Herophilus, Erasistratus, and the birth of neuroscience

Abstract

Herophilus of Chalcedon (330–260 BC) was a rationalist physician who taught and practised in Ptolemaic Alexandria during a golden period of scientific enquiry. He was born in Chalcedon on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus and may have been apprenticed to Praxagoras of Cos during his medical training. His works have been lost, but some details of his teachings may be gleaned from the writings of later physicians such as Galen, Celsus, and Tertullian. His many books covered various topics including therapeutics, aphorisms, pulse lore, anatomy, gynaecology, ophthalmology, and “Against Common Opinions”.