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-descartes-lexicon/animal-spirits/C857021D22C021EF7129A2D450740D98|title=The Cambridge Descartes Lexicon|chapter=Animal Spirits |year=2015 |pages=26–28 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511894695.011 |isbn=9780521193528 }}</ref> He conducted many anatomical studies on animals, most famously an ox, to study the transition from vital to psychic ''pneuma''.<ref name="lloyd2007"/> Although highly criticized for comparing animal anatomy to human anatomy, Galen was convinced that his knowledge was abundant enough in both anatomies to base one on the other.<ref name="lloyd2007"/>
In his treatise ''On the usefulness of the parts of the body'', Galen argued that the perfect suitability of each part of the body to its function indicated the role of an intelligent creator.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.topoi.org/project/plus-7/|title =Mapping the Soul in the Instrumental Body: Galen on the Functions of the Parts of the Human Body}}</ref> His [[Creationism#Theistic evolution|creationism]] was anticipated by the anatomical examples of [[Socrates]] and [[Empedocles]].<ref>{{cite book|author=[[David Sedley]]|url=https://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/socrates-vs-darwin|title=Socrates vs Darwin|publisher=[[Christ's College, Cambridge]]}}</ref>

==Philosophy==
{{See also|Philosophy of medicine}}
[[File:Statue of Galen of Pergamon.jpg|thumb|upright|Modern statue of Galen in his home town, [[Bergama|Pergamon]]]]

Although the main focus of his work was on medicine, anatomy, and physiology, Galen also wrote about logic and philosophy. His writings were influenced by earlier Greek and Roman thinkers, including [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], the [[Stoicism|Stoics]], and the [[Pyrrhonism|Pyrrhonists]]. Galen was concerned to combine philosophical thought with medical practice, as in his brief work ''That the Best Physician is also a Philosopher'' he took aspects from each group and combined them with his original thought. He regarded medicine as an interdisciplinary field that was best practiced by utilizing theory, observation, and experimentation in conjunction.

Galen combined his observations of his dissections with Plato's theory about the soul. Plato believed that the body and the soul were separate entities, rivaling the Stoics.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Roberts|first=Eric J.|date=1905|title=Plato's View of the Soul|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2248426|journal=Mind|volume=14|issue=55|pages=371–389|doi=10.1093/mind/XIV.3.371|jstor=2248426|issn=0026-4423}}</ref> Plato proclaimed that the soul is immortal, so it must exist before one is born, beyond the human body.<ref name=":2"/> This influenced Galen's thinking that the soul had to be acquired because the soul does not always reside within the human body. Plato's influence in Galen's model showed itself most prominently in what Galen dubbed arterial blood, which is a mixture of nutritious blood from the liver and the vital spirit (the soul) which was attained from the lungs. The vital spirit within this medium was necessary for the body to function and eventually completely absorbed. This process was then repeated indefinitely, according to Galen, so that the body could be replenished with the soul, or the vital spirit.

Several schools of thought existed within the medical field during Galen's lifetime, the main two being the [[Empiric school|Empiricists]] and [[Dogmatic school|Rationalists]] (also called Dogmatists or Philosophers), with the Methodists being a smaller group. The Empiricists emphasized the importance of physical practice and experimentation or "active learning" in the medical discipline. In direct opposition to the Empiricists were the Rationalists, who valued the study of established teachings in order to create new theories in the name of medical advancements. The Methodists formed somewhat of a middle ground, as they were not as experimental as the Empiricists, nor as theoretical as the Rationalists. The Methodists mainly utilized pure observation, showing greater interest in studying the natural course of ailments than making efforts to find remedies. Galen's education had exposed him to the five major schools of thought (Platonists, Peripatetics, Stoics, Epicureans, Pyrrhonists), with teachers from the Rationalist sect and from the Empiricist sect.

===Opposition to the Stoics===
Galen was well known for his advancements in medicine and the circulatory system, but he was also concerned with philosophy. He developed his own tripartite soul model following the examples of Plato; some scholars refer to him as a Platonist.<ref name=gill2007>{{cite journal|author=Gill C|year=2007|title=Galen and the Stoics: Mortal Enemies or Blood Brothers?.|journal=Phronesis|volume=52|issue=1|pages=88–120|doi=10.1163/156852807X177977}}</ref> Galen developed a theory of personality based on his understanding of fluid circulation in humans, and he believed that there was a physiological basis for mental disorders.<ref name =king2009>King, D. Brett (2009). The Roman Period and the Middle Ages. In King, D. B., Viney, W., Woody, W. D. (Eds.) A History of Psychology: Ideas and Context (4th ed., pp. 70–71) Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education, Inc.</ref> Galen connected many of his theories to the ''[[pneuma]]'' and he opposed the [[Stoics]]' definition of and use of the ''pneuma''.<ref name="gill2007"/>

The Stoics, according to Galen, failed to give a credible answer for the localization of functions of the psyche, or the mind. Through his use of medicine, he was convinced that he came up with a better answer, the brain.<ref name="gill2007"/> The Stoics only recognized the soul as having one part, which was the rational soul and they claimed it would be found in the heart. Galen, following Plato's idea, came up with two more parts to the soul.<ref name="gill2007"/>

Galen also rejected Stoic propositional logic and instead embraced a hypothetical syllogistic which was strongly influenced by the Peripatetics and based on elements of Aristotelian logic.<ref>[[Susanne Bobzien]],'Peripatetic Hypothetical Syllogistic in Galen', ''Rhizai'' 2, 2004 pp. 57–102</ref>

