The footprints of neuroscience in Alexandria during the 3rd-century BC: Herophilus and Erasistratus.

Journal of Medical Biography
Maria Ioanna Stefanou

Abstract

In the first half of the 3rd-century BC in Alexandria, the Greek physicians Herophilus of Chalcedon (ca. 330 to ca. 260 BC) and Erasistratus of Chios (ca. 315 to ca. 240 BC) became the first scientists in antiquity to comprehensively study the anatomical underpinnings and the physiological properties of mind processes. Their scientific theories were based on experimental evidence arising from anatomical human dissection studies. Among their neuroscientific achievements were the discovery of the cranial nerves, the meninges, the dural sinuses and the ventricles; the delineation of the motor and sensory nerves; the appraisal of the brain as the seat of consciousness and human intellect; and the attribution of neurological disease to dysfunction of the nervous system. This paper will discuss the short-lived historical circumstances that enabled the ground-breaking progress in the domain of brain sciences during the Hellenistic period. In addition, this paper will examine the intriguing social, political and cultural interplays that determined the resonance of Herophilus and Erasistratus's work and influenced the course of history of neuroscience.

References

Apr 1, 1992·Journal of the History of the Neurosciences·G Zanchin
Jan 9, 2007·Brain Research Bulletin·Enrico Crivellato, Domenico Ribatti
Feb 3, 2007·Ancient Philosophy·L J Bliquez
Apr 15, 2010·Journal of the History of the Neurosciences·C U M Chris Smith
Jun 3, 2010·History of the Human Sciences·Scott Vrecko
Mar 1, 2013·European Neurology·J M S Pearce
Feb 24, 2016·Journal of Clinical Neuroscience : Official Journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia·Konstantine P Panegyres, Peter K Panegyres

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Citations

Feb 14, 2021·Neurosurgical Review·A I CucuM D Turliuc

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
dissections
dissection

Software Mentioned

Ptolemies

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