Rise to the top Born in Pergamum (now Turkey) in 129 ce, Claudius Galen spent several years studying in Alexandria, Egypt, before returning home to work as a DOCTOR at the local gladiator school. Here he learned about human anatomy by treating the gladiators after bloody battles. His reputation earned him the post of personal doctor to the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Claudius Galen
Galen’s human anatomy chart
Galen’s drawing of blood circulating through the human heart
Anatomy expert
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he changed…
Galen’s ideas were universally accepted for 1,500 years before medical science advanced again.
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The doctor whose influential writings advanced MEDICAL SCIENCE
Many of Galen’s discoveries about the human body proved true. He realized the arteries contain blood, not air as previously thought. Galen was the first to understand that urine is created in the kidneys rather than the bladder. His appetite for anatomical knowledge made him compile the HISTORY OF GREEK AND ROMAN MEDICINE, combined with his own theories. 17
