De Medicina

1 About this book

De Medicina is a 1st-century medical treatise by Aulus Cornelius Celsus, a Roman encyclopedist and possibly (but not likely) a practicing physician. It is the only surviving section of a much larger encyclopedia; only small parts still survive from sections on agriculture, military science, oratory, jurisprudence and philosophy.

De Medicina draws upon knowledge from ancient Greek works, and is considered the best surviving treatise on Alexandrian medicine. It is also the first complete textbook on medicine to be printed, and has an "encyclopedic arrangement that follows the tripartite division of medicine at the time as established by Hippocrates and Asclepiades – diet, pharmacology, and surgery."

This work also covers the topics of disease and therapy. Sections detail the removal of missile weapons, stopping bleeding, preventing inflammation, diagnosis of internal maladies, removal of kidney stones, the amputation of limbs and so forth.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Good for readers who want: history, ancient history, and a long read.

• Ancient Medicine
• Greek and Roman Medicine
• History
• Medicine
• Ancient History
• Surgery
• Roman World