Galen
Anatomy from dissecting animals and treating gladiators, elevated into unquestionable doctrine.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 87 years
- Known to
- ± 10 years
- Era
- Classical, Holocene
Galen serves as physician to gladiators, which gives him an unusual view of the interior of the human body, and dissects apes and pigs since human dissection is forbidden. He demonstrates that arteries carry blood rather than air, that the brain controls the voice, and that urine forms in the kidneys. He also errs, notably about the septum of the heart, and his errors become doctrine — challenging Galen is a career risk in medicine until Vesalius.