May 20, 2013
In this meticulous and engaging biography, University of Georgia history professor Mattern (Galen and the Rhetoric of Healing) writes that Galen, a Greek aristocrat of great ambition and dazzling intelligence, was already a superstar physician when he arrived in Rome in 162 C.E. Educated in medicine and philosophy, Galen left his provincial medical practice at the age of 32 to come to the center of the world’s largest empire, where he treated the prominent—including Emperor Marcus Aurelius, a feverish philosopher named Eudemus, and gladiators—and the common populace, in a city regularly assaulted by malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, syphilis, and (in 168 C.E.) a devastating plague. “Visits to patients were a normal part of his daily life,” Mattern writes. The book covers Galen’s upbringing by an adored father and a despised mother, as well as his medical and philosophical training, and his astounding repertoire of medical work—including anatomy, surgery, and voluminous writings. Mattern’s rigorous scholarship also unveils the rich, vivid layers of Galen’s life and times, and Galen’s own words paint a portrait of an astounding physician whose motivation was “not fame or wealth” but “the love of mankind.” 18 b&w illus. & 3 maps.
June 15, 2013
Mattern (history, Univ. of Georgia; Rome and the Enemy) presents an engaging biography of Galen of Pergamum (circa 130-212 C.E.), a Greek who practiced medicine and philosophy in the Roman-dominated Mediterranean, first rising to fame at home in Asia Minor before becoming preeminent in Rome during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Mattern writes that she intended here both to detail Galen's life and demonstrate the experience of medicine during his time. She succeeds in both respects. With many fascinating case studies from Galen's own writing, clarifications by modern scholars, and insights from the author, her book provides a thorough account of what a patient might expect from diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment in the ancient world. Galen was the most erudite and talented physician of his time with a legacy that extended beyond the Renaissance. He was an agonist in the classical sense, struggling and competing to prove his medical genius in contests of dissection, rhetoric, and writing, seeking glory in the same way others sought it in athletics or sophistry. VERDICT Highly recommended for both researchers of the period and knowledgeable generalists interested in classical culture.--Evan M. Anderson, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
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