==Psychology==
===Mind–body problem===
{{further|Mind–body problem}}

Galen believed there is no sharp distinction between the mental and the physical.<ref name="hankinson1991"/><ref name="auto"/> This was a controversial argument at the time, and Galen agreed with some Greek philosophical schools in believing that the mind and body were not separate faculties.<ref name="lloyd2007"/> He believed that this could be scientifically shown.<ref name="hankinson1991"/> This was where his opposition to the Stoics became most prevalent.<ref name="gill2007"/> Galen proposed organs within the body to be responsible for specific functions. According to Galen, the Stoics' lack of scientific justification discredited their claims of the separateness of mind and body, which is why he spoke so strongly against them.<ref name="hankinson1991"/> There is an intense scholarly debate about soul–body relations in Galen's psychological writings.<ref name="auto"/> In his brief treatise ''Quod animi mores'', Galen says both that the soul "follows" the mixtures of the body, and that the soul is a bodily mixture. Scholars have offered ways of reconciling these claims, arguing for a materialist reading of Galen's philosophy of mind. According to this materialist reading, Galen identifies the soul with the mixtures of the body.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Marechal|first1=Patricia|last2=Mathesis Publications|date=2019|title=Galen's Constitutive Materialism|url=https://philpapers.org/rec/MARGCM |journal=Ancient Philosophy|volume=39|issue=1|pages=191–209|doi=10.5840/ancientphil201939110|s2cid=172100654|issn=0740-2007|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

===Psychotherapy===
Another one of Galen's major works, ''On the Diagnosis and Cure of the Soul's Passion'', discussed how to approach and treat psychological problems.<ref name="king2009"/> This was Galen's early attempt at what would later be called [[psychotherapy]]. His book contained directions on how to provide counsel to those with psychological issues to prompt them to reveal their deepest passions and secrets, and eventually cure them of their mental deficiency. The leading individual, or therapist, had to be a male, preferably of an older, wiser, age, as well as free from the control of the passions.<ref name="king2009"/> These passions, according to Galen, caused the psychological problems that people experienced.

==Published works==
{{Main|Galenic corpus}}
[[Image:Galeni De curandi ratione V00212 00000008.tif|thumb|''De curandi ratione'']]

Galen may have produced more work than any author in antiquity, rivaling the quantity of work issued from [[Augustine of Hippo]].<ref name="kotrc">Kotrc RF, Walters KR. A bibliography of the Galenic Corpus. A newly researched list and arrangement of the titles of the treatises extant in Greek, Latin, and Arabic. Trans Stud Coll Physicians Phila. 1979 December;1(4):256–304</ref> So profuse was Galen's output that the surviving texts represent nearly half of all the [[extant literature]] from ancient Greece.<ref name="ustun"/><ref name="kotrc"/> It has been reported that Galen employed twenty [[scribe]]s to write down his words.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Younker|first=J. Marin|title=Bleed, blister, puke, and purge : America's medical middle ages|date=2018|isbn=978-1-5415-8168-5|location=San Francisco|publisher=Zest Books|pages=51|oclc=1132383841}}</ref> Galen may have written as many as 500 treatises,<ref name="IIIDorn2006">James E. McClellan III; Harold Dorn. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction]''. JHU Press; 14 April 2006. {{ISBN|978-0-8018-8360-6}}. p. 92.</ref> amounting to some 10 million words.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} Although his surviving works amount to some 3 million words,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Medical-humanities/funded-projects/major-initiatives/wtdv030244.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219011857/http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Medical-humanities/funded-projects/major-initiatives/wtdv030244.htm|url-status=dead|title=Philip van der Eijk: Translating Galen|archivedate=19 December 2013}}</ref> this is thought to represent less than a third of his complete writings. In 191, or more likely in 192, a fire in the [[Temple of Peace, Rome|Temple of Peace]] destroyed many of his works, in particular treatises on philosophy.{{sfn|Houston|2003|pp=45–47}}

Because Galen's works were not translated into Latin in the ancient period, and because of the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, the study of Galen, along with the Greek medical tradition as a whole, went into decline in Western Europe during the [[Early Middle Ages]], when very few Latin scholars could read Greek. However, in general, Galen and the [[Ancient Greek medicine|ancient Greek medical tradition]] continued to be studied and followed in the [[Eastern Roman Empire]], commonly known as the Byzantine Empire. All of the extant Greek manuscripts of Galen were copied by Byzantine scholars.

In the Abbasid period (after 750) [[Arab Muslims]] began to be interested in Greek scientific and medical texts for the first time, and had some of Galen's texts translated into Arabic, often by Syrian Christian scholars (see below). As a result, some texts of Galen exist only in Arabic translation,<ref name="iep">{{cite web|url=http://www.iep.utm.edu/g/galen.htm|title=Galen |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |first1=Michael |last1=Boylan }}</ref> while others exist only in medieval Latin translations of the Arabic. In some cases scholars have even attempted to translate from the Latin or Arabic back into Greek where the original is lost.<ref name="kotrc"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1018&context=classics_papers|title=Rosen RM. Review of Vivian Nutton (ed.) Galen. On My Own Opinions. Corpus Medicorum Graecorum 5.3.2 Galeni De Proprius Placentis. Bryn Mawr Classical Review August 24 2000}}</ref><ref name="nuttonchoice">{{cite journal|jstor=639325|title=The Patient's Choice: A New Treatise by Galen|first=Vivian|last=Nutton|date=7 March 1990|journal=The Classical Quarterly|volume=40|issue=1|pages=236–257|doi=10.1017/s000983880002694x|s2cid=170328892}}</ref> For some of the ancient sources, such as [[Herophilus]], Galen's account of their work is all that survives.

Even in his own time, forgeries and unscrupulous editions of his work were a problem, prompting him to write ''On His Own Books''. Forgeries in Latin, Arabic or Greek continued until the [[Renaissance]]. Some of Galen's treatises have appeared under many different titles over the years. Sources are often in obscure and difficult-to-access journals or repositories. Although written in Greek, by convention the works are referred to by Latin titles, and often by merely abbreviations of those. No single authoritative collection of his work exists, and controversy remains as to the authenticity of a number of works attributed to Galen. As a consequence, research on Galen's work is fraught with hazard.<ref name="metzger"/><ref name="kotrc"/>

Various attempts have been made to classify Galen's vast output. For instance Coxe (1846) lists a Prolegomena, or introductory books, followed by 7 classes of treatise embracing Physiology (28 vols.), Hygiene (12), Aetiology (19), Semeiotics (14), Pharmacy (10), Blood letting (4), and Therapeutics (17), in addition to 4 of aphorisms, and spurious works.<ref name="Coxe">[[John Redman Coxe|Coxe, John Redman]], [http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1988&chapter=128229&layout=html&Itemid=27 ''The Writings of Hippocrates and Galen. Epitomised from the Original Latin translations''. Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston, 1846]</ref> The most complete [[compendium]] of Galen's writings, surpassing even modern projects like the ''{{ill|Corpus Medicorum Graecorum/Latinorum|de}}'', is the one compiled and translated by [[Karl Gottlob Kühn]] of [[Leipzig]] between 1821 and 1833.<ref name="kotrc"/> This collection consists of 122 of Galen's treatises, translated from the original Greek into Latin (the text is presented in both languages). Over 20,000 pages in length, it is divided into 22 volumes, with 676 index pages.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} Many of Galen's works are included in the ''[[Thesaurus Linguae Graecae]]'', a digital library of Greek literature started in 1972. Another useful modern source is the French [http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/histmed/medica/galien_va.htm Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de médecine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140421160949/http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/histmed/medica/galien_va.htm|date=21 April 2014}} (BIUM).

