Anatomy and physiology

Inquiry into the structure and function of the body played a central role in Galen's intellectual and professional development from the outset of his medical education through his rise to prominence in the city of Rome. Galen's anatomical demonstrations were not only a product of his belief in the deep teleological structure of the natural world. They also underwrote his authority as a medical practitioner, aligning with the sophisticated display culture of imperial Rome in the second century CE. This chapter offers a brief overview of Galen's anatomical practice and physiological theory, including sections on the three main systems of his physiology. It discusses the importance of analogical inferences to Greco-Roman technical writing about the human body, especially given the absence of systematic human dissection in the historical record. It also provides an introduction to Galen's use of analogy in anatomical discovery and demonstration. Finally, it considers those demonstrations in their theoretical and professional contexts.