In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • Galen and the World of Knowledge
  • Christine F. Salazar
Christopher Gill, Tim Whitmarsh, and John Wilkins , eds. Galen and the World of Knowledge. Greek Cultures in the Roman World. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. xvii + 327 pp. $99.00 (978-0-521-76751-4).

This collection of thirteen papers, based (with the exception of the specially commissioned contribution by Riccardo Chiaradonna) on a conference in Exeter in 2005, brings together some of the best-known names in the fields of ancient medicine and philosophy and of Imperial Roman history. An increasing number of scholars have been turning to the Galenic corpus not only to mine it as a resource for ancient medicine, but to read it as the opus of one of the major authors of antiquity. Galen's famously long digressions about his own life, other doctors, historical and contemporary controversies, and medical as well as philosophical doxography have only recently come to be appreciated as windows onto the society of his times and on lost writings, rather than irritating interruptions in his medical writings.

Within the confines of a review, it is not possible to do justice to all the contributions, but short synopses ought to give the prospective reader an overall idea. The first four chapters explore ways in which Galen assimilates the intellectual culture of his environment and is even, to some extent, typical of it: In a piece of detective work, Vivian Nutton (pp. 19-34) draws on various Galenic texts (including the recently discovered On the Avoidance of Grief) in order to determine the contents of Galen's enormous library. Galen's collection of medical books was probably among the largest in the ancient world, but here Nutton concentrates on the literary, nonmedical, sources used by Galen. These are cited less often, and sometimes clearly from memory, but with greater frequency in writings intended for a broader audience. (Although with both types of sources it is difficult to distinguish between first- and secondhand quotations.) Jason König (pp. 35-58) presents a nuanced examination of Galen's prefaces as a guide to his technique of knowledge ordering, again profiling him against his intellectual habitat. The focus is on the widespread topos of writing on request, as Galen often claims to respond to the demands of friends.

Rebecca Flemming (pp. 59-84) suggests that Galen applies the ideas of providential nature and of the divine craftsman, familiar from philosophical contexts, to the medical field. He would thus be validating the status quo, especially in the political sphere, where the Emperor stands for the Demiurge. The last contribution in this section is Maud W. Gleason's (pp. 85-114) highly innovative take on Galen's public displays of dissection, and especially of vivisection. Her multifaceted interpretation covers comparison with judicial torture and beast hunts in [End Page 283] the arena, as well as the image of the anatomist as risk taker, and spectators' fears about their own vulnerability.

Chapters 5-9 focus on the "world of knowledge" that Galen seeks to create: Geoffrey E. R. Lloyd (pp. 115-31) makes it clear how (for example in their success rate) and why Galen's case histories diverge in crucial ways from those of the Hippocratics, despite Galen's repeated claim to be following "Hippocrates." Starting from the divergence in approach between "private" and "public" works, Heinrich von Staden (pp. 132-56) casts light on the purposes and modes of Galen's references to Hellenistic exegesis of the Hippocratic writings: it is apparently in the "public" writings in particular that Galen likes to display his mastery of these sources.

Daniela Manetti's fascinating paper (pp. 157-74) centers on Galen's interest in language, as demonstrated especially in his commentaries. She describes his attitude toward Atticism and his pride in his linguistic origins in the Greek-speaking culture of Asia. The combination of human qualities and excellence of knowledge that Galen expects from the ideal doctor is the topic of Véronique Boudon-Millot's discussion of bios and methodos (pp. 175-89), presenting another instance of Galen attempting to raise medicine to the level of philosophy. In the final chapter of this section (pp...

pdf

Share