[VI] 



CLAUDIUS GALEN (A.D. 130200) AND HIS 

 INFLUENCE ON ANATOMY 



xVlthough Galen stands out as one of the greatest medical 

 men of all time, he made very few personal contributions to our 

 knowledge of human anatomy. So important was he, however, that 

 for nearly 1500 years, he ruled the medical world. Many of his 

 ^vords, phrases and thoughts are a part of our medical canon today 

 as well as being current in our daily speech. In an anatomical 

 sense, he was an anachronism, because nowhere throughout the 

 breadth and width of the Roman Empire was he given permis- 

 sion to dissect the human body. Probably no man ever lived who 

 possessed more of an urge to anatomize than he, but this trait had 

 to be sublimated to investigations on lower animals even though 

 he advocated human dissection. Galen's long inflvience, for which 

 he merits consideration, stems from the fact that he was a prolific 

 writer who published all his findings and medical ideas, because 

 he was followed by a period in which all scientific doors were 

 locked and because he was the only anatomical specialist of note 

 in his time. 



Galen, a Greek, lived during the Golden Age of the Roman 

 Empire. He was born in the beautiful Hellenistic city of Perga- 

 mon, in Asia Minor, which had been absorbed by the po^vers 

 of Rome in 133 B.C., about 260 years prior to his birth. His birth- 

 place was almost as well-known, both for its library and as an 

 intellectual center, as its rival, Alexandria, Egypt. Built there, 

 during Galen's youth, was the great Asklepieion, which served as 

 a religious sanctuary, a sanatorium and a place of recreation. It 



ton became one of the great attractions of the Roman Empire 

 id was ranked as one of the wonders of the world. The medical 

 rine, a component of the imposing center, influenced Galen 



