History of medicineLesson 3 of 5 in the course Ancient and medieval medicine

Galen: Medical Career, Theories, Research, and Legacy

5 flashcards · 5 quiz questions · 5 match pairs · 4 fill-in sentences · English

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Summary

This lesson introduces Galen’s background, education, and early medical career. His travels and training help explain how he became one of antiquity’s most influential physicians.

Galen, also known by the names Aelius Galenus and Claudius Galenus, was born in September 129 CE in Pergamon, a major cultural center in what is now Bergama, Turkey. His Greek name, Galēnos, derives from a word meaning “calm.” The Roman names Aelius and Claudius indicate Roman citizenship.

All flashcards

Prognosis
Reasoned judgment about the likely course of an illness.
Venesection
The deliberate opening of a vein to remove blood as treatment.
Empiricists
Medical thinkers who emphasized practical experience, observation, and experimentation.
Galen’s tripartite soul
A model placing rational, spiritual, and appetitive functions in the brain, heart, and liver.
Galen’s model of blood flow
A model of separate, one-way systems with blood crossing the heart’s septum through invisible openings.

Quiz questions

  1. Which disease is the Antonine Plague generally identified as, despite the limits of Galen’s surviving descriptions?Answer: Smallpox
  2. Which humor did Galen associate with a phlegmatic temperament?Answer: Phlegm
  3. What did Galen demonstrate by tying a pig’s recurrent laryngeal nerve?Answer: The nerve’s role in producing vocal sounds
  4. Which claim in Galen’s model of the heart was later challenged by anatomical study?Answer: Blood passed between the ventricles through tiny openings in the septum.
  5. Which scholar was especially important in translating Galen’s writings into Arabic?Answer: Hunayn ibn Ishaq

Based on the Wikipedia article Galen, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.

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