Galen

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Galen, in the textual form Galïeno, is mentioned by Dante in Inferno IV, 143 among the illustrious spirits gathered in Limbo: the verse places him alongside Hippocrates and Avicenna. The authorized note to Canto IV identifies him with Claudius Galen of Pergamon, a physician of the 2nd century AD, and emphasizes his fame as the author of medical texts that were well known and revered in the Middle Ages, also recalling that Dante cites him in the Convivio (I, VIII 5). The tercet 142-144 of Canto IV brings together, according to the note, the scientists, mathematicians and physicians of antiquity and the Arab age, including alongside Galen Euclid of Alexandria, Ptolemy, Hippocrates of Cos, Avicenna and Averroes. Galen is thus presented as a representative of the ancient medical tradition received among the wise men of Limbo.