==Legacy==
===Late antiquity===
[[File:Galenosgruppe (Wiener Dioskurides).jpg|thumb|upright=.9|A group of physicians in an image from the [[Vienna Dioscurides]]; Galen is depicted top center.]]

In his time, Galen's reputation as both physician and philosopher was legendary,<ref name="nutton84a">Nutton V. "Galen in the eyes of his contemporaries". ''BHM'' 58(3) fall 1984 315–24</ref> the emperor Marcus Aurelius describing him as "Primum sane medicorum esse, philosophorum autem solum" (first among doctors and unique among philosophers ''Praen 14: 660''). Other contemporary authors in the Greek world confirm this including [[Theodotus of Byzantium|Theodotus the Shoemaker]], [[Athenaeus]] and [[Alexander of Aphrodisias]]. The 7th-century poet [[George Pisida|George of Pisida]] went so far as to refer to Christ as a second and neglected Galen.<ref>George of Pisida. Hexameron 1.1588f</ref> Galen continued to exert an important influence over the theory and practice of medicine until the mid-17th century in the Byzantine and Arabic worlds and Europe.<ref name="brock">Arthur John Brock (translator), ''Introduction. Galen. On the Natural Faculties''. Edinburgh 1916</ref> A few centuries after Galen, [[Palladius (physician)|Palladius Iatrosophista]] stated in his commentary on Hippocrates that Hippocrates sowed and Galen reaped.

Galen summarized and synthesized the work of his predecessors, and it is in Galen's words (Galenism) that Greek medicine was handed down to subsequent generations, such that Galenism became the means by which Greek medicine was known to the world. Often, this was in the form of restating and reinterpreting, such as in Magnus of Nisibis' 4th-century work on urine, which was in turn translated into Arabic.<ref name="nutton84"/> Yet the full importance of his contributions was not appreciated until long after his death.<ref name="brock"/> Galen's rhetoric and prolificity were so powerful as to convey the impression that there was little left to learn. The term Galenism has subsequently taken on both a positive and pejorative meaning as one that transformed medicine in late antiquity yet so dominated subsequent thinking as to stifle further progress.<ref name="nutton84"/>

After the collapse of the Western Empire the study of Galen and other Greek works almost disappeared in the Latin West. In contrast, in the predominantly Greek-speaking eastern half of the Roman empire (Byzantium), many commentators of the subsequent centuries, such as [[Oribasius]], physician to the emperor [[Julian the apostate|Julian]] who compiled a ''Synopsis'' in the 4th century, preserved and disseminated Galen's works, making them more accessible. Nutton refers to these authors as the "medical refrigerators of antiquity".<ref name="brock"/><ref name="nutton84"/> In late antiquity, medical writing veered increasingly in the direction of the theoretical at the expense of the practical, with many authors merely debating Galenism. Magnus of Nisibis was a pure theorist, as were [[John of Alexandria]] and Agnellus of Ravenna with their lectures on Galen's ''De Sectis''.<ref>Temkin O. Studies on late Alexandrian medicine. Bull Hist Med 3: 405–30, 1935</ref> So strong was Galenism that other authors such as Hippocrates began to be seen through Galen's eyes, while his opponents became marginalised and other medical sects such as Asclepiadism slowly disappeared.<ref name="nutton84"/>

Greek medicine was part of Greek culture, and Syrian Christians came in contact with it while the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] (Byzantium) ruled Syria and western Mesopotamia, regions that were conquered in the 7th century by the [[Arabs]]. After 750, these Syrian Christians made the first translations of Galen into [[Syriac language|Syriac]] and [[Arabic]]. From then on, Galen and the Greek medical tradition in general became assimilated into the medieval and early modern Islamic Middle East.<ref name="brock"/> [[Job of Edessa]] is said to have translated 36 of Galen's works into Syriac, some of which were later translated into Arabic by [[Hunain ibn Ishaq]].<ref>Translated works listed in Alphonse Mingana (ed.); Job of Edessa, [https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/42928 ''Encyclopaedia of Philosophical and Natural Sciences as Taught in Baghdad about A.D. 817, or Book of Treasures''] (W. Hefer & Sons, 1935), p. xix.</ref>

===Medieval Islam===
{{further|Medicine in the medieval Islamic world}}
[[File:Galen in Kitab al-diryaq, Vienna AF 10.jpg|thumb|Galen ({{langx|ar|جالينوس|translit=Jalinus}}) in ''[[Kitab al-Dariyak]]'', 1225–1250, Syria. Vienna AF 10, Syria.]]
[[File:Kitab al-Dariyaq, folio 26.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Kitab al-Dariyak]]'' was allegedly based on the work of Galen. Here, [[Andromachus the Elder]] on horseback, questioning a patient who has received a snake bite. ''Kitab al-Dariyak'', 1198–1199, Syria.<ref name="OP">{{cite journal |last1=Pancaroǧlu |first1=Oya |title=Socializing Medicine: Illustrations of the Kitāb al-diryāq |journal=Muqarnas |date=2001 |volume=18 |pages=155–172 |doi=10.2307/1523306 |jstor=1523306 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1523306 |issn=0732-2992|url-access=subscription }}</ref>]]
Galen's approach to medicine became and remains influential in the Islamic world. The first major translator of Galen into Arabic was the Arab Christian [[Hunayn ibn Ishaq]]. He translated ({{Circa|830–870|lk=no}}) 129 works of "Jalinos"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://press.princeton.edu/books|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012180439/http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7100.html|url-status=dead|title=All Books|archivedate=12 October 2008|website=press.princeton.edu}}</ref> into [[Arabic language|Arabic]]. Arabic sources, such as [[Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi|Muhammad ibn Zakarīya al-Rāzi]] (AD 865–925), continue to be the source of discovery of new or relatively inaccessible Galenic writings.<ref name="nuttonchoice"/> One of Hunayn's Arabic translations, ''Kitab ila Aglooqan fi Shifa al Amrad'', which is extant in the Library of [[Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences|Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine & Sciences]], is regarded as a masterpiece of Galen's literary works. A part of the Alexandrian compendium of Galen's work, this 10th-century manuscript comprises two parts that include details regarding various types of fevers (Humyat) and different inflammatory conditions of the body. More important is that it includes details of more than 150 single and compound formulations of both herbal and animal origin. The book provides an insight into understanding the traditions and methods of treatment in the Greek and Roman eras. In addition, this book provides a direct source for the study of more than 150 single and compound drugs used during the Greco-Roman period.

