Rome, Italy

Hippocrates and Galen’s Fresco

This beautiful 13th Century fresco representing Hippocrates and Claudius Galen, as teacher and student1, can be admired in the crypt of Anagni‘s Cathedral (Via Papa Leone XIII). On a pillar beside the fresco the theory of the four elements is shown, while in the vault of the chapel the microcosm and the macrocosm are depicted, with obvious references to the humoral theory of Hippocrates.

Hippocrates and Galen's fresco, Anagni's Cathedral - 01.JPG
Hippocrates and Galen's fresco, Anagni's Cathedral - 02.JPG
Hippocrates and Galen's fresco, Anagni's Cathedral - 03.JPG
Hippocrates and Galen's fresco, Anagni's Cathedral - 04.JPG
Hippocrates and Galen's fresco, Anagni's Cathedral - 05.JPG
Hippocrates and Galen's fresco, Anagni's Cathedral - 06.JPG
Hippocrates and Galen's fresco, Anagni's Cathedral - 07.JPG
  • Photos by Luca Borghi @ (August 2015), with permission of the Chapter of Anagni’s Cathedral

Bibliography

– Jouanna, Jacques, Hippocrates as Galen’s teacher, Stud Anc Med, 2010, vol. 35, pp. 1-21
– Ravasi, Gianfranco, La Cripta della Cattedrale di Anagni. Una piccola Sistina sotterranea, Cattedrale di Anagni, Anagni 2008, pp. 16-19

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