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.
Name | Century | Ethnicity | Known for |
---|---|---|---|
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 |
Name | Century | Ethnicity | Known for |
---|---|---|---|
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 Basilias, 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 |
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.
Name | Century | Ethnicity | Known for |
---|---|---|---|
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 |
Name | Century | Ethnicity | Known for |
---|---|---|---|
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 Basilias, 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 |