Timeline: Galen, 130–200 CE

Galen (or Claudius Galen of Pergamum, c. 130–200 CE) was a Greek physician and philosopher who performed the first studies of the brain, heart, and nerves and was the first to demonstrate that arteries carry blood throughout the body.

Born in Pergamum, located in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey), which was a major center and part of the Roman Empire, Galen received his medical training in Smyrna, Corinth, and Alexandria, and he practiced in numerous locations, including Rome, Pergamum, and Aquileia (modern-day Venice). While working in Pergamum, he was a physician for a gladiator school where he, not surprisingly, gained experience in trauma and wound treatment. He was also, for a time, doctor to the famous emperor Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus. (You may remember these two from the movie Gladiator.)

Galen performed extensive dissections (and vivisections) on animals – chiefly apes but also on pigs and dogs, and, occasionally, humans. However, since few of his dissections were done on humans, some of his information about human anatomy was incorrect.

Galen was considered an authority in medicine well into the 16th century – so strong an authority that little other anatomical and physiological research occurred until that time. And since he was also a strong proponent of blood letting, this practice was a popular treatment throughout that period. Historically, Galen is considered second in importance to Hippocrates (c. 460–370 BCE).

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