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The Prince of Medicine: Galen in the Roman Empire 1st Edition, Kindle Edition
Like many Greek intellectuals living in the high Roman Empire, Galen was a prodigious polymath, writing on subjects as varied as ethics and eczema, grammar and gout. Indeed, he was (as he claimed) as highly regarded in his lifetime for his philosophical works as for his medical treatises. However, it is for medicine that he is most remembered today, and from the later Roman Empire through the Renaissance, medical education was based largely on his works. Even up to the twentieth century, he remained the single most influential figure in Western medicine. Yet he was a complicated individual, full of breathtaking arrogance, shameless self-promotion, and lacerating wit. He was fiercely competitive, once disemboweling a live monkey and challenging the physicians in attendance to correctly replace its organs. Relentless in his pursuit of anything that would cure the patient, he insisted on rigorous observation and, sometimes, daring experimentation. Even confronting one of history's most horrific events--a devastating outbreak of smallpox--he persevered, bearing patient witness to its predations, year after year.
The Prince of Medicine gives us Galen as he lived his life, in the city of Rome at its apex of power and decadence, among his friends, his rivals, and his patients. It offers a deeply human and long-overdue portrait of one of ancient history's most significant and engaging figures.
- ISBN-13978-0199767670
- Edition1st
- PublisherOxford University Press
- Publication dateJune 3, 2013
- LanguageEnglish
- File size7216 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"An engaging biography." --Library Journal"A well-written, well-documented biography of the single physician who dominated Western medicine for 1,300 years... A valuable resource for classics and history of medicine collections. Summing up: Recommended. All academic, general, and professional readers." --Choice"After centuries of traditional academic studies of the works of this most influential physician of all time, we are here gifted with this full-blooded and much-needed biography of Galen the man. In every way as scholarly as previous attempts to bring his paradoxical genius to life, Prof. Mattern's enormous contribution is set within her meticulous understanding of 2nd century Rome, its medical sects, and its socio-political atmosphere. All hail to her!" --Sherwin B. Nuland, author of Doctors: The Biography of Medicine and How We Die, winner of the National Book Award"A fascinating and lively biography of an ancient Greek doctor who settled in Rome as an imperial physician. Using much newly discovered information, Dr. Mattern sets Galen's career against the background of the Roman Empire at the height of its prosperity."
--Vivian Nutton, Emeritus Professor of the History of Medicine, University College London
"A pathologically quarrelsome physician, Galen was, in a sense, the Dr. House of Antiquity, and through his eyes Susan Mattern gives us the whole Roman world, from hovel to palace, as he treats ruptured rustics, gutted gladiators, and neurasthenic noblemen. Galen's tale is told with style and panache and due help to the reader unfamiliar with Rome--and even better than that, with plenty of enjoyably disgusting medical details." --J. E. Lendon, author of Soldiers & Ghosts: A History of Battle in Classical Antiquity"It has been a while since I have read a scholarly book from cover to cover in almost one shot. Yet, Susan Mattern's The Prince of Medicine engulfed me with its subject -- which for a name like Galen's is a given -- and its enviable merits. Mattern's talent weaves a historical biography of one of the most reputed and controversial intellectual minds of antiquity into a grabbing full-life story of the real Galen, uncensored and demystified." --CJ-Online
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B00CYH45IK
- Publisher : Oxford University Press; 1st edition (June 3, 2013)
- Publication date : June 3, 2013
- Language : English
- File size : 7216 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 365 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #987,694 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #359 in Medical History
- #542 in Ancient Rome Biographies
- #838 in Biographies of Medical Professionals (Kindle Store)
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Customers find the biography of Galen well-written and enjoyable to read. They describe the book as readable and enjoyable for history of medicine enthusiasts. The writing style is described as refined and smooth, making it easy to follow. Readers appreciate the author's ability to bring characters to life through character development.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers appreciate the biography of Galen. They find it well-written and engaging, with a focus on ancient times and his life. The book is described as detailed and informative, with a timeline of Galen's education and travels. Readers describe it as an excellent resource for history of medicine enthusiasts.
"...Mattern is a gifted writer...." Read more
"...We see him as a committed scholar, frequent lecturer, and prolific author whose work, according to Mattern, accounts for "one-eighth of all the..." Read more
"Nicely written biography of Galen with a focus on the ancient times as well as his contributions to medicine." Read more
"...This is the work of a tremendous scholar and the book reads easily without highlighting academic controversies...." Read more
Customers find the book readable and engaging. They appreciate the author's skill in bringing Galen's world to life. However, some readers feel it would benefit from editing.
