Soranus (1st/2nd century) was a Greek physician from
EphesusEphesus was an ancient Roman and Greek city on the west coast of Anatolia, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek period....
. He practiced in
AlexandriaAlexandria , with a population of 4.1 million, is the second-largest city in Egypt, and is the country's largest seaport, serving about 80% of Egypt's imports and exports...
and subsequently in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
, and was one of the chief representatives of the
Methodic schoolThe Methodic school of medicine was an ancient school of medicine in ancient Greece and Rome. Their history begins with Themison of Laodicea, a pupil of Asclepiades in the 1st century BC. He differed from his master, condemned his errors and introducing a new precision into his system...
of medicine. Several of his writings still survive, most notably his four-volume treatise on
gynaecologyGynaecology or gynecology is the medical practice dealing with the health of the female reproductive system . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women". Almost all modern gynaecologists are also obstetricians...
, and a Latin translation of his
On Acute and Chronic Diseases.
Little is known about the life of Soranus. According to the
SudaThe Suda or Souda is a massive 10th century historical encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly wrongfully attributed to an author called Suidas. The text belongs to the Byzantine Empire and was written in Greek...
(which has two entries on him) he was a native of
EphesusEphesus was an ancient Roman and Greek city on the west coast of Anatolia, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek period....
, was the son of Menander and Phoebe, and practised medicine at
AlexandriaAlexandria , with a population of 4.1 million, is the second-largest city in Egypt, and is the country's largest seaport, serving about 80% of Egypt's imports and exports...
and
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
in the reigns of
TrajanMarcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus, commonly known as Trajan , was a Roman Emperor who reigned from A. D. 98 until his death in A. D. 117...
and
HadrianPublius Aelius Hadrianus was emperor of Rome from AD 117 to 138, as well as a Stoic and Epicurean philosopher...
(98-138).
Soranus (1st/2nd century) was a Greek physician from
EphesusEphesus was an ancient Roman and Greek city on the west coast of Anatolia, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek period....
. He practiced in
AlexandriaAlexandria , with a population of 4.1 million, is the second-largest city in Egypt, and is the country's largest seaport, serving about 80% of Egypt's imports and exports...
and subsequently in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
, and was one of the chief representatives of the
Methodic schoolThe Methodic school of medicine was an ancient school of medicine in ancient Greece and Rome. Their history begins with Themison of Laodicea, a pupil of Asclepiades in the 1st century BC. He differed from his master, condemned his errors and introducing a new precision into his system...
of medicine. Several of his writings still survive, most notably his four-volume treatise on
gynaecologyGynaecology or gynecology is the medical practice dealing with the health of the female reproductive system . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women". Almost all modern gynaecologists are also obstetricians...
, and a Latin translation of his
On Acute and Chronic Diseases.
Life
Little is known about the life of Soranus. According to the
SudaThe Suda or Souda is a massive 10th century historical encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly wrongfully attributed to an author called Suidas. The text belongs to the Byzantine Empire and was written in Greek...
(which has two entries on him) he was a native of
EphesusEphesus was an ancient Roman and Greek city on the west coast of Anatolia, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek period....
, was the son of Menander and Phoebe, and practised medicine at
AlexandriaAlexandria , with a population of 4.1 million, is the second-largest city in Egypt, and is the country's largest seaport, serving about 80% of Egypt's imports and exports...
and
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
in the reigns of
TrajanMarcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus, commonly known as Trajan , was a Roman Emperor who reigned from A. D. 98 until his death in A. D. 117...
and
HadrianPublius Aelius Hadrianus was emperor of Rome from AD 117 to 138, as well as a Stoic and Epicurean philosopher...
(98-138). He lived at least as early as
ArchigenesArchigenes , an eminent ancient Greek physician, who lived in the 1st and 2nd centuries.He was the most celebrated of the sect of the Eclectici, and was a native of Apamea in Syria; he practised at Rome in the time of Trajan, 98-117, where he enjoyed a very high reputation for his professional...
, who used one of his medicines; he was tutor to
AttalusAttalus may refer to:*Several members of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon**Attalus I, ruled 241 BC–197 BC**Attalus II Philadelphus, ruled 160 BC–138 BC**Attalus III, ruled 138 BC–133 BC...
; and he was dead when
GalenAelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamum , was a prominent Greek physician and philosopher and probably the most accomplished medical researcher of the Roman period. His theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for well over a millennium...
wrote his work
De Methodo Medendi, c. 178.
