ANCIENT ROME AUTHOR · EARLY WORKS TO 1800 · GREEK AND ROMAN MEDICINE
Galen
Also known as: Galen, Claudius Galenus
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (Greek: Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. 216 CE), often anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Roman and Greek physician, surgeon, and philosopher. Considered to be one of the most accomplished of all medical researchers of antiquity, Galen influenced the development of various scientific disciplines, including anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and neurology, as well as philosophy 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 Rome, where he served prominent members of Roman society and eventually was given the position of personal physician to several emperors. Galen's understanding of anatomy and medicine was principally influenced by the contemporary theory of the 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.
Translation of ancient Greek 'scientific' texts presents a number of problems and reliance upon the standard dictionaries is risky.
— from Galen
Most acclaimed
Galen
This book presents a translation of and detailed commentary on Galen's De alimentorum facultatibus - his major work on the dynamics and kinetics of various foods. It is thus primarily a physiological treatise rather than a materia medica or a work on pathology. Galen commences with a short section on the epistemology of medicine, with a discussion on the attainment, through apodeixis or demonstration, of scientific truth - a discussion which reveals the Aristotelian roots of his thinking. The text then covers a wide range of foods, both common and exotic. Some, such as cereals, legumes, dairy products and the grape, receive an emphasis that reflects their importance at the time; others are treated more cursorily. Dr Powell, an expert in gastroenterology, discusses Galen's terminology and the background to his views on physiology and pathology in his introduction, while John Wilkins' foreword concentrates on the structural and cultural aspects of the work.
The Alexandrian epitomes of Galen
"The second-century physician and philosopher Galen is not known for brevity. Although his writings on medicine are famously verbose and numerous, for centuries they constituted much of the standard syllabi for medical students. About fourteen hundred years ago, one or possibly several professors put together a series of epitomes of Galen's work. In contrast to Galen's rambling and argumentative style, these epitomes present the material dryly but clearly, offering systematic categorizations of concepts, symptoms, diseases, and organs. Originally written in Greek, The Alexandrian Epitomes of Galen can also be found in Arabic and Hebrew translations, and the epitomes have had a particularly profound influence on medical literature in the Arab world. This new edition presents the Arabic and English versions side by side, with a fresh, modern, and authoritative translation by scholar John Walbridge. Often cited in medical texts in the following centuries, these epitomes present an admirably clear survey of Galenism as it was understood at the very end of antiquity."--
Selected works
1959
Since his first play, And Things That Go Bump in the Night, which premiered in 1965, McNally has proven himself to be a trailblazing figure and unique voice in American theater, known for his exploration of gay themes and his chronicling of America's changing social attitudes over the past fifty years. His thirty-three plays, nine musicals, three operas, and seven scripts for film and television, are a testament to his astonishing commitment to writing. In Selected Plays, for the very first time, McNally collects a set of eight plays that he considers the most important of his oeuvre, including the Tony-nominated Mothers and Sons and the critically acclaimed And Away We Go, neither of which have been previously published. Introducing each play with a personal essay that recounts an anecdote or discusses an aspect of the play that proceeds it, McNally himself frames his own life in the theater. Selected Plays is a landmark publication, a memoir in plays from one of America's most highly regarded and best-loved playwrights.