Galen in the Late Imperial and Early Byzantine Periods

Abstract Although Galen left instructions on how to study his works, these did not determine how his writings were approached after his death. They soon became the object of commentaries and of epitomes and compilations. In the course of the roughly five centuries between Galen’s lifetime and the seventh century, Galen’s writings came to occupy an increasingly important role in medical education. The three encyclopedists Oribasius, Aetius, and Paul produced increasingly succinct and practice-oriented versions, playing down the theoretical side of his medicine. Together with material produced in Alexandria for the teaching of medicine, these compilations reshaped Galen’s legacy to create Galenism.