As the title of ''Doubts on Galen'' by al-Rāzi implies, as well as the writings of physicians such as [[Ibn Zuhr]] and [[Ibn al-Nafis]],<ref>{{cite journal|author = Reflections Chairman's|year = 2004|title = Traditional Medicine Among Gulf Arabs, Part II: Blood-letting|journal = Heart Views|volume = 5|issue = 2|pages = 74–85 [80]}}</ref> the works of Galen were not accepted unquestioningly, but as a challengeable basis for further [[Scientific method|inquiry]]. A strong emphasis on [[experiment]]ation and [[empiricism]] led to new results and new observations, which were contrasted and combined with those of Galen by writers such as al-Rāzi, [[Ali ibn Abbas al-Majusi]], [[Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi]], [[Avicenna|Ibn Sina]] (Avicenna), Ibn Zuhr, and Ibn al-Nafis. For example, Ibn al-Nafis' discovery of the [[pulmonary circulation]] contradicted the Galenic theory on the heart.<ref name="Dabbagh">{{cite journal|author = Al-Dabbagh S. A.|year = 1978|title = Ibn Al-Nafis and the pulmonary circulation|journal = The Lancet|volume = 311|issue = 8074|page = 1148|doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(78)90318-5|pmid = 77431|s2cid = 43154531}}</ref>

The influence of Galen's writings, including humorism, remains strong in modern [[Unani medicine]], now closely identified with Islamic culture, and widely practiced from India (where it is officially recognized) to Morocco.<ref>Unani Tibb. [[Science Museum, London]]. http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/techniques/unanitibb.aspx {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151010154455/http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/techniques/unanitibb.aspx|date=10 October 2015}} accessed 29 November 2015.</ref>
[[Moses Maimonides|Maimonides]] was influenced by Galen, whom he cited most often in his medical works, and whom he considered to be the greatest [[physician]] of all time.<ref>T. M. Rudavsky, Maimonides, p 6.</ref><ref>Moshe Halbertal, Maimonides: Life and Thought, p 71.</ref> In India many Hindu physicians studied Persian and Urdu languages and learnt Galenic medicine. This trend of studies among Hindu physicians began in the 17th century and lasted until the early 20th century (Speziale 2018).

===Middle Ages===
[[Image:Galenus - De pulsibus. Greek manuscript with latin translation. Venice, ca. 1550..jpg|thumb|upright=.9|''De Pulsibus'' ({{circa|1550}}), Galen's treatise on the pulse, in Greek and Latin]]

From the 11th century onwards, [[Latin translations of the 12th century|Latin translations of Islamic medical texts]] began to appear in the West, alongside the [[Schola Medica Salernitana|Salerno]] school of thought, and were soon incorporated into the curriculum at the universities of [[Naples University|Naples]] and [[Montpellier University|Montpellier]]. From that time, Galenism took on a new, unquestioned authority,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siraisi |first=Nancy G. |date=2012 |title=Medicine, 1450–1620, and the History of Science |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/667970 |journal=Isis |volume=103 |issue=3 |pages=491–514 |doi=10.1086/667970 |jstor=10.1086/667970 |pmid=23286188 |issn=0021-1753|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Galen even being referred to as the "Medical Pope of the Middle Ages".<ref name="brock"/> [[Constantine the African]] was amongst those who translated both Hippocrates and Galen from Arabic. In addition to the more numerous translations of Arabic texts in this period, there were a few translations of Galenic works directly from the Greek, such as [[Burgundio of Pisa]]'s translation of ''De complexionibus''. Galen's works on anatomy and medicine became the mainstay of the medieval physician's university curriculum, alongside Ibn Sina's ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'', which elaborated on Galen's works. Unlike pagan Rome, Christian Europe did not exercise a universal prohibition of the dissection and autopsy of the human body and such examinations were carried out regularly from at least the 13th century.<ref>Toby E. Huff, ''The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West'', 191–193.</ref><ref>Joanna Carraway Vitiello, "Forensic Evidence, Lay Witnesses and Medical Expertise in the Criminal Courts of Late Medieval Italy", ''Medicine and the Law in the Middle Ages'', 134–135.</ref> However, Galen's influence was so great that when dissections discovered anomalies compared with Galen's anatomy, the physicians often tried to fit these into the Galenic system. An example of this is [[Mondino de Liuzzi]], who describes rudimentary blood circulation in his writings but still asserts that the left ventricle should contain air. Some cited these changes as proof that human anatomy had changed since the time of Galen.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Raymond F.|title=Stories of Great Physicians|publisher=Whitman|year=1963|pages=46–47|chapter=The Anatomist}}</ref>

The most important translator of Galen's works into Latin was Niccolò di Deoprepio da Reggio, who spent several years working on Galen. Niccolò worked at the Angevin Court during the reign of king [[Robert, King of Naples|Robert of Naples]]. Among Niccolò's translations is a piece from a medical treatise by Galen, of which the original text is lost.<ref>{{cite book|last=Weiss|first=Roberto|title=The Dawn of Humanism in Italy|year=1947|publisher=H. K. Lewis & Co. Ltd.|location=London|pages=19}}</ref>

