Steering by the Book. Galen’s Anatomical Works as Educational Texts

David Grimaldi (University of Oslo)

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Del av forsiden av Claudii Galeni Pergameni De anatomicis administrationibus libri novem, Joanne Guinterio Andernaco Medico interprete, [Paris]: S. Colinaeus, 1531 (Kilde: Wikimedia Commons).

Abstract: The anatomical works are an important part of Galen’s legacy, as reflected in their transmission and reception, and in the importance he himself gave them. Interestingly, several of these works present much of the same factual information but do so with different aims in mind. Galen envisages them loosely as educational texts for different stages of the learning curriculum, with a significant division drawn between the anatomical works labelled “for beginners”, the so-called minor anatomical works, and the systematic and exhaustive treatment presented in his Anatomical Procedures. The aim of my MA-thesis is double. Drawing upon a selection of overlapping passages in the minor works and Anatomical Procedures, I (1) present some didactic “tricks” employed by Galen in order to structure his text and facilitate reader assimilation of anatomical information, and (2) I look at what distinguishes the two “tiers” of texts in their presentation of the same information.

 

Organizer

Anastasia Maravela
Published Apr. 3, 2023 11:18 AM - Last modified Apr. 4, 2023 11:47 PM