ABSTRACT
GALEN Galen of Pergamum (129-c. 215) was an eminent philosopher/ physician, born in what is today Turkey of Greek parentage. He took as his primary subject the nature of the human body.
Galen is recognized as an important figure in the history of semiotics for his insistence that semiotike (the observation and classification of past and present signs for the purpose of revealing the underlying nature of a patient’s condition and in order to prognosticate his/her future) was critical to effective medical practice. He has been referred to as the ‘founder of clinical semiotics’ and the ‘first “scientific” semiotician’ (Sebeok 2001a: 52).
