THE EMPIRE’S PHYSICIAN: Prosperity, Plague, and Healing in Ancient Rome
Galen (129–ca. 216 CE) was a pioneering physician, medical researcher, and writer who presided over an empire’s health almost two thousand years ago. His lively memoirs, stories from the bedside, and spirited professional quarrels present a vivid image of a man committed to health, understanding, and truth: it was not without reason that the Emperor Marcus Aurelius—Galen’s patient—described him as “first among doctors and unique among philosophers.” The Empire’s Physician introduces Galen and his world, inviting us to reflect on medicine and health in our own time.
