Colour enhanced portrait of Aulus Cornelius Celsus (25 BC-50 AD) a Roman encyclopaedist, known for his extant medical work, De Medicina. De Medicina (On Medicine) is the only surviving section of a much larger encyclopaedia, a primary source on diet, pharmacy, surgery and related fields concerning medical knowledge in the Roman world. On Medicine is divided into eight books: 1) the History of Medicine, 2) General Pathology, 3 ) Specific Diseases, 4) Parts of the Body, 5) and 6) Pharmacology, 7) Surgery and 8) Orthopaedics. The lost portions of his encyclopaedia likely included volumes on agriculture, law, rhetoric, and military arts. |