The Galenic Origins of the Modern Science Textbook

Galen’s On Anatomical Procedures, a detailed guide to animal dissection and derivative human anatomy, is unique in its content and, as this talk will uncover, in its purpose. Though Greek medicine was taught basically as an apprenticed art, Galen frames this work as a written alternative to oral instruction, more akin to the modern textbook than to any other genre. This talk will explore the ways in which he distances himself from oral and in-person teaching in order to create a more lasting and broadly accessible tool for the study of anatomy—a tool that, in the end, found success, though it anticipated its most eager audience by more than a thousand years.

This lecture is sponsored by The Achelis Foundation.

NOTICE: Admission to the ISAW Lecture Hall closes 10 minutes after the scheduled start time.

There will be a reception folowing the event.

This is a public event.

To RSVP, please email isaw@nyu.edu.