Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Celsus

  • Book review: Greco-Roman Medicine and What it Can Teach Us Today

    Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, United Kingdom The Republic of Rome was founded in the sixth century BC. In the third century BC, the western Roman Empire began to spread outside the borders of Italy. Roman rule came to Britain in AD 43 with the invasion by Claudius and ended in AD 476. The eastern Roman Empire,…

  • The striking social tableaux vivants of Lejaren à Hiller (1920s to 1940s)

    J.T.H. Connor St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada   A social tableau vivant by Lejaren à Hiller dated 1935 illustrating his characteristic dramatic photographic style and striking compositions depicting a medical hero, the human body, and often religious icons. The signature of the photographer/artist is visible in the lower left corner of the image. From “Sutures in…

  • The wayward Paracelsus

    JMS Pearce East Yorks, England   Fig 1. Aureolus Philippus Theophrastus von Hohenheim (Paracelsus). Via Wikimedia. Alterius non sit qui suus esse potest Let no man be another’s who can be himself Paracelsus 1552   Paracelsus was the most original, controversial character of the Renaissance,1 who brazenly questioned and condemned the dictates of Galen and…

  • Frankincense and myrrh: medicinal resin worth more than gold

    Mariel Tishma Chicago, Illinois, United States   Incense. Frankincense on coal. Photo: birdy. 2007. CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia. Boswellia and Commiphora trees are scraggly, sharp, and unfriendly. Growing close to the ground in the arid desert, they have short trunks and fanning branches, sometimes looking more like shrubs than trees. But despite their unlikely…

  • Scribonius Largus

    Felipe Fernandez del Castillo Massachusetts, United States   We don’t know much about Scribonius Largus. The first century Roman physician has been overshadowed by more famous medical authors like Celsus, Pliny, and Galen. Dismissed by one scholar as “second rate”,1 Scribonius has lurked for centuries in the footnotes of history textbooks and journal articles, and…