Medicine as Competitive Performance: Eristic and Erudition-Galen on Erasistratus and the Arteries

This chapter addresses polemical and performative aspects of medical literature and practice, namely the role of dissection in medical confrontations and debates. It focuses on Galen’s use of dissection-both practiced and described-as a means of unmasking the ignorance of, and generally delegitimizing, his medical rivals, particularly those in the Erasistratean sect. The chapter goes through a series of case studies and shows that these anatomical episodes, while grounded in real-world performative competition, also serve to bolster Galen’s reputation through his literary deployment of them, which incorporates echoes from forensic oratory, comedic tropes, and satirical language. The agonistic norms of in-person competition thus seamlessly transfer to the literary realm.