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Galen

Galen

129 CE216 CE · Alexandria

Galen of Pergamon (129-c. 216 CE) was a Greek physician, surgeon, and philosopher who became the most influential medical writer of antiquity, serving as doctor to the emperor Marcus Aurelius and his successors at Rome. His vast body of writing on anatomy, physiology, and medical theory, much of it built on the doctrine of the four humors, dominated medicine in the Byzantine, Islamic, and European traditions for over a thousand years. He is among the most prolific authors of the ancient world.

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Stop 1 of 11129Born

PergamonMysia (Asia Minor)

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Born in Pergamon (Mysia) c.129 CE, son of the wealthy architect Aelius Nicon, who oversaw his early education; Galen reports this in his own writings (e.g. De ordine librorum suorum).

See other sages who lived in Pergamon

Works(97)

In Hippocratis vel Polybi Opus de Salubri Victus Ratione Privatorum Commentarius

Rome