===Renaissance===
The first edition of Galen's complete works in Latin translation was edited by Diomede Bonardo of Brescia and printed at Venice by Filippo Pinzi in 1490.<ref>Stefania Fortuna, [https://www.academia.edu/11641978/The_Latin_Editions_of_Galen_s_Opera_omnia_1490_1625_and_Their_Prefaces "The Latin Editions of Galen's Opera omnia (1490–1625) and Their Prefaces"], ''Early Science and Medicine'' '''17''' (2012): 391–412.</ref>

The Renaissance, and the [[Fall of Constantinople|fall of the Byzantine Empire]] (1453), were accompanied by an influx of Greek scholars and manuscripts to the West, allowing direct comparison between the Arabic commentaries and the original Greek texts of Galen. This [[New Learning]] and the [[Renaissance humanism|Humanist]] movement, particularly the work of [[Thomas Linacre|Linacre]], promoted ''[[literae humaniores]]'' including Galen in the Latin scientific canon, ''De Naturalibus Facultatibus'' appearing in London in 1523. Debates on medical science now had two traditions, the more conservative Arabian and the liberal Greek.<ref name="brock"/> The more extreme liberal movements began to challenge the role of authority in medicine, as exemplified by [[Paracelsus]]' symbolically burning the works of Avicenna and Galen at his medical school in [[University of Basel|Basel]].<ref name="brock"/> Nevertheless, Galen's pre-eminence amongst the great thinkers of the millennium is exemplified by a 16th-century mural in the refectory of the [[Great Lavra]] of [[Mount Athos]]. It depicts pagan sages at the foot of the [[Tree of Jesse]], with Galen between the [[Sibyl]] and [[Aristotle]].<ref name="nutton84">{{cite web|url=http://www.dahsm.medschool.ucsf.edu/history/IntroCourseIPDF/Nutton_Galen_to_Alex.pdf|title=Nutton V. From Galen to Alexander, aspects of medicine and medical practice in late antiquity. Dunbarton Oaks Papers. 38, 1984|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216212006/http://www.dahsm.medschool.ucsf.edu/history/IntroCourseIPDF/Nutton_Galen_to_Alex.pdf|archive-date=16 December 2008}}</ref>

Galenism's final defeat came from a combination of the negativism of Paracelsus and the constructivism of the Italian Renaissance anatomists, such as [[Vesalius]] in the 16th century.<ref name="brock"/> In the 1530s, the Flemish anatomist and physician Andreas Vesalius took on a project to translate many of Galen's Greek texts into Latin. Vesalius' most famous work, ''De humani corporis fabrica'', was greatly influenced by Galenic writing and form. Seeking to examine critically Galen's methods and outlook, Vesalius turned to human cadaver dissection as a means of verification. Galen's writings were shown by Vesalius to describe details present in monkeys but not in humans, and he demonstrated Galen's limitations through books and hands-on demonstrations despite fierce opposition from orthodox pro-Galenists such as [[Jacques Dubois|Jacobus Sylvius]]. Since Galen states that he is using observations of monkeys (human dissection was prohibited) to give an account of what the body looks like, Vesalius could portray himself as using Galen's approach of description of direct observation to create a record of the exact details of the human body, since he worked in a time when human dissection was allowed. Galen argued that monkey anatomy was close enough to humans for physicians to learn anatomy with monkey dissections and then make observations of similar structures in the wounds of their patients, rather than trying to learn anatomy only from wounds in human patients, as would be done by students trained in the Empiricist model.<ref>{{cite journal|author = Cosans C|year = 1997|title = Galen's Critique of Rationalist and Empiricist Anatomy|journal = Journal of the History of Biology|volume = 30|issue = 1|pages = 35–54|doi = 10.1023/A:1004266427468|pmid = 11618979|s2cid = 35323972}}</ref> The examinations of Vesalius also disproved medical theories of [[Aristotle]] and [[Mondino de Liuzzi]]. One of the best known examples of Vesalius' overturning of Galenism was his demonstration that the [[interventricular septum]] of the heart was not permeable, as Galen had taught (''Nat Fac III xv''). However, this had been revealed two years before by Michael Servetus in his fateful "''Christianismi restitutio''" (1553) with only three copies of the book surviving, but these remained hidden for decades; the rest were burned shortly after its publication because of persecution of Servetus by religious authorities.

