Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Faculty of Language, Literature and Humanities - Alexander von Humboldt Professorship

Project Description

Herophilus and Erasistratus between tradition and innovation: The case of respiration

My project wants to offer a fresh perspective over the historical meaning of the innovations brought about by Herophilus of Chalcedon and Erasistratus of Ceos with a focus on one single process: respiration. Never having been problematized the diversity emerging from their two accounts of respiration, I believe it particularly fruitful to regard Herophilus’ and Erasistratus’ explanations of it as paradigmatic of their epistemology, possibly shedding some light on the extent of the so‐called “anatomical revolution”.