An information handed down from Arab sources (X-XIII century) makes Sicily the burial place of the famous physician Galen of Pergamum, lived between the Antonine and the early Severan age. The in-depth examination of the references to the island contained in the vast work of the imperial chief physician shows instead how Galen’s alleged journey to Sicily never took place, but on the contrary derived from the precise intent in the Islamic era to confer or give back to the island a role of Mediterranean ‘centrality’.
Una notizia tramandata da fonti arabe (X-XIII secolo) fa della Sicilia il luogo di sepoltura dell’illustre medico Galeno di Pergamo, vissuto fra l’epoca degli Antonini e la prima età severiana. L’approfondita disamina dei riferimenti all’isola contenuti nella vastissima produzione dell’archiatra imperiale mostra invece come il presunto viaggio in Sicilia di Galeno non ebbe mai luogo, ma al contrario derivò dal preciso intento in epoca islamica di conferire o restituire all’isola un ruolo di ‘centralità’ mediterranea.
Galeno in Sicilia: un viaggio mai compiuto?
Gaetano Arena
2021-01-01
Abstract
An information handed down from Arab sources (X-XIII century) makes Sicily the burial place of the famous physician Galen of Pergamum, lived between the Antonine and the early Severan age. The in-depth examination of the references to the island contained in the vast work of the imperial chief physician shows instead how Galen’s alleged journey to Sicily never took place, but on the contrary derived from the precise intent in the Islamic era to confer or give back to the island a role of Mediterranean ‘centrality’.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