"...This is a rare commodity - a highly readable book about an ancient figure that both keeps close to the data and reads as smoothly as the biography..." Read more
"...This, then is a very good book. But it comes with a "tax" attached...." Read more
"The author has done a superb job of bringing to life in a credible way the world of Galen...." Read more
"This book would benefit from a good editor to make the story more readable and engaging...." Read more
Customers find the writing style well-written and refined. They say it reads smoothly like a biography of a modern figure.
"...Mattern is a gifted writer. Her prose flows easily and her ability to combine biographical information with the environment in which Galen lived is..." Read more
"...There are no unintelligible academic terms and she writes broadly, not focusing on a single object, building or personality...." Read more
"...While the book is dense with details, Mattern's writing style is easy to follow, and she is well versed in the material...." Read more
"...The book seems to me to be well written and the Author has a refined writing style...." Read more
Customers like the character development. They say the author brings her characters to life and creates a relatable personality.
"...or professional, she animates a recognizable name and converts it into a reachable personality...." Read more
"...She brings her characters, such as Mithradates, to life...." Read more
"Biographical. I would liked to have read what the modern diagnoses and treatments would be." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2014This biography of Galen takes an often misunderstood figure and makes him a real human being. That sounds silly to say but I cannot count the number of times I have read where early modern medicine had to "overcome" Galen. There is a sense of course in which that is true. But "Galen" became synonymous in the popular mind with an image of entrenched dogmatism and wrong-headed theories in medicine. In some ways Galen has the same problem that Aristotle has. Both were wrong in many fundamental ways but, for their times, they laid the foundation for techniques that later would become standard, especially the technique of close observation of nature. What makes the cases of Galen and Aristotle especially ironic is that both these early thinkers who emphasized empirical observation became themselves the objects of stultified theories. Their most positive contributions - the technique of close attention to actual details and continuing to learn from observation - were ignored while their often wrong theories about what they saw and how to deal with it became deified. Susan Mattern brings Galen and all his strengths and weaknesses to life in a way that gets the modern reader to appreciate the historical facts about him. The book strikes a strong blow against the popular negative image of "Galen." It fleshes out the man, not what he became as an object of either worship or scorn from the Middle Ages into the modern world.
Mattern is a gifted writer. Her prose flows easily and her ability to combine biographical information with the environment in which Galen lived is superb. This is a rare commodity - a highly readable book about an ancient figure that both keeps close to the data and reads as smoothly as the biography of a modern figure. Galen's oversized ego (and incredible memory), his detestation of opposing figures who often posed as physicians (and his public competitions with them), his personal caring for his patients (often of the lower classes or slaves), his voluminous writings - all are covered in this book. I highly recommend this biography for anyone interested in the history of medicine or the culture of ancient Pergamum and Rome. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2013Susan Mattern raises Galen to life with a full pharmacopoeia of information. Whether biographical, cultural, or professional, she animates a recognizable name and converts it into a reachable personality.
We see the physician Galen as a workaholic devoted to medicine. We see him as a committed scholar, frequent lecturer, and prolific author whose work, according to Mattern, accounts for "one-eighth of all the classical Greek literature that survives." He is presented as the premier anatomist of his day (and many thousands of days to follow). And Mattern describes him as a showman reminiscent, perhaps, of some mix of Houdini and Jonathan Winters in his ability to improvise and dazzle in front of a fascinated audience watching him at work with his knife. Galen was remarkable in many other ways, including the fact that he did not accept fees but did make house calls. A physician to gladiators and to the household of Marcus Aurelius, he also ministered to the broad range of people in the street.
Galen's treatments of more than 1,800 years ago naturally puzzle today, such as directing patients to urinate on their own wounds, or using dove dung, snake flesh and other exotic substances. One wonders what specific link Galen perceived between the rub of a bug and the cure of a rash, but that was a brand of reasoning centuries down the road. Mattern says Galen's "most relevant contribution" is his "clinical practice" and that he "never lost sight of the idea that medicine is about treating patients."
