List of ancient physicians

List of ancient physicians between the 30th century BCE and 4th century CE

Main article: List of physicians

The following is a list of ancient physicians who were known to have practised, contributed, or theorised about medicine in some form between the 30th century BCE and 4th century CE.

## 30th century to 1st century BCE

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Name | Century | Ethnicity | Known for

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|
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Imhotep | 27th century BCE  | Egyptian  | One of the first recorded physicians
Bogar | 3rd century BCE  | Indian  | The Pharmacognosy is the best known of his treatises
Tirumular | 2nd century BCE  | Indian  |
Aegimus | 5th century BCE | Greek | first person who wrote a treatise on the pulse
Korakkar | 2nd century BCE  | Indian  | His works include Korakkar Malai Vagatam (Korakkar's Mountain Medicines)
Patanjali | 2nd century BCE  | Indian  | Founder of Yoga School
Amenhotep | 13th century BCE | Egyptian | chief physician of the early 19th Dynasty
Androcydes | 4th century BCE | Greek |
Antipater | 1st century BCE | Greek | author of a work titled On the Soul
Kashyapa | 8th century BCE  | Indian  | wrote Kashyap Samhita
Apollonius Glaucus | 3rd century BCE | Greek | On Internal Diseases
Apollonios of Kition | 1st century BCE | Greek Cypriot | most important work is On Joints
Agnivesha | 8th century BCE  | Indian  | wrote Agnivesha Samhita considered foundational text of the Agnivesha school of early Ayurveda
Bharadwaja | 12th century BCE  | Indian  | He stated that embryo is caused from union of man's sperm and menstrual blood of woman
Atreya | 6th century BCE  | Indian  | Instructor of the compiler of the Bhela Samhita
Aristotle | 4th century BCE | Greek |
Asclepiades of Bithynia | 2nd–1st century BCE | Greek | built a new theory of disease
Bian Que | 4th century BCE | Chinese | earliest known Chinese physician
Bolus of Mendes | 3rd century BCE | Greek |
Cato the Elder | 2nd century BCE | Roman |
Charaka | 6th–2nd century BCE | Indian | one of the principal contributors to Ayurveda
Ctesias | 5th century BCE | Greek |
Demetrius of Apamea | 2nd century BCE | Greek | studied sexual organs
Dexippus of Cos | 4th century BCE | Greek | pupil of Hippocrates
Dieuches | 4th century BCE | Greek | Dogmatic school of medicine
Diocles of Carystus | 4th century BCE | Greek | practical medicine, especially diet and nutrition
Erasistratus | 3rd century BCE | Greek | founded a school of anatomy in Alexandria
Heraclides of Tarentum | 2nd century BCE | Greek | physician of the Empiric school
Herophilus | 3rd century BCE | Greek | deemed to be the first anatomist
Hicesius | 1st century BCE | Greek | head of a medical school established at Smyrna
Hippocrates | 5th century BCE | Greek | "Father of Medicine", wrote the Hippocratic Corpus
Irynachet | 22nd century BCE | Egyptian | senior physician of the great house
Jivaka Komarabhacca | 5th century BCE | Indian | personal physician of King Bimbisara and Gautama Buddha
Madhava-kara | 8th century BCE | Indian | listed diseases along with their causes, symptoms, and complications
Meges of Sidon | 1st century BCE | Greek/Roman | surgeon
Mnesitheus | 4th century BCE | Greek | classification of diseases
Sextius Niger | 1st century BCE | Roman | pharmacology
Penthu | 16th century BCE | Egyptian | Chief Physician to Akhenaten
Peseshet | 25th century BCE | Egyptian | one of the earliest known female physicians
Harita | 8th century BCE  | Indian  | pupil of Atreya and composed samhita
Jatukarna | 8th century BCE  | Indian  | pupil of Atreya and composed "Jatukarna Samhita"
Philinus of Cos | 3rd century BCE | Greek | reputed founder of the Empiric school
Philistion of Locri | 4th century BCE | Greek | physician and writer of medicine
Philoxenus (physician) | 3rd century BCE | Greco-Egyptian | wrote several volumes on surgery
Plistonicus | 4th–3rd century BCE | Greek | wrote a work on anatomy
Posidonius | 2nd–1st century BCE | Greek | polymath
Praxagoras of Cos | 4th century BCE | Greek | theory of circulation
Qar | 23rd century BCE | Egyptian | Chief Physician during the Sixth dynasty
Rabâ-ša-Marduk | 13th century BCE | Kassite |
Serapion of Alexandria | 3rd century BCE | Greek | member of the Empiric school of medicine
Shepseskaf-ankh | 25th century BCE | Egyptian | Chief Physician during the Fifth dynasty
Sushruta | 7th century BCE | Indian | author of the treatise The Compendium of Suśruta
Themison of Laodicea | 1st century BCE | Greek | founder of the Methodic school of medicine
Theophrastus | 4th–3rd century BCE | Greek |

