Herophilos ( / h ɪ ˈ r ɒ f ɪ l ə s / ; Ancient Greek : Ἡρόφιλος ; 335–280 BC), sometimes Latinised Herophilus , was a Greek physician regarded as one of the earliest anatomists . Born in Chalcedon , he spent the majority of his life in Alexandria . He was the first scientist to systematically perform scientific dissections of human cadavers. He recorded his findings in over nine works, which are now all lost. The early Christian author Tertullian states that Herophilos vivisected at least 600 live prisoners; however, this account has been disputed by many historians. He is often seen as the father of anatomy.
34-684: Herophilos was born in Chalcedon in Asia Minor (now Kadıköy , Turkey), c. 335 BC. Not much is known about his early life other than he moved to Alexandria at a fairly young age to begin his schooling. As an adult Herophilos was a teacher, and an author of at least nine texts ranging from his book titled On Pulses , which explored the flow of blood from the heart through the arteries , to his book titled Midwifery , which discussed duration and phases of childbirth . In Alexandria, he practiced dissections , often publicly so that he could explain what he
68-523: A metropolitan see , but without suffragans . There is a list of its bishops in Le Quien , completed by Anthimus Alexoudes , revised for the early period by Pargoire . Among others are: The Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Chalcedon holds senior rank (currently third position) within the Greek Orthodox patriarchal synod of Constantinople . The incumbent is Metropolitan Athanasios Papas. The cathedral
102-407: A water clock . Herophilos's work on blood and its movements led him to study and analyse the brain . He proposed that the brain housed the intellect rather than the heart. He was the first person to differentiate between the cerebrum and the cerebellum , and to place individual importance on each portion. He looked more in depth into the network of nerves located in the cranium . Herophilos
136-419: A continuous settlement since prehistoric times. Phoenicians were active traders in this area. Pliny states that Chalcedon was first named Procerastis, a name which may be derived from a point of land near it: then it was named Colpusa, from the harbour probably; and finally Caecorum Oppidum, or the town of the blind. Chalcedon originated as a Megarian colony in 685 BC. The colonists from Megara settled on
170-624: A decade thereafter, Chalcedon furnished an encampment to the Persians under Chosroes II (cf. Siege of Constantinople (626) ). It later fell for a time to the Arabs under Yazid (cf. Siege of Constantinople (674) ). Chalcedon was badly damaged during the Fourth Crusade (1204). It came definitively under Ottoman rule under Orhan Gazi a century before the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople . Chalcedon
204-846: A long while between the Lacedaemonian and the Athenian interests. Darius the Great 's bridge of boats, built in 512 BC for his Scythian campaign, extended from Chalcedonia to Thrace . Chalcedon formed a part of the kingdom of Bithynia , whose king Nicomedes willed Bithynia to the Romans upon his death in 74 BC. The city was partly destroyed by Mithridates . The governor of Bithynia, Cotta , had fled to Chalcedon for safety along with thousands of other Romans. Three thousand of them were killed, sixty ships captured, and four ships destroyed in Mithridates' assault on
238-455: A mixture of air and water. Through dissections, Herophilus was able to deduce that veins carried only blood. After studying the flow of blood, he was able to differentiate between arteries and veins. He noticed that as blood flowed through arteries, they pulsed or rhythmically throbbed. He worked out standards for measuring a pulse and could use these standards to aid him in diagnosing sicknesses or diseases. To measure this pulse, he made use of
272-415: A portion of the cochlear division of the acoustic nerve and disappear into the median sulcus. Below the inferior fovea, and between the hypoglossal trigone and the lower part of the area acustica is a triangular dark field, the vagal trigone , which corresponds to the sensory nucleus of the vagus and glossopharyngeal nerves . The lower end of the vagal trigone is crossed by a narrow translucent ridge,
306-569: A site that was viewed in antiquity as so obviously inferior to that visible on the opposite shore of the Bosphorus (with its small settlements of Lygos and Semistra on Seraglio Point ), that the 6th-century BC Persian general Megabazus allegedly remarked that Chalcedon's founders must have been blind. Indeed, Strabo and Pliny relate that the oracle of Apollo told the Athenians and Megarians who founded Byzantium in 657 BC to build their city "opposite to
340-429: Is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot become manifest, strength cannot be exerted, wealth is useless, and reason is powerless". Chalcedon Chalcedon ( / ˈ k æ l s ɪ ˌ d ɒ n , k æ l ˈ s iː d ən / ; Ancient Greek : Χαλκηδών , romanized : Khalkēdṓn ; sometimes transliterated as Khalqedon ) was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia , in Asia Minor . It
