page_title: Galen
section_title: Later years: AD 162–217
hierarchical_section_title: Galen / Later years: AD 162–217
caption_attribution_description: English: Statue of Galen of Pergamon, Bergama, Turkey Français&#160;: Statue de Claude Galien à Bergama, Turquie
context_page_description: Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus, often Anglicized as Galen and better known as Galen of Pergamon, was a physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. He is considered 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, Galen travelled 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 then-current theory of humorism, as advanced by ancient Greek physicians such as Hippocrates. Galen's views dominated and influenced Western medical science for more than 1,300 years.
context_section_description: Galen went to Rome in 162 and made his mark as a practicing physician. His impatience brought him into conflict with other doctors and he felt menaced by them. His demonstrations there antagonized the less skilled and more conservative physicians in the city.  When Galen's animosity with the Roman medical practitioners became serious, he feared he might be exiled or poisoned, so he left the city.
  Rome had engaged in foreign wars in 161; Marcus Aurelius and his colleague Lucius Verus were in the north fighting the Marcomanni. During the autumn of 169 when Roman troops were returning to Aquileia, a great plague broke out, and the emperor summoned Galen back to Rome. He was ordered to accompany Marcus and Verus to Germany as the court physician. The following spring Marcus was persuaded to release Galen after receiving a report that Asclepius was against the project. He was left behind to act as physician to the imperial heir Commodus. It was here in court that Galen wrote extensively on medical subjects. Ironically, Lucius Verus died in 169, and Marcus Aurelius himself died in 180, both victims of the plague.
  Galen was the physician to Commodus for much of the emperor’s life and treated his common illnesses. According to Dio Cassius 72.14.3–4, in about 189, under Commodus’ reign, a pestilence occurred which at its height killed 2,000 people a day in Rome. This was most likely the same plague that struck Rome during Marcus Aurelius’ reign.
  Galen became physician to Septimius Severus during his reign in Rome. Galen compliments Severus and Caracalla on keeping a supply of drugs for their friends and mentions three cases in which they had been of use in 198.
caption: Modern statue of Galen in his home town, Pergamon
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