Galen’s Pharmacology in Context

Abstract Pharmacology was central to Galen’s thought and practice in several respects. He traveled extensively to ensure that he obtained high-quality pharmaceuticals and he devoted a major portion of his large body of writings to pharmacology. In these texts, which influenced Eastern and Western medicine for hundreds of years, Galen identified elements of his pharmacopeia and developed an elaborate theory of drug action. Galen is not, however, a slave to this theory. He valued the knowledge gained by doctors, herbalists, midwives, and others through the generations; nor did he insist that his theory could explain all drug action. This chapter will explore the pharmacological traditions that Galen so valued and upon which he drew.