374-620: Is that of St. Euphemia . After the Great Schism , the Latin Church retained Chalcedon as a titular see with archiepiscopal rank, with known incumbents since 1356. Among the titular bishops named to this see were William Bishop (1623–1624) and Richard Smith (1624–1632), who were appointed vicars apostolic for the pastoral care of Catholics in England at a time when that country had no Catholic diocesan bishops. Such appointments ceased after
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#1732869138615408-420: The calamus scriptorius , which he believed was the seat of the human soul . Analysis of the nerves in the cranium allowed him to differentiate between nerves and blood vessels and to discover the differences between motor and sensory nerves. He believed that the sensory and motor nerves shot out from the brain and that the neural transmissions occurred by means of pneuma . Part of Herophilos's beliefs about
442-474: The Second Vatican Council and the titular see has not been assigned since 1967. Chalcedon has also been a titular archbishopric for two Eastern Catholic church dioceses: Calamus scriptorius The rhomboid fossa is a rhombus -shaped depression that is the anterior part of the fourth ventricle . Its anterior wall, formed by the back of the pons and the medulla oblongata , constitutes
476-447: The duodenum , which is part of the small intestine . Other areas of his anatomical study include the liver , the pancreas , and the alimentary tract, as well as the salivary glands and genitalia. Herophilos is credited with learning extensively about the physiology of the female reproductive system. In his book Midwifery , he discussed phases and duration of pregnancy as well as causes for difficult childbirth. The aim of this work
510-412: The medial eminence . In the superior part of the rhomboid fossa it corresponds with the lateral limit of the fossa and presents a bluish-gray area, the locus coeruleus , which owes its color to an underlying patch of deeply pigmented nerve cells, termed the substantia ferruginea . At the level of the facial colliculus the sulcus limitans widens into a flattened depression, the superior fovea, and in
544-808: The Byzantines and later the Ottoman Turks used it as a quarry for building materials for Constantinople 's monumental structures. Chalcedon also fell repeatedly to armies attacking Constantinople from the east. In 361 AD it was the location of the Chalcedon tribunal , where Julian the Apostate brought his enemies to trial. In 451 AD an ecumenical council of Christian leaders convened here. See below for this Council of Chalcedon . The general Belisarius probably spent his years of retirement on his estate of Rufinianae in Chalcedonia. Beginning in 616 and for at least
578-870: The ancient city survive in Kadıköy today; artifacts uncovered at Altıyol and other excavation sites are on display at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum . The site of Chalcedon is located on a small peninsula on the north coast of the Sea of Marmara , near the mouth of the Bosphorus . A stream, called the Chalcis or Chalcedon in antiquity and now known as the Kurbağalıdere (Turkish: stream with frogs ), flows into Fenerbahçe Bay. There, Greek colonists from Megara in Attica founded
612-588: The blind", and that they interpreted "the blind" to mean Chalcedon, the "City of the Blind". Nevertheless, trade thrived in Chalcedon; the town flourished and built many temples, including one to Apollo , which had an oracle. Chalcedonia, the territory dependent upon Chalcedon, stretched up the Anatolian shore of the Bosphorus at least as far as the temple of Zeus Urius , now the site of Yoros Castle , and may have included
646-479: The city. During the Empire, Chalcedon recovered, and was given the status of a free city. It fell under the repeated attacks of the barbarian hordes who crossed over after having ravaged Byzantium, including some referred to as Scythians who attacked during the reign of Valerian and Gallienus in the mid 3rd century . Chalcedon suffered somewhat from its proximity to the new imperial capital at Constantinople . First
680-435: The eye surrounding the pupil ), the retina (containing the cells converting light into neural activity), and the choroid (a layer between the retina and the sclera comprising connective tissue and blood vessels nourishing the retina). Herophilos used the term retiform to describe the retina, from its resemblance to a casting net, giving the origin of the modern term. Further study of the cranium led Herophilos to describe
714-406: The floor of the fourth ventricle. It is covered by a thin layer of grey matter continuous with that of the spinal cord ; superficial to this is a thin lamina of neuroglia which constitutes the ependyma of the ventricle and supports a layer of ciliated epithelium . The fossa consists of three parts, superior, intermediate, and inferior: The sulcus limitans forms the lateral boundary of
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#1732869138615748-419: The human body involved the pneuma, which he believed was a substance that flowed through the arteries along with the blood. To make this consistent with medical beliefs at the time, Herophilos stated that diseases occurred when an excess of one of the four humors impeded the pneuma from reaching the brain. Herophilos also introduced many other scientific terms used to this day to describe anatomical phenomena. He