## 1st century to 4th century CE

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Name | Century | Ethnicity | Known for

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Abascantus | 2nd century CE | Greek | invented antidote against serpent bites
Fabiola | 4th century CE  | Roman  | First hospital in Latin Christendom was founded by Fabiola at Rome.[1]
Ephrem the Syrian | 4th century CE  | Roman  | Opened a hospital at Edessa[1] They spread out and specialized nosocomia for the sick, brephotrophia for foundlings, orphanotrophia for orphans, ptochia for the poor, xenodochia for poor or infirm pilgrims, and gerontochia for the old
Basil of Caesarea | 4th century CE  | Roman  | Founded at Caesarea in Cappadocia an institution (hospital) called Basileias, with several buildings for patients, nurses, physicians, workshops, and schools.[1]
Aemilia Hilaria | 4th century CE | Roman | female physician. Wrote books on gynecology and obstetrics.
Aeschrion of Pergamon | 2nd century CE | Greek | pharmaceutist
Agathinus | 1st century CE | Greek | founder of the Eclectic school of medicine
Albucius | 1st century CE | Roman | wealthy physician, with annual income of 250,000 sesterces
Alcon (classical history) | 1st century CE | Greek | surgeon
Andromachus | 1st century CE | Greek |
Anonymus Londinensis | 1st century CE | Greek | author of the physiological work On Medicine
Antipater | 2nd century CE | Greek | gave an account of the morbid symptoms that precede death
Antiphanes of Delos | 2nd century CE | Greek | "the sole cause of diseases in man was the too great variety of his food"
Antonius Castor | 1st century CE | Roman | herbal remedies
Antyllus | 2nd century CE | Greek | surgeon, treatment of aneurysms became standard until the 19th century
Apollonius Claudius | 2nd century CE | Greek |
Apollonius Cyprius | 1st century CE | Greek |
Apollonius Organicus | 2nd century CE | Greek |
Apollonius Pergamenus | 3rd century CE | Greek |
Apollonius Pitaneus | 1st century CE | Greek |
Apollonius Senior | 1st century CE | Greek |
Apollonius Tarensis | 1st century CE | Greek |
Apollonius Ther | 1st century CE | Greek |
Dridhabala | 2nd century CE  | India  | edited the Charaka Samhita
Archigenes | 1st–2nd century CE | Greek | very high reputation for his professional skill
Arcyon | 1st century CE | Greek | surgeon
Aretaeus | 1st century CE | Greek | general treatise on diseases
Asclepiades Pharmacion | 1st–2nd century CE | Greek | skill and knowledge of pharmacy
Aspasia the Physician | 4th century CE | Greek | Female gynecologist
Athenaeus of Attalia | 1st century CE | Greek | founder of the Pneumatic school of medicine
Cassius Felix | 3rd century CE | Roman African | medical writer
Aulus Cornelius Celsus | 1st century CE | Roman | De Medicina
Charmis | 1st–2nd century CE | Greek | Physician active in Rome
Saints Cosmas and Damian | 3rd century CE | Arab | persecuted by Diocletian
Crinas | 1st–2nd century CE | Greek | Physician active in Rome
Criton of Heraclea | 1st–2nd century CE | Greek | Chief physician of emperor Trajan
Damocrates | 1st century CE | Greek | wrote pharmaceutical works in Greek iambic verse
Demosthenes Philalethes | 1st century CE | Greek | author of the Ophthalmicus, the most influential work of ophthalmology in antiquity
Saint Diomedes | 3rd century CE | Greek | arrested by Diocletian
Pedanius Dioscorides | 1st century CE | Greek | De Materia Medica
Dong Feng | 3rd century CE | Chinese |
Erotianus | 1st century CE | Greek | Collection of Hippocratic Words
Eudemus (physician) | 1st–2nd century CE | Greek | two persons, the first the poisoner of Drusus Julius Caesar, the second an acquaintance of Galen
Saint Fabiola | 4th century CE | Roman | nurse