[[Michael Servetus]], using the name "Michel de Villeneuve" during his stay in France, was [[Vesalius]]' fellow student and the best Galenist at the University of Paris, according to [[Johann Winter von Andernach]],<ref>2011 "The love for truth. Life and work of Michael Servetus", (El amor a la verdad. Vida y obra de Miguel Servet.), González Echeverría, Francisco Javier, printed by Navarro y Navarro, Zaragoza, collaboration with the Government of Navarra, Department of Institutional Relations and Education of the Government of Navarra, 607 pp, 64 of them illustrations. Note 481 (.."''primum Andrea Vesalem..Post hunc, Michael Villanovanus familiariter milhi in consectionibus adhibitus est, vir in omni genere litterarum ornatissimus in Galenic doctrina, vix illi secundus..''" Audrey, Jean</ref> who taught both. In the Galenism of the Renaissance, editions of the ''Opera Omnia'' by Galen were very important, beginning from the [[Aldine Press]]' [[List of editiones principes in Greek|editio princeps in Venice in 1525]].<ref>J. P. Byrne, ''Encyclopedia of the Black Death'', ABC-CLIO, 2012, p. 231</ref> It was followed in Venice in 1541–1542 by the Giunta. There were fourteen editions of the book from that date until 1625. Just one edition was produced from Lyon between 1548 and 1551. The Lyon edition has commentaries on breathing and blood streaming that correct the work of earlier renowned authors such as [[Vesalius]], [[John Caius|Caius]], or [[Janus Cornarius]]. "Michel De Villeneuve" had contracts with Jean Frellon for that work, and the Servetus scholar-researcher Francisco Javier González Echeverría<ref>2002 " Michael Servetus in the  'Opera Omnia' of Galenus of 1548–1551 printed by Jean Frellon", González Echeverría, Francisco Javier. Book of communications, XII National Congress on History of Medicine., Albacete, 7–9 February, pp. 42–43</ref><ref>2004 "The edition of Lyon of the "Opera omnia' by Galenus of the printer Jean Frellon (1548–1551) commented by Michael Servetus", Francisco Javier González Echeverría and Ancín Chandía, Teresa. In: Medicine in the presence of the new millennium: a historical perspective. Coordinators: José Martínez Pérez, Isabel Porras Gallo, Pedro Samblás Tilve, Mercedes Del Cura González, Minutes from the XII Congress in History of Medicine, 7–9 February 2002, Albacete. Ed. Of the University of Castilla-La Mancha. Cuenca, pp. 645–657.</ref> presented research that became an accepted communication in the [[International Society for the History of Medicine]],<ref>2011 September 9th, Francisco González Echeverría VI International Meeting for the History of Medicine, (S-11: Biographies in History of Medicine (I)), Barcelona. ''New Discoveries on the biography of Michael De Villeneuve (Michael Servetus)'' & ''New discoverys on the work of Michael De Villeneuve (Michael Servetus)''</ref> which concluded that Michael De Villeneuve ([[Michael Servetus]]) is the author of the commentaries of this edition of Frellon, in [[Lyon]].<ref>2011 "The love for truth. Life and work of Michael Servetus", (El amor a la verdad. Vida y obra de Miguel Servet.), Francisco Javier González Echeverría, Francisco Javier, printed by Navarro y Navarro, Zaragoza, collaboration with the Government of Navarra, Department of Institutional Relations and Education of the Government of Navarra, 607 pp, 64 of them illustrations. pp. 194–204</ref><ref>[http://www.michaelservetusresearch.com/ENGLISH/works.html Michael Servetus Research] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221134108/http://www.michaelservetusresearch.com/ENGLISH/works.html|date=21 February 2017}} Website with a study on the Opera Omnia of Galen, by Michael de Villanueva</ref>

Another convincing case where understanding of the body was extended beyond where Galen had left it came from these demonstrations of the nature of human circulation and the subsequent work of [[Andrea Cesalpino]], [[Hieronymus Fabricius|Fabricio of Acquapendente]], and [[William Harvey]].<ref name="brock"/> Some Galenic teaching, such as his emphasis on [[bloodletting]] as a remedy for many ailments, however, remained influential until well into the 19th century.<ref>Brian, P., 1986, ''Galen on Bloodletting,'' Cambridge University Press</ref>

===Contemporary scholarship===
Galenic scholarship remains an intense and vibrant field, with interest in Galen's work bolstered by the German encyclopedia ''[[Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft]]''.<ref name="kotrc"/>

Copies of his works translated by Robert M. Green are held at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://findingaids.nlm.nih.gov/repositories/ammp/resources/green082|title=Selected works of Galen / translated by Robert Montraville Green for Sidney Licht [c. 1953] 1951–1979|publisher= National Library of Medicine}}</ref>

In 2018, the [[University of Basel]] discovered that a mysterious Greek [[papyrus]] with [[mirror writing]] on both sides, which is in the collection of [[Basilius Amerbach]], a professor of [[jurisprudence]] at the university in the 16th century, is an unknown medical document of Galen or an unknown commentary on his work. The medical text describes the phenomenon of "hysterical apnea".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unibas.ch/en/News-Events/News/Uni-Research/Mystery-of-the-Basel-papyrus-solved.html|title=Mystery of the Basel papyrus solved|publisher= University of Basel}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Abascantus]]
*[[Galenic formulation]]
* [[Galenic corpus]]
*[[History of medicine]]
*[[Timeline of medicine and medical technology]]
*''[[Peri Alypias]]''

