What is Galen of Pergamum known for?

Claudius Galen was born in Pergamum (modern-day Turkey) of Greek parents. Galen was the originator of the experimental method in medical investigation, and throughout his life dissected animals in his quest to understand how the body functions.

What is Galen’s theory?

WHAT WERE GALEN’S THEORIES? Galen put forward the theory that illness was caused by an imbalance of the four humours: blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. He recommended specific diets to help in the “cleansing of the putrefied juices” and often purging and bloodletting would be used.

What were Galen’s ideas?

-He developed the idea that the body had four humours (liquids) – phlegm, blood, yellow bile and black bile and that when these were out of balance people became ill. -He shared his ideas in a book called The Hippocratic Collection, enabling other doctors such as Galen to use his ideas.

What was Galen’s theory of opposites?

Galen believed in the use of opposites – if a man appeared to have a fever, he treated it with something cold; if a man appeared to have a cold, he would be treated with heat. People who were weak were given hard physical exercises to do to build up their muscles.

Why did Galen’s ideas last so long?

One of the main reasons why he was influential for so long was because he continued to use Hippocrates ideas of observation. Galen remained influential for 1500 years for many reasons; he wrote down his ideas and he was highly respected therefore people were scared to criticise his ideas.

Was Galen Greek or Roman?

Galen, Greek Galenos, Latin Galenus, (born 129 ce, Pergamum, Mysia, Anatolia [now Bergama, Turkey]—died c. 216), Greek physician, writer, and philosopher who exercised a dominant influence on medical theory and practice in Europe from the Middle Ages until the mid-17th century.

What did Galen say?

According to Galen’s theory, the blood did not return to the liver or the heart. Instead, it would be consumed by the body, which meant that it needed to be constantly replenished. Sometimes the liver might produce too much blood, and the body became imbalanced, leading to illness.

How was black bile treated?

Treatments in antiquity for such an ailment were predominated by bloodletting, purging, and exercise. Moving into the Medieval Period, humoral etiologies for melancholia spread throughout the ancient world.

What season is yellow bile in?

Summer
Unification of humorism with Empedocles model

Why were the ideas of Hippocrates and Galen still used during the Middle Ages?

Doctors were taught to believe that Hippocrates and especially Galen work correct in every detail. This meant that doctors were not encouraged to experiment or to think for themselves about what caused disease or about how to treat diseases. Following the work of Galen was all that was needed.

How long did the four humors theory last?

two thousand years
Led by Hippocrates in 400 B.C.E, this theory remained uncontested for nearly two thousand years influencing both Western and Eastern medicine, proposing that the human body consisted of four major fluids or humours that must be maintained in equilibrium in order to promote a good well-being.

What is Galen of Pergamon best known for?

Today, Galen of Pergamon is best known as the most influential exponent of the ancient world’s cumbersome medical doctrines—especially humoral theory—and for many subtle anatomical discoveries, as well as mistakes about human anatomy and physiology.

What did Galen do for medicine?

Galen was a celebrated Greek surgeon, philosopher, and physician. Perhaps the most proficient of all medical researches of yesteryears, he exerted great influence on the development of various scientific disciplines including logic, anatomy, philosophy, physiology, pharmacology, neurology, and pathology.

What kind of life did Galen live in?

1. Life. Galen was born into the intellectual and social elite of the culturally Greek city of Pergamon (near the northwest coast of Roman Asia, in present-day Turkey) in 129 CE, the son of an architect. He lays great stress on his own early education in mathematics and geometry, and on his passion for logic (Lib.

How did Galen study philosophy?

This involved attendance at the (closely text-based) lecture courses of professors of one or more of the four established philosophical schools: Platonist, Aristotelian, Stoic, Epicurean; indeed, Galen mentions an adherent of each as part of his early education.