Gaius Stertinius Xenophon | 1st century CE | Greek | personal physician of emperor Claudius
Galen | 2nd–3rd century CE | Greek | developer of anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and neurology
Ge Hong | 4th century CE | Chinese | originator of First Aid in TCM
Heliodorus | 1st century CE | Greek | wrote on medical technique
Herodotus (physician) | 1st–2nd century CE | Greek | Two doctors, the first a Pneumaticist, the second an Empiricist
Hua Tuo | 2nd century CE | Chinese | abilities in acupuncture, moxibustion, herbal medicine and medical Daoyin exercises
Huangfu Mi | 3rd century CE | Chinese | compiled the Canon of Acupuncture and Moxibustion
Ji Ben | 3rd century CE | Chinese | physician who started a failed rebellion
Leonidas (physician) | 2nd–3rd century CE | Greek | surgical writer, provided the first detailed description of a mastectomy
Leoparda | 4th century CE | Greek | female gynecologist
Marcellus of Side | 2nd century CE | Greek | wrote a long medical poem
Quintus Gargilius Martialis | 3rd century CE | Roman | writer on horticulture, botany and medicine
Menemachus | 2nd century CE | Greek | Methodic school of medicine
Menodotus of Nicomedia | 2nd century CE | Greek | Empiricist
Metrodora | 4th century CE | Greek | female gynecologist, author of On the Diseases and Cures of Women.
Oribasius | 4th century CE | Greek | medical writer and person physician of Julian the Apostate
Paccius Antiochus | 1st century CE | Roman | wealthy commercial physician
Philagrius of Epirus | 3rd century CE | Greek | medical writers
Philonides (physician) | 1st century CE | Greek | author of De Medicina
Philumenus | 3rd century CE | Greek |
Aelius Promotus | 2nd century CE | Greek | author of Medicinalium Formularum Collectio
Rufus of Ephesus | 1st–2nd century CE | Greek | wrote treatises on dietetics, pathology, anatomy, and patient care
Serenus Sammonicus | 3rd century CE | Roman | author of a didactic medical poem Liber Medicinalis
Scribonius Largus | 1st century CE | Roman | court physician to the Roman emperor Claudius
Sextius Niger | 1st century CE | Roman | author of the pharmacologist work On material
Sextus Empiricus | 2nd century CE | Roman |
Sextus Placitus | 4th century CE | Roman | author of Libri medicinae Sexti Placiti Papyriensis ex animalibus pecoribus et bestiis vel avibus Concordantiae
Soranus of Ephesus | 2nd century CE | Greek | author of treatise on gynecology and On Acute and Chronic Diseases
Theodorus Priscianus | 4th century CE | Roman | author of Medical Matters in Four Books
Vagbhata | 4th century CE  | Indian  | He is considered to be "The Trinity" of Ayurvedic knowledge
Thessalus of Tralles | 1st century CE | Roman | Methodic school of medicine, court physician of Emperor Nero
Xenocrates of Aphrodisias | 1st century CE | Greek | pharmaceutical writer, including On Useful Things from Living Beings
Zhang Zhongjing | 2nd-3rd century CE | Chinese | made great contributions to the development of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Zopyrus (physician) | 1st century CE | Greek | antidote inventor

## Unknown Date

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Name | Century | Ethnicity | Known for

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|
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Olymnius of Alexandria | Unknown | Greek | author of the work on Critical Days.[2]

## References

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1. ^ a b c Durant, Will (March 1993). The Age of Faith: A History of Medieval Civilization-Christian, Islamic, and Judaic-From Constantine to Dante : A.D. 325–1300. Fine Communications. ISBN 9781567310153. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
2. ^ A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Olymnius