s to have had a medical practice in Rome during the reigns of Trajan (AD 97-117) and Hadrian, who died in AD 138 (Raju). Soranus and Galen were both of Greek origin; Raju cites the Roman belief that medicine was a low art compared to poetry, dancing, and other arts enjoyed by the aristocracy. Raju continues:
Despite an ambivalent attitude of the Romans towards Greek doctors, great men of Greek heritage also had their heyday before Soranus. Discorides, the originator of Materia Medica, was in the service of Nero (54-68 A.D.); Rufus (37-68 A.D.) of Ephesus, a surgeon and anatomist, who first described the optic chiasma and oviduct of sheep, was Soranus's contemporary (Raju).
Being eclipsed by general history did not prevent Soranus from significantly influencing Western medical practice. That is because of his masterwork, variously titled Gynecology (Gynaikeia in Greek) or On Midwifery and the Diseases of Women. The text was in continuous use as a standard medical reference work for some 1,500 years. Indeed, correlates have been found between some of So
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