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
::''The works of Galen are listed in [[Galenic corpus]].''
{{refbegin}}
*Algra K (ed.) ''The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy''. Cambridge University Press, 2005. {{ISBN|978-90-04-35275-9}}
*{{Cite journal |last=Nutton |first=Vivian |date=2008-01-01 |title=Book Review: Galien: Introduction générale; Sur l'ordre de ses propres livres; Sur ses propres livres; Que l'excellent médecin est aussi philosophe |journal=Medical History |language=en |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=144–145 |doi=10.1017/S0025727300002209 |pmc=2175042}}
*[[Kai Brodersen|Brodersen K.]] ''Galenos, Die verbrannte Bibliothek: Peri Alypias''. Marix, Wiesbaden 2015, {{ISBN|978-3-7374-0962-9}}
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=al9FH5tynlAC Debru A. "Galen on Pharmacology: Philosophy, History, and Medicine : Proceedings of the Vth International Galen Colloquium", Lille, 16–18 March 1995 Brill, 1997], {{ISBN|978-90-04-10403-7}}
*[https://archive.today/20130801115651/http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=12937057 Dunn PM. ''Galen (AD 129–200) of Pergamun: anatomist and experimental physiologist''. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2003 Sep;88(5):F441–443.]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=X8eyqsqFgQ8C Everson S. (ed.) ''Language''. Cambridge University Press, 1994], {{ISBN|978-0-521-35795-1}}
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=Hf1htsj-usAC French RK. ''Medicine Before Science: The Rational and Learned Doctor from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment''. Cambridge University Press, 2003.] {{ISBN|978-0-521-00761-0}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/gleason/010702.pdf |last1=Gleason |first1=MW |title=Shock and Awe: The Performance Dimension of Galen's Anatomy Demonstrations Version 5 |work=Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics |date=January 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531062146/http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/gleason/010702.pdf |archive-date=May 31, 2022}}
*Gleason MW. ''[[Making Men: Sophists and Self-Presentation in Ancient Rome]]''. Princeton 1995
*[http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521819541 Hankinson RJ (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Galen. CUP 2008] {{ISBN|978-0-521-81954-1}}
*Hankinson R.J. ''Cause and explanation in ancient Greek thought''. Oxford University Press, 1998, {{ISBN|978-0-19-924656-4}}
*{{cite journal |title=Galen, His Books, and the Horrea Piperataria at Rome |first=George W. |last=Houston |journal=Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome |volume=48 |pages=45–51 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2003 |doi=10.2307/4238804 |jstor=4238804}}
*[[Johannes Ilberg]]. "Aus Galens Praxis. Neue Jahrbücher für das Klassische Altertum", Geschichte und Deutsche Literatur 15: 276–312, 1905
*[[Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman]] (ed.). ''Jawami Kitab Al-Nabd Al-Saghir by Galen'' (2007), [http://www.ibnsinaacademy.org Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine & Sciences], Aligarh, India; {{ISBN|978-81-901362-7-3}}
*Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (ed.). ''Kitab fi Firaq al Tibb by Galen'' (2008), [http://www.ibnsinaacademy.org Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine & Sciences], Aligarh, India; {{ISBN|978-81-906070-1-8}}
*Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (ed.). ''Kitab al Anasir by Galen'' (2008), [http://www.ibnsinaacademy.org Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine & Sciences], Aligarh, India; {{ISBN|978-81-906070-2-5}}
*Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (ed.). ''Kitab al Mizaj of Galen'' (2008), [http://www.ibnsinaacademy.org Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine & Sciences], Aligarh, India, {{ISBN|978-81-906070-3-2}}
*Kotrc RF, Walters KR. "A bibliography of the Galenic Corpus. A newly researched list and arrangement of the titles of the treatises extant in Greek, Latin, and Arabic". Trans Stud Coll Physicians Phila. 1979 December;1(4):256–304
*[http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/bulletin_of_the_history_of_medicine/v073/73.1mattern.html Mattern SP. Physicians and the Roman Imperial Aristocracy: The Patronage of Therapeutics. Bulletin of the History of Medicine. Volume 73, Number 1, Spring 1999, pp. 1–18]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=NrEeAAAAIAAJ Metzger BM. New Testament Studies: Philological, Versional, and Patristic. Brill, 1980], {{ISBN|978-90-04-06163-7}}
*[http://www.al-islam.org/al-tawhid/medical_sects/title.htm Muhaqqiq M. Medical Sects in Islam. al-Tawhid Islamic Journal, vol. VIII, No.2]
*Nutton V. "Roman Medicine, 250 BC to AD 200, and Medicine in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages", in Lawrence C.(ed.) ''The Western Medical Tradition: 800–1800 A.D.'' 1995
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=oShfkIhduowC Nutton V. ''Ancient Medicine''. Routledge, 2004], {{ISBN|978-0-415-08611-0}}
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=lzO3zQ3dK0cC Osler W. ''The Evolution of Modern Medicine'' 1913. Plain Label Books 1987. Chapter II: Greek Medicine]
*Peterson DW. "Observations on the chronology of the Galenic Corpus". Bull Hist Med 51(3): 484, 1977
*Siegel RE. ''Galen's System of Physiology and Medicine'', Basel 1968 (this text is not regarded highly by most Galen scholars)
*Siegel RE. ''Galen on Sense Perception, His Doctrines, Observations and Experiments on Vision, Hearing, Smell, Taste, Touch and Pain, and Their Historical Sources''. Karger, Basel 1970 (this text is not regarded highly by most Galen scholars)
*Siegel RE. ''Galen on Psychology, Psychopathology, and Function and Diseases of the Nervous System'' 1973 (this text is not regarded highly by most Galen scholars)
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=wJ4YAAAAIAAJ Smith WG. ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology''. J Walton 1849]
*Stakelum JW, ''Galen and the Logic of Proposition'', Rome, Angelicum, 1940
*Taylor HO. ''Greek Biology And Medicine''. Marshall Jones 1922. Chapter 5: The Final System – Galen
*[[Oswei Temkin|Temkin O.]] ''Galenism: Rise and Decline of a Medical Philosophy''. Cornell University Press, Ithaca 1973
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=mhNUGgG2eacC ''The Cambridge Ancient History'': Second Edition. XI The High Empire A.D. 70–192 Cambridge University Press, 2000], {{ISBN|978-0-521-26335-1}}
*[http://www.tlg.uci.edu/ ''Thesaurus Linguae Graecae'': TLG]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=Aesg-6eBWCYC van der Eijk P. ''Medicine and Philosophy in Classical Antiquity: Doctors and Philosophers on Nature, Soul, Health and Disease''. Cambridge University Press, 2005], {{ISBN|978-0-521-81800-1}}
*[https://archive.org/details/marcusaureliusan00watsrich Watson PB. ''Marcus Aurelius Antoninus''. Harper & brothers, 1884]
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{Library resources box|by=yes|onlinebooks=yes|others=yes|about=yes|label=Galen|viaf=|lccn=|lcheading=|wikititle=}}
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite conference |last1=Bacalexi |first1=Dina |title=Ancient medicine, humanistic medicine: the Renaissance commentaries of Galen, transmission and transformation of knowledge |work=International Conference Scientiae 2014: Disciplines of knowing in the Early Modern World, Scientiae International Research Group |date=April 2014 |url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01639720/document |publisher=HAL |location=Vienna}}
*Garcia Ballester, Luis. 2002. ''Galen and Galenism. Theory and Medical Practice from Antiquity to the European Renaissance.'' Collected Studies Series 710. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Variorum.
*Gilbert, N. Ward. 1960. ''Renaissance Concepts of Method.'' New York: Columbia University Press.
*Gill, Christopher, Tim Whitmarsh, and John Wilkins, eds. 2012. ''Galen and the World of Knowledge.'' Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
*Kudlien, Fridolf, and Richard J Durling. 1991. ''Galen's Method of Healing: Proceedings of the 1982 Galen Symposium.'' Leiden: E.J. Brill.
*Lloyd, G. E. R. 1991. ''Methods and Problems in Greek Science.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Mattern, Susan P. 2013. ''The Prince of Medicine: Galen In the Roman Empire.'' New York: Oxford University Press.
*Nutton, Vivian. 2004. ''Ancient Medicine.'' London and New York: Routledge.
*Rocca, Julius. 2003. ''Galen on the Brain: Anatomical Knowledge and Physiological Speculation in the Second Century A.D.'' Studies in Ancient Medicine 26. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill.
*Rosen, Ralph M. 2013. "Galen on Poetic Testimony" In ''Writing Science: Medical and Mathematical Authorship in Ancient Greece.'' Edited by M. Asper, 177–189. Berlin: De Gruyter.
*Rosen, Ralph M. 2013. "Galen, Plato, and the Physiology of Eros." In ''Eros'' Edited by E. Sanders, C. Carey and N. Lowe, 111–127. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Sarton, George. 1954. ''Galen of Pergamon.'' Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.
*Schlange-Schöningen, H. ''Die römische Gesellschaft bei Galen. Biographie und Sozialgeschichte'' (= ''Untersuchungen zur antiken Literatur und Geschichte'', Bd. 65) Berlin: de Gruyter, 2003
* Singer, P. N.; Rosen, Ralph M. (2024). ''The Oxford handbook of Galen.'' Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|9780190913687}}.
*Speziale, Fabrizio. ''Culture persane et médecine ayurvédique an Asie du Sud'', Leiden – Boston, E. J. Brill, Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science. Texts and Studies, 2018. {{ISBN|978-90-04-35275-9}}.
*Walzer, Richard. 1949. ''Galen On Jews and Christians.'' London: Oxford University Press.
{{refend}}

