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Storiascopio · Era 6 of 12 · primary year 5

Galen, a doctor in Rome

about AD 162 · Rome (Galen was born in Pergamum, now in Turkey)

Illustration: Galen, a doctor in Rome

In short

Galen was born in Pergamum, in Asia Minor, and as a young man treated the wounds of gladiators. Around AD 162 he moved to Rome, where he became so famous that he was chosen as doctor to the emperor Marcus Aurelius. He studied the body by dissecting animals such as monkeys and pigs, because human bodies could not be dissected in Rome. He wrote a huge number of works, and his ideas, even the wrong ones, were treated as almost beyond question until the 16th century.

Why it matters For more than a thousand years doctors in Europe and the Islamic world learnt medicine from his books.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Galen”

Where we are in the era “Ancient Rome”

Your turn

Name ______________________ Class ______ Date __________

  1. When did it happen? Find the date at the top and write it here:

  2. Tell it in your own words: what happened?

  3. Draw the scene below.

storiascopio.com/en/event/galen-a-doctor-in-rome/ · free worksheet, you may photocopy it for your class