Aulus Cornelius Celsus – a famous Roman encyclopedist

Abstract

The ancient Romans did not work as physicians, but they used the services of foreign doctors, mostly Greeks. During the times of the Roman Empire there emerged a class of well-educated patricians, who possessed knowledge in various field. Aulus Cornelius Celsus, the author of a voluminous work, was one of such patricians. Of the numerous volumes of his encyclopaedia only a fragment on medicine in extant. The piece which remains intact is a collection of medical knowledge of those times.

Keywords

• aulus cornelius celsus
• roman encyclopaedist
• medicine in antiquity