782-418: The inferior part of the fossa appears as a distinct dimple, the inferior fovea . Lateral to the foveae is a rounded elevation named the area acustica, which extends into the lateral recess and there forms a feebly marked swelling, the tuberculum acusticum. Winding around the inferior peduncle and crossing the area acustica and the medial eminence are a number of white strands, the striæ medullares, which form
816-557: The north shore of the Bay of Astacus which extends towards Nicomedia . Important villages in Chalcedonia included Chrysopolis (the modern Üsküdar ) and Panteicheion ( Pendik ). Strabo notes that "a little above the sea" in Chalcedonia lies "the fountain Azaritia, which contains small crocodiles". In its early history Chalcedon shared the fortunes of Byzantium. Later, the 6th-century BC Persian satrap Otanes captured it. The city vacillated for
850-460: The settlement of Chalcedon in 685 BC, some seventeen years before Byzantium. The Greek name of the ancient town is from its Phoenician name qart-ħadaʃt , meaning "New Town", whence Karkhēd(ōn), as similarly is the name of Carthage . The mineral chalcedony is named after the city. The mound of Fikirtepe has yielded remains dating to the Chalcolithic period (5500–3500 BC) and attest to
884-460: The time, except for Alexandria. Celsus in De Medicina and the church leader Tertullian state that he vivisected at least 600 live prisoners, though this has been contested as Herophilos appeared to have believed the arteries contained very little blood which he wouldn't have believed had he performed live dissections. After the death of Herophilos in 280 BC, his anatomical findings lived on in
918-481: The works of other important physicians, notably Galen. Even though dissections were performed in the following centuries and medieval times, only a few insights were added. Dissecting with the purpose to gain knowledge about human anatomy started again in early modern times ( Vesalius ), more than 1600 years after Herophilos's death. Herophilos emphasised the use of the experimental method in medicine, for he considered it essential to found knowledge on empirical bases. He
952-624: Was a forerunner of the Empiric school of medicine, founded by Herophilos's pupil Philinus of Cos , which combined Herophilos's empirical impulses with critical tools borrowed from Pyrrhonist philosophy. However, the Empirics found Herophilos wanting, mounting two chief attacks against him: Conventional medicine of the time revolved around the theory of the four humors in which an imbalance between bile, black bile, phlegm, and blood led to sickness or disease. Veins were believed to be filled with blood and
986-406: Was among the first to introduce the notion of conventional terminology, as opposed to use of "natural names", using terms he created to describe the objects of study, naming them for the first time. A confluence of sinuses in the skull was originally named torcular Herophili after him. Torcular is a Latin translation of Herophilos's label, ληνός - lenos , 'wine vat' or 'wine press'. He also named
1020-415: Was an episcopal see at an early date and several Christian martyrs are associated with Chalcedon: It was the site of various ecclesiastical councils. The Fourth Ecumenical Council , known as 'the' Council of Chalcedon , was convened in 451 and defined the human and divine natures of Jesus , which provoked the schism with the churches composing Oriental Orthodoxy . After the council, Chalcedon became
1054-520: Was doing to those who were fascinated. Erasistratus was his contemporary. Together, they worked at a medical school in Alexandria that is said to have drawn people from all over the ancient world due to Herophilos's fame. His works are lost but were much quoted by Galen in the second century AD. Herophilos was the first scientist to systematically perform scientific dissections of human cadavers. Dissections of human cadavers were banned in most places at
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1088-484: Was located almost directly opposite Byzantium , south of Scutari (modern Üsküdar ) and it is now a district of the city of Istanbul named Kadıköy . The name Chalcedon is a variant of Calchedon, found on all the coins of the town as well as in manuscripts of Herodotus 's Histories , Xenophon 's Hellenica , Arrian 's Anabasis , and other works. Except for the Maiden's Tower , almost no above-ground vestiges of
1122-428: Was particularly interested in the eye. He described the optic nerve for seeing and the oculomotor nerve for eye movements. Through his dissection of the eye , he discovered its different sections and layers: the "skin" of the eyeball comprising the cornea (the clear part at the front of the eye through which light begins to be focussed into the eye) and sclera (the white of the eye), the iris (the colored part of
1156-479: Was to help midwives and other doctors of the time more fully understand the process of procreation and pregnancy. He is also credited with the discovery of the ovum , and was the first to make a scientific description of what would later be called Skene's gland , for which in 2001 the term female prostate was accepted as a second term. Herophilos believed that exercise and a healthy diet were integral to an individual's bodily health. He once said that "when health
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