Galen and the World of Knowledge

This study places Galen more firmly in the intellectual life of his period of the second century AD.

Christopher Gill (Edited by), Tim Whitmarsh (Edited by), John Wilkins (Edited by)

9780521767514, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 10 December 2009

346 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm, 0.68 kg

'[This] will no doubt become an indispensable item in the bibliography of those working on second-century literature, medicine, philosophy and, more generally, culture.' The British Journal for the History of Science

Galen is the most important medical writer in Graeco-Roman antiquity, and also extremely valuable for understanding Graeco-Roman thought and society in the second century AD. This volume of essays locates him firmly in the intellectual life of his period, and thus aims to make better sense of the medical and philosophical 'world of knowledge' that he tries to create. How did Galen present himself as a reader and an author in comparison with other intellectuals of his day? Above all, how did he fashion himself as a medical practitioner, and how does that self-fashioning relate to the performance culture of second-century Rome? Did he see medicine as taking over some of the traditional roles of philosophy? These and other questions are freshly addressed by leading international experts on Galen and the intellectual life of the period, in a stimulating collection that combines learning with accessibility.

Introduction Christopher Gill, Tim Whitmarsh and John Wilkins
1. Galen's library Vivian Nutton
2. Conventions of prefatory self-presentation in Galen's On the Order of My Own Books Jason König
3. Demiurge and emperor in Galen's world of knowledge Rebecca Flemming
4. Shock and awe: the performance dimension of Galen's anatomy demonstrations Maud Gleason
5. Galen's un-Hippocratic case-histories G. E. R. Lloyd
6. Staging the past, staging oneself: Galen on Hellenistic exegetical traditions Heinrich von Staden
7. Galen and Hippocratic medicine: language and practice Daniela Manetti
8. Galen's Bios and Methodos: from ways of life to paths of knowledge Véronique Boudon-Millot
9. Does Galen have a medical programme for intellectuals and the faculties of the intellect? Jacques Jouanna
10. Galen on the limitations of knowledge R. J. Hankinson
11. Galen and Middle Platonism Riccardo Chiaradonna
12. 'Aristotle! What a thing for you to say!' Galen's engagement with Aristotle and Aristotelians Philip van der Eijk
13. Galen and the Stoics, or: the art of not naming Teun Tieleman.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], History of medicine [MBX], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]