===Primary sources===
{{refbegin}}
*Boudon-Millot, V. ''Introduction Générale, Sur L'ordre de ses Propres Livres, Sur ses Propres Livres, Que L'excellent Médecin est Aussi Philosophe'' Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2007.
*{{cite book |last=Brock |first=Arthur John |title=Greek Medicine, Being Extracts Illustrative of Medical Writers from Hippocrates to Galen |url=https://archive.org/details/greekmedicinebei0000broc |url-access=registration |year=1929 |publisher=Dent |location=London}}
*{{cite book |last=Galen |title=On the Therapeutic Method |year=1991 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |others=R.J. Hankinson, trans}}
*{{Cite book |last=Singer |first=R. N. |year=2023 |title=Galen: Writings on Health |series=Cambridge Galen Translations |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-009-15951-7}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{wikiquote}}
*{{Gutenberg author|id=Galen|name=Galen}}
*[http://cmg.bbaw.de/epubl/online/galges.html Works by Galen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024064111/http://cmg.bbaw.de/epubl/online/galges.html |date=24 October 2020 }} at the [[:de:Corpus Medicorum Graecorum/Latinorum|Corpus Medicorum Graecorum]] with links to digitized editions, manuscripts and modern translations.
*{{Internet Archive author}}
*{{Internet Archive author|name=Claudius Galenus}}
*{{cite SEP|url-id=galen|title=Galen|last=Singer|first=P. N.}}
*[http://www.iep.utm.edu/galen/ Galen] entry in the [[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]*[http://classicsindex.wikispaces.com/Galen Classicsindex: Galen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081224233754/http://classicsindex.wikispaces.com/Galen |date=24 December 2008 }}
*[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults?q=Galen&redirect=true Works by Galen at Perseus Digital Library]
*[http://cmg.bbaw.de/epubl/online/editionencmg_05.html Online Editions by the ''Corpus Medicorum Graecorum'']
*[http://galen.bbaw.de/online-publications/hippokrates-und-galenbibliographie-fichtner Gerhard Fichtner, Galen bibliography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120712011351/http://galen.bbaw.de/online-publications/hippokrates-und-galenbibliographie-fichtner|date=12 July 2012}}
*[http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/library/historical/artifacts/antiqua/galen.cfm University of Virginia: Health Sciences Library. Galen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210172030/http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/library/historical/artifacts/antiqua/galen.cfm|date=10 December 2007}}
*[http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/a-b/ancientsurgery7.html Channel 4 – History – Ancient surgery]
*[https://exploregalen.com/ The Empire's Physician: Prosperity, Plague, and Healing in Ancient Rome], NYU's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
*[http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2097.htm Lienhard JH. Engines of our Ingenuity, Number 2097 – Constantine the African]
*[https://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-223895/Galen-of-Pergamum Nutton V. Galen of Pergamum, Encyclopædia Britannica]
*[http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgajpd/medicina%20antiqua/bio_gal.html Pearcy L. Galen: A biographical sketch. Medicina Antiqua]
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070406023427/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/medicine/0109.html Taylor HO. Greek Biology and Medicine 1922: Chapter 5 – "The Final System: Galen"]}}
*[http://robl.de/galen/galen.htm Galenus von Pergamon – Leben und Werk. ''Includes alphabetical list of Latin Titles'']
*{{in lang|fr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20150923222338/http://www.biusante.parisdescartes.fr/histmed/medica/galien_vf.htm Galien's works] digitized by the [https://web.archive.org/web/20111101181049/http://www.biusante.parisdescartes.fr/debut.htm BIUM (Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de médecine et d'odontologie, Paris)], see its digital library [https://web.archive.org/web/20141007025741/http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/histmed/medica.htm Medic@].
*[http://digital.slub-dresden.de/id337794197 Galeni opera varia – Mscr.Dresd.Db.93] Digital Version of the Manuscript at the Saxon State and University Library, Dresden (SLUB)
*[http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgajpd/medicina%20antiqua/mm_hypertexts.html Hypertexts – Medicina Antiqua, University College London] ''(Commentary on Hippocrates' On the Nature of Man; On the Natural Faculties; Exhortation to Study the Arts: To Menodotus; On Diagnosis from Dreams)''
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20170221134108/http://www.michaelservetusresearch.com/ENGLISH/works.html Michael Servetus Research] Website with a study on the ''Opera Omnia of Galen'' by the galenist Michael de Villanueva, and also the first description of the [[pulmonary circulation]] in his Manuscript of Paris in 1546.
*''Claudii Galeni opera omnia'' in ''Medicorum graecorum opera quae exstant, editionem curavit D. Carolus Gottlob Kühn, Lipsiae prostat in officina libraria Car. Cnoblochii'', 1821–1833 in [http://www2.biusante.parisdescartes.fr/livanc/?intro=galien_vf&statut=charge&fille=o&cotemere=45674 20 volumines].
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03c4dys Discussion of Galens] on [[BBC Radio 4]]'s programme ''[[In Our Time (radio series)|In Our Time]]''
*[http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:061:2-18076 Digital edition: Galeni septima Classis (1550)] by the [[University and State Library Düsseldorf]]
*[http://digitalgalen.net/ The Galen Syriac Palimpsest – On the Mixtures and Powers of Simple Drugs]

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