An open seminar on the physician and philosopher Galen of Pergamum will be held on May 28 in Australia’s Greek Centre Melbourne.

Claudius Galen was a Greek physician who went to Rome and revived the ideas of Hippocrates, becoming a pioneer physician whose theories dominated European medicine for 1,500 years. Galen serves as a striking example of a philosopher-physician, given that his father, an architect, ensured that he had a good education, which included philosophy. Galen's passion however was medicine and he went on to develop a thorough grounding in both fields.

The seminar is organised by Han Baltussen, Classics Professor at the University of Adelaide and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Baltussen has published on a wide range of topics in intellectual history.

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