Charmis of Marseilles (fl. 1st century AD) was a famous Roman physician. A native of Massilia, he came to Rome during the reign of Nero.[1] Pliny counted him as a "completely Greek physician".[2] He achieved great fame and fortune in Rome by introducing the practice of cold bathing, which supplanted the astrological medicine of his fellow townsman Crinas.[3] Crinas had in turn supplanted Thessalus, who followed the principles of the Methodic school of medicine.[3]
It is said that he charged a client two hundred thousand sesterces for his services.[1][4] He also practiced outside Rome, probably in his native Massilia.[2] After some dealings with a "sick man from the provinces" he was fined a million sesterces by Claudius, who also exiled him.[2][4]
Nonetheless, according to Pliny, he quickly regained a fortune while in exile in Gaul and after his return in Rome.[2] It is thought that Charmis of Marseilles and the "Charmes" mentioned in Galen's On Antidoctes are the same person.[1][2] Thus, thanks to Galen we know that he also treated women. An antidote used by him had several benefits, including effectiveness for menstrual problems, as well as the pain-free expulsion of the embryo.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Charmis". Perseus Project. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f Hemelrijk, Emily; Woolf, Greg (18 July 2013). Women and the Roman City in the Latin West. Brill. p. 276. ISBN 9789004255951. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
- ^ a b Conrad, Lawrence I.; Neve, Michael; Nutton, Vivian; Porter, Roy; Wear, Andrew (1995). The Western Medical Tradition 800 BC to AD 1800. Cambridge University Press. p. 54. ISBN 9780521475648. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
- ^ a b Prioreschi ·, Plinio (1998). Roman Medicine (Mellen history of medicine). Horatius Press. p. 602. ISBN 9781888456035. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
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