Summary
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Roman physician and medical theorist Galen. The most celebrated doctor in the ancient world, Galen was Greek by birth but spent most of his career in Rome, where he was personal physician to three Emperors. He was one of the most prolific authors of his age, and a sixth of all surviving ancient literature in Greek was written by him. Celebrated in his own lifetime, he was regarded as the preeminent medical authority for centuries after his death, both in the Arab world and in medieval Europe. It was only the discoveries of Renaissance science which removed Galen from his dominant position in the pantheon of medicine.
With:
Vivian Nutton Emeritus Professor of the History of Medicine at University College London
Helen King Professor of Classical Studies at the Open University
Caroline Petit Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow in Classics at the University of Warwick
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
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| 0:36.0 | Thank you for downloading this episode of In Our Time. |
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| 0:45.9 | the program. Hello in the middle years of the second century a d. A young Greek man |
| 0:51.4 | called Galen began to practice medicine as chief physician to the local |
| 0:55.6 | troop of Gladiators. |
| 0:57.4 | At the age of 30 he moved to Rome where he became a personal doctor to the Emperor |
| 1:01.6 | Marcus Aurelius and the most celebrated doctor in the Roman Empire. |
| 1:06.0 | Galen was all the most prolific authors of the ancient world, a polymath who wrote not just about |
| 1:10.3 | medicine but also about language and philosophy. More of his work survives |
| 1:14.7 | than that of any other writer in ancient Greek. Galen was a pioneer of anatomy and the first person |
| 1:20.1 | to identify many of the structures of the human body and he wrote about drugs, |
| 1:24.3 | physiology and therapeutic methods. His teaching dominated medical teaching both in the |
| 1:29.4 | Arab world and later in Europe until the Renaissance. |
| 1:32.8 | We need to discuss the life and influence of Galen, our Vivian Notten, |
| 1:36.4 | emeritus professor of the History of Medicine at University College London, Helen King, |
| 1:41.3 | professor of classical studies at the Open University, and Carolyn Petit, |
... |
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