University of Virginia Historical Collections at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library

Alexander, of Tralles (ca. 525-ca. 605)

Alexandri Tralliani Medici libri duodecim. Lugduni: Apud An[tonium de Harsy, 1575].

Alexander of Tralles, …Medici libri duodecim. Note the light color at the bottom of the page where it might have been repaired at some time.

Alexander of Tralles, …Medici libri duodecim. Across the top a printer’s ornament serves as a decorative header. The historiated initial “Q” includes a bird. Under the text see a brown stain. It shows up on several pages and appears to be the remains of a spilled liquid, perhaps ink.

Although Alexander of Tralles had scant knowledge of anatomy and physiology, he was a careful observer of clinical situations. He wrote remarkably accurate descriptions of chest conditions, including pleurisy. Alexander continued to be read in the East and West, even though Byzantine medicine began to decline within a century of his death.

next author: Paulus, Aegineta (625?-690?).