5.11, 13.830 K.), the “oculist” (CMLoc 4.8, 12.771 K.), “godlike” Gaius (CMLoc 3.1, 12.628
K.) and, more frequently, simply “Neapolitan.” He is perhaps identifiable with the oculist
“Gallio” quoted by Gale ̄n, from Askle ̄piade ̄s, in CMLoc 4.8 (12.766 K.), where the name
could be textually corrupt. Six of Gaius’ recipes are ophthalmic. The others concern vari-
ous pathologies: pills, e.g. for rheumatic suppurations (CMLoc 7.4, 13.86–87 K.), emollients
for internal affections (CMLoc 8.5, 13.183 K) and against podagra (CMGen 7.12, 13.1020– 21
K.), etc. Gale ̄n used and approved Gaius’ recipe against throat inflammations (CMLoc 6.8,
12.986 K). A S used the cataplasm of CMGen 7.7 (13.976 K); I
A used the tonic of CMGen 7.12 (13.1030 K).
J. Diehl, Sphragis (Diss. Giessen, 1938) 140; von Staden (1989) 566–569 (the three recipes for which
Gale ̄n quotes “Gaius” are doubtfully included under the fragments of G H);
Marganne (1997) 164–165.
Fabio Stok
Gale ̄n of Pergamon (155 – 215 CE)
Gale ̄nos, a Greek from Pergamon in Asia Minor:
sometimes mistakenly called “Claudius Gale ̄n.”
Born in September 129 CE, he probably died ca
215 CE (the tradition putting his death in 199,
although still frequently repeated, is based on
worthless late testimony). He was a doctor by
profession, a teacher by avocation, and a phil-
osopher and grammarian by inclination and self-
assessment. He wrote prolifically, on philosophy
as well as medicine, and much of his medical
(although little of the more strictly philosophical)
oeuvre survives; indeed, his are the largest indi-
vidual literary remains of antiquity, stretching to
some 10,000 pages in the far from complete edi-
tion of C.G. Kühn (1821–1833), which, for all its
faults, remains the only modern version of much
of Gale ̄n’s writing (equally, only a minority,
albeit a steadily growing one, of his works have
been translated into modern languages). More-
over, such was his reputation in subsequent cen-
turies, that much of his work was translated into
Arabic (usually by way of Syriac); and much that
has perished in Greek survives in Arabic (or
Hebrew, or Armenian, or Latin). Indeed, “new”
works of Gale ̄n are still being edited and published, and superior texts of “old” ones gener-
ated by making use of the indirect tradition.
We are unusually well-informed about Gale ̄n’s life and practice, since he peppers his
writing with autobiographical anecdotes; and while self-serving and self-advertising, they
are also frequently amusing and savagely polemical. His father was a wealthy architect,
N; and Gale ̄n writes affectionately about his educational, moral and salutary influence
(Niko ̄n prescribed him a regimen which kept him disease-free as a youth, unlike his more
Gale ̄n (Vind. Med. Gr. l, f.3V) © Österreich-
ische Nationalbibliothek
GALE ̄N OF PERGAMON