He belonged to the
Methodic schoolThe Methodic school of medicine was an ancient school of medicine in ancient Greece and Rome. Their history begins with Themison of Laodicea, a pupil of Asclepiades in the 1st century BC. He differed from his master, condemned his errors and introducing a new precision into his system...
, and was one of the most eminent physicians of that school. Little else is known about his life, except that he passed some time in
AquitaniaAquitania may refer to:*the territory of the Aquitani* Gallia Aquitania, a province of the Roman Empire* 387 Aquitania, a fairly large main belt asteroid* Aquitania, Boyacá, Colombia* RMS Aquitania, a Cunard Line ocean liner...
for the purpose of treating some skin diseases which were very prevalent there at the time.
Works
His treatise
GynaecologyGynaecology or gynecology is the medical practice dealing with the health of the female reproductive system . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women". Almost all modern gynaecologists are also obstetricians...
is extant (first published in 1838, later by
V. RoseValentin Rose was a classicist and textual critic, who received his doctorate from the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Berlin in 1854.Rose's first edition of the fragments of Aristotle was Aristoteles Pseudepigraphus...
, in 1882, with a 6th-century Latin translation by one
MuscioMuscio is the supposed author of the Genecia , a treatise of gynecology dating to ca. AD 500, preserved in a manuscript of ca. AD 900...
). Also extant are parts of treatises
On Signs of Fractures and
On Bandages. Of his most important work (
On Acute and Chronic Diseases) only a few fragments in Greek remain, but we possess a complete Latin translation by
Caelius AurelianusCaelius Aurelianus was a Roman physician and writer on medical topics, of Sicca in Numidia. He is best known for his translation from Greek to Latin of a work by Soranus of Ephesus, On Acute and Chronic Diseases. He probably flourished in the 5th century, although some place him two or even...
(5th century). The
Life of HippocratesHippocrates of Cos or Hippokrates of Kos - Greek: ; Hippokrátēs was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles, and was considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine...
probably formed one of the collection of medical biographies by Soranus referred to in the Suda, and is valuable as the only authority for the life of the great physician, with the exception of articles in the Suda and in
Stephanus of ByzantiumStephen of Byzantium, also known as Stephanus Byzantinus was the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled Ethnica...
(s.v. ). The
Introduction to the Science of Medicine is considered spurious.
Besides these works, Soranus was the author of several others, of which only the titles and some fragments have been preserved. Galen mentions two works on
Pharmacy, from which he quotes some passages.
Caelius AurelianusCaelius Aurelianus was a Roman physician and writer on medical topics, of Sicca in Numidia. He is best known for his translation from Greek to Latin of a work by Soranus of Ephesus, On Acute and Chronic Diseases. He probably flourished in the 5th century, although some place him two or even...
quotes from several other works, and Soranus himself refers to many additional works which have not survived.
TertullianQuintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian, was a prolific and controversial early Christian Berber author, and the first to write Christian Latin literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy...
quotes a work
De Anima, in four books, in which Soranus divided the
soulThe soul, in many religions, spiritual traditions, and philosophies, is the spiritual and eternal part of a living being, commonly held to be separable in existence from the body; distinct from the physical part. It is typically thought to consist of ones consciousness and personality, and can be...
into seven parts, and denied its immortality. He is quoted by Paulus Aegineta, as being one of the earliest Greek medical writers who had described the Guinea Worm; and he appears to have enjoyed a great reputation among the ancients, as
AugustineAugustine of Hippo , Bishop of Hippo Regius, also known as St. Augustine or St. Austin, was an Algerian Berber philosopher and theologian....
calls him "Medicinae auctor nobilissimus," and Tertullian, "Methodicae Medicinae instructissimus auctor."
Further reading
- Greek text
- Johannes Ilberg, Sorani Gynaeciorum libri IV, De signis fracturarum, De fasciis, Vita Hippocratis secundum Soranum, Corpus medicorum Graecorum 4, Berlin, 1927.
- Paul Burguière, Danielle Gourevitch, and Yves Malinas, Maladies des femmes (with French translation), Collection Budé
The Collection Budé, or the Collection des Universités de France, is a series of books comprising the Greek and Latin classics up to the middle of the 6th century...
, 1988-.
- English translation
- Owsei Temkin et al., Soranus' Gynaecology, Johns Hopkins Press, 1956.