Ancient Greek Spermatology

Abstract

Abstract From the fifth century bc onwards, the scientific interests of the ancient Greeks—already traceable in the earliest remaining sources—expanded to include zoology and related matters. The first philosopher known to have written a book about human biology was Alcmaeon of Croton, who is described as a pupil of Pythagoras. One important basic question in his research concerned the origin and nature of semen. According to the Viennese medical historian Erna Lesky, Alcmaeon held merely that semen has its origin in the brain. My suggestions are that Alcmaeon saw the abdomen as the place of origin of the material part of semen and that in his theory all (or at least more) parts of the body were present in the semen, while the brain functioned as a necessary transit port through which life entered.