If you were the Emperor of Rome, Marcus Aurelius, what would you do if you had a cold or flu, a headache maybe? We'll I assume you'd do what we do now and call your doctor. You wouldn't call just any old doctor though, you'd call one of the most influential and brilliant doctors in history. You'd call your personal physician Claudius Galenus, or Galen as we know him now.
Galen was born in the year 130AD in a town called Pergamum, a small town on the Aegean Coast of Asia Minor, what we know these days as Turkey. From an early age his brilliance was recognised and his wealthy father provided him the best tutors. It wasn't long before his love of medicine came to the fore. He also trained in Smyrna (Present-day Izmir, Turkey) and Alexandria also.
Following his training he was posted to Pergamum as physician and surgeon to the gladiators and it was there is great skill was noticed. Sent to Rome to perform the same duties it wasn't long before he came to the attention of the rich, famous and elite of the city and he soon became the personal physician to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus. You may recall that name from the movie Gladiator. He was the Emperor played by Richard Harris. He was killed by his son Commodus towards the beginning of the film.
Galen was celebrated as a brilliant anatomist whose findings were remarkable considering he hd so little prior knowledge to go on. Most of his deductions were actually right. He also worked in pharmacology developing the Galenic Degrees permitting physicians to more accurately determine the effectiveness of as medicinal treatment. Theriac was a famous formula containing some 64 ingredients which he created which was a cure-all for many ailments and antidote for various poisons. It was used and manufactured into the 19th century!
Unfortunately most of his writings have been lost now, however he was prolific writing some 80 medical treatises. He even wrote one about the medical interpretations of dreams. It's not surprising that many medical centres, groups and schools have adopted his name. He was an influential and groundbreaking physician and for a thousand years after his death he was considered the ultimate medical authority.
I was named for this guy. I don't know why, it wasn't due to some ancient Greek or Roman heritage. I assume the name appealed to my parents and that was that. Every now and then I come across someone who knows my namesake and his achievements which is call. It always sparks a great conversation between us. I learned from an early age where my name came from and what it meant to the medical profession in particular. As a kid it was seen as strange and unusual but I wouldn't want to change it. It's even been used in the movies. Remember Planet of the Apes? There was a Galen in it. Yep, I got teased about that. And more recently in the Star Wars movie, Rogue One Galen Erso was played by Mads Mikkelsen.
I'm the original though, well, actually not THE original, but definitely an original. :)
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@galenkp
The team at Community News were quite sure you were named after some famous ancient dude, dude; but we didn't pick a physician to Augustus though.
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Bwahaha, why thank you. Yeah, I think the old boy used to dig up dead bodies and cut them open. Medicine 101: Claudius Galenus style.
Well we don't know how Galen operated but let's be honest - if you knew enough to wash your hands, boil your surgical equipment and not to bleed your patient to death - you would have been a better surgeon than most over the past 3000 years. Perhaps this was Galen's secret.
Agreed. He was a brilliant man in truth. An egotist apparently, but brilliant nonetheless. I would imagine being a physician to gladiators would teach you a thing or two quite quickly.
He's a good one to be named after. It could have been a lot worse ;D
Yes, much worse. 😂
Very interesting post. I never tought about Emperors getting cold. Haha :D
Thank you for telling us about this and where the name galen was made famous what about the last two letters kp is there any secrets to them or would you rather not say? cheers
KP stands for Keep Private 😬
ha ha ha thats pretty clever man now I know what the kp in galenkp is cool beans :)
In the past there were no aspirins and much less antibiotics, what did they do ?? :-D
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I think they drank more wine...
Killing viruses with alcohol ... :-D
Come now, I think we've all tried it at some stage right? Friday and Saturday nights each week come to mind... :)
Friday and Saturday nights it was not to kill viruses, it was to kill neurons with alcohol. ;-)