Herophilos of Chalcedon

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Relief at Paraninfo, the entrance to the Medical Faculty of the University of Zaragoza

Herophilos of Chalcedon (also Herophilos of Kalchedon and Herophilos of Alexandria ; * around 325 BC; † around 255 BC) was a Greek doctor and anatomist who taught in Alexandria . Herophilos, who is known as the "father of anatomy", and the somewhat younger Erasistratos von Keos were the leading anatomists of the Alexandrian school .

Herophilos from Chalcedon received his medical training from Praxagoras von Kos , who presumably introduced him to Hippocratic medicine and humoral pathology . He then moved to Alexandria. There he founded the doctrine of the diagnostic importance of the pulse in heart disease and fever and constructed a pocket water meter (which, however, did not become established in the following centuries) to measure it. Herophilus was one of the first to distinguish between arteries and veins , one of the foundations for the later discovery of blood circulation (although Praxagoras had already pointed this out).

The first scientific autopsies on humans are ascribed to Herophilos . He also performed vivisections on humans and animals. This work was sponsored by the Egyptian royal court of the Ptolemies . The sections contributed significantly to the knowledge of the brain. Herophilus described the layers of the eyeball ( retina , choroid and sclera ). He created a nomenclature of the organs, which he examined anatomically. The first mention of the diamond's pit , the pancreas , the meninges and the fallopian tubes are also ascribed to him. He related the ability to feel to sensory (as opposed to motor) nerves. Whether he was actually, as Celsus ( Proömium 1 ) reports, as a convicted criminal with Erasistratos was sentenced to vivisection and thus to death is disputed.

Herophilos also drew attention to the importance of pharmacology for medicine. He recognized the dependence of the pulse rate on the movement of the heart and assigned pulse changes to certain processes inside the body.

Of the works ascribed to Herophilus, six are very likely real: Anatomy , About the Pulse , Obstetrics , Dietetics , Therapeutics, and Against Common Ideas . But only quotations have been preserved. Around 250 to 200 BC Active doctor and Hippocrates editor Bakcheios of Tanagra was a student of Herophilos and wrote writings on pulse theory, pathology and pharmacology as well as memories of Herophilos and his students.

Text editions and translations

  • Heinrich Staden : Herophilus: The Art of Medicine in Early Alexandria: Edition, Translation, and Essays , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1989 ( Google books ; authoritative edition and presentation)
  • Hermann Schöne (Ed.): Markellinos' pulse theory. A Greek anecdoton. In: Festschrift for the 49th Assembly of German Philologists and School Men in Basel in 1907. Basel 1907, pp. 448–472, here: pp. 452 and 463.

literature

Overview representations

  • Jochen Althoff : Herophilos from Alexandria. In: Bernhard Zimmermann , Antonios Rengakos (Hrsg.): Handbook of the Greek literature of antiquity. Volume 2: The Literature of the Classical and Hellenistic Period. CH Beck, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-406-61818-5 , pp. 578-580.
  • Ferdinand Peter Moog: Herophilos of Kalchedon . In: Werner E. Gerabek (Hrsg.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte . Berlin 2004, pp. 575–579 (comprehensive overview with literature)

Investigations

  • Hans Erwin Hecking: Sources and studies on Herophilos. Dissertation, Freiburg im Breisgau 1969.
  • CRS Harris: The Heart and the Vascular System in Ancient Greek Medicine. From Alcmaeon to Galen. Oxford 1973, pp. 190 f.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ferdinand Peter Moog: On the parable of the brave general in Herophilos. In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 22, 2003, pp. 30-39, here: p. 30.
  2. ↑ Werner Friedrich Kümmel: The pulse and the problem of time measurement in the history of medicine. In: Medical History Journal. Volume 9, 1974, pp. 1-22, here: pp. 1 f.
  3. ^ Frank Krogmann: Ophthalmology. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , pp. 1069-1075, here: S 1069.
  4. ↑ The great chronicle of world history 05. Rome and Hellenism . Wissenmedia Verlag 2008, p. 56. ISBN 9783577090650
  5. ↑ Urs Boschung : Sensibility. In: Encyclopedia of Medical History. 2005, p. 1321.
  6. ↑ Jutta Kollesch , Diethard Nickel : Ancient healing art. Selected texts from the medical writings of the Greeks and Romans. Philipp Reclam jun., Leipzig 1979 (= Reclams Universal Library. Volume 771); 6th edition ibid 1989, ISBN 3-379-00411-1 , pp. 9, 28, 31 f. and 45.
  7. ^ Gundolf Keil: Bakcheios of Tanagra. In: Werner E. Gerabek et al. (Ed.): Encyclopedia of medical history. 2005, p. 133 f.
personal data
SURNAME Herophilos of Chalcedon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Herophilos of Kos; Herophilus of Alexandria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient greek doctor
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 3rd century BC Chr.