This, then is a very good book. But it comes with a "tax" attached. At least 140 times, the author uses variants of the phrases "see below," "see before," or most annoying of all, "as I have mentioned." These intrude, distract, and ultimately aggravate in the same way TV screens temporarily freeze the pixels and interrupt the story. It is a flaw a more exacting editor might have corrected, an unfortunate shadow on an otherwise highly satisfying book.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2014Nicely written biography of Galen with a focus on the ancient times as well as his contributions to medicine.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2015The author has done a superb job of bringing to life in a credible way the world of Galen. This is the work of a tremendous scholar and the book reads easily without highlighting academic controversies. There are no unintelligible academic terms and she writes broadly, not focusing on a single object, building or personality. She brings her characters, such as Mithradates, to life. Her assessment of Galen is very fair and includes positives and negatives, which I did not expect after reading the title. Any doctor would recognize Galen type physicians in his colleagues' personalities. Some of their success is probably due to their bringing some of Galen's character traits to their patients. He is 100 percent clinician, yet lacking nothing of knowledge of the medical theories of the day, and he is a vigorous polemicist. It is fun seeing a doctor who has no computer, no DEA regulations, no Medicare incentives, no medical home, no malpractice insurance, not to mention no infomercials on the TV advising patients to consult their doctor for the latest treatment for incontinence, dementia or arthritis. There is no billing system with hundreds of rules, denials, precertifications. A physician who treats an emperor should be board certified. If you are a doctor, medical student, or pre med, take a look at the doctor you will wish you could be.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2024An excellent overview of the life of Galen, presenting both conjecture and fact, with a focus less on Galen’s medical beliefs and practices and more on his place and impact in the early stages of Western medicine within the context of the Roman Empire and in the shadow of the rising threat of Christendom that detested what it considered Greek paganism.
Top reviews from other countries
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E. AlvesReviewed in Brazil on December 5, 2023
4.0 out of 5 stars Um bom livro sobre Galeno
Um bom livro para aqueles que se interessam pela figura de Galeno. A prioridade, no texto em questão, não são seus conceitos médicos, mas o ser humano, sua vida em Pérgamo e em Roma, seu pai, seus professores, seus amigos. Há também uma extensa bibliografia. Recomendo aos interessados em História da Medicina.
- Meghan MacdonaldReviewed in Canada on May 29, 2017
5.0 out of 5 stars I loved her book on Rome and the Enemy (used it ...
Susan Mattern's writing is both scholarly and fluid. I loved her book on Rome and the Enemy (used it when researching my MA thesis), and this was a delightful turn from what I'm familiar with into the world of a man focused on discovery. If you ever want to know about ancient medicine, this is a great place to start!
- Caroline LawrenceReviewed in the United Kingdom on September 18, 2016
5.0 out of 5 stars Unputdownable account of Galen's life
Absolutely riveting read about the second century AD Roman doctor Galen. Mattern gives all the most interesting parts of his life: his father's prophetic dream that he should become a doctor, his first challenge during an Anthrax outbreak, his studies in Alexandria, his four year stint as a gladiator doctor, his triumphant arrival in Rome, his appointment as imperial antidote preparer, another plague and the terrible fire that caused him more grief than anything else in his life. One of the most readable books on Ancient Roman life at that period, I found it un-put-downable.
- Ronald W DaviesReviewed in Canada on February 22, 2016
3.0 out of 5 stars Worth the perseverance
Excellent and derailed coverage of the facts but there are numerous repetions of information throughout the book . Each chapter stands alone but there is considerable overlap amongst chapters . Reading this book simply for the information snd background I think the book would be much easier to read after a thorough editing . On the positive side this book exposes the reader I to invaluable information snd insights not only on Galen but the era surrounding his life
- J.K. CurrieReviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2013
4.0 out of 5 stars God of doctors, doctor of gods
Susan Mattern has written a very interesting and informative book about a man too easily dismissed by modern scientists. She has restored a healthy measure of respect for an irascible, opinionated but highly skilled titan of ancient medicine. Galen had a level of expertise in every aspect of medicine known to the ancients. He was a shameless self promoter of his talents; he wrote voluminously and in detail about his opinions, his cases, his rivals and, of course, himself.
He was doctor to the emperor Marcus Aurelius and to his son and successor, the `gladiator' emperor, Commodus.
You will read here of the Roman east and Pergamum, Galen's home town; Rome itself and the illnesses rife in the city of the time; Galen's thoughts and practice of anatomy, bleeding, women's complaints, plagues, madness and all sorts of other medical matters. You will learn of his rivals and how he outsmarted them. There is much discussion of his method, what he got right as well as what he got wrong and why.
There is also a good concluding chapter on his reputation in late antiquity and the early modern world, as well as the survival of his writings, which make up a full 20% of all that survives from ancient times.
A good, readable, scholarly book - recommended.
Post scriptum: for Galen in fiction, try Amanda Prantera's 'The side of the moon'