Galen in translation: canonicity and race (before 1187)

This chapter introduces a passage from the medical writings of Galen of Pergamon (d. ca. 216 CE), which was translated from Greek into Arabic and Latin between the ninth and twelfth centuries. In the passage, Galen draws a comparison between the optimally complexioned human body and a sculpture by the ancient Greek artist, Polykleitos. In doing so, he establishes a relationship between concepts of beauty, race, and artistic canonicity, which anticipate later European theories of art. By tracking some of the conceptual shifts that accompanied the text’s passage between Greek, Arabic, and Latin, the chapter also highlights the role that Arabic discourses of art played in shaping European understandings of ancient Greek sculpture.