museum review
The Empire’s Physician: Galen and
American Journal of Archaeology
Volume 126, Number 1
January 2022
Pages 139–50
DOI: 10.1086/718182
www.ajaonline.org
Medicine in the Roman World and
Reflections on Digital Exhibitions
Jacquelyn H. Clements
Open Access
Supplementary Online Figures
The Empire’s Physician: Prosperity, Plague, and Healing in Ancient Rome,
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, New York,
opened online 26 February 2021, curated by Claire Bubb, Clare Fitzgerald,
and Alexander Jones. Available at https://exploregalen.com.
Introducing Galen
The Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) at New York
University is known for its record of erudite exhibitions, presenting such
rich visual feasts as A Wonder to Behold: Craftsmanship and the Creation of
Babylon’s Ishtar Gate and Hymn to Apollo: The Ancient World and the Bal-
lets Russes.1 With The Empire’s Physician: Prosperity, Plague, and Healing in
Ancient Rome, ISAW delves into new territory, exploring the textual and
visual history of medicine in the Roman world through an online format.2
Curated by Claire Bubb, Clare Fitzgerald, and Alexander Jones, this digi-
tal exhibition provides an overview of the world in which the physician
Galen (129–ca. 216 CE) lived and practiced medicine. Its emphasis on Ga-
len’s writings, which documented events such as the Antonine Plague and the
Great Fire of Rome, lend it a contemporary angle that will be recognizable
to anyone who has charted the unknown “new normal” of the COVID-19
pandemic over the last nearly two years.
The Empire’s Physician opened online on 26 February 2021 and is intended
to be available online indefinitely. It can be reached from ISAW’s home page
by clicking “Exhibitions”; however, once “inside” the exhibition, there is no
clear way to return to ISAW’s homepage, where associated programming
and events can be found. An introductory video sets the tone as a first point
of contact with the exhibition (fig. 1). In just under two minutes, a brief text
alternates between playful, animated images of woodcut figures excised from
1
Information about past exhibitions can be accessed at https://isaw.nyu.edu/ex
hibitions/past-exhibitions. Supplementary figures can be found online (https://doi.org
/10.1086/718182). I am grateful to Josephine Shaya for inviting me to contribute this re-
view; I also thank Svetla Slaveva-Griffin, Carol Lawton, and Judith Barr for their insightful
thoughts and assistance with resources, and Debby Sneed for advice on accessibility mea-
sures. All images from the exhibition are screenshots reproduced courtesy Institute for the
Study of the Ancient World, New York University.
2
www.exploregalen.com. The exhibition can also be accessed from ISAW’s “Exhibi-
tions” tab, https://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions.
139
140 Jacquelyn H. clements [aja 126

fig. 1. Screenshot from the introductory video for The Empire’s Physician: Prosperity, Plague, and Heal-
ing in Ancient Rome.

the richly illustrated title page of a 16th-century Latin

volume of Galen’s works (fig. 2).3 The text and ani-
mated cutout figures emphasize Galen’s broad reach
throughout the Roman empire and how his “expan-
sive legacy touches every area of medical practice,”
ultimately concluding that “the history of modern
medicine begins in the ancient world with Galen.”
This defines the argument of The Empire’s Physician:
that Galen paved the path for our contemporary un-
derstanding of medicine by treating a wide variety of
people from all walks of life, and his influence became
a grounding point for the development of health and
healing in the next millennium and beyond.
With his writings situated at the intersections of
philosophy and science, and heavily influenced by
religion, Galen was very much a product of the inter-
connected Roman world in which he lived.4 ISAW’s
digital exhibition reaches far beyond a singular his-
tory of Galen, however, in a broad attempt to cover

3
Title page of Galeni sexta classis (Venice 1550); the full page
is illustrated in the section “Glory & Catastrophe,” subsection
“Imagining Galen.” The volume can be viewed in detail and in
full at Munich’s Digitale Bibliothek (www.digitale-sammlungen.
de/en/view/bsb10623159). The history of Latin editions as a
mode of providing wide access to Galen’s writings is discussed fig. 2. Title page of Galeni sexta classis. Venice, 1550, 2nd edi-
by Fortuna 2012. tion. Birmingham, Ala., Reynolds-Finley Historical Library
4
This “medical philosophy” that marked a turning point in (courtesy Reynolds-Finley Historical Library, University of
the history of medicine, ascribed to Galen, is at the heart of what Alabama at Birmingham).
Tempkin (1973) referred to as “Galenism,” part of a vast litera-
ture that reflects his enduring legacy.
2022] The Empire’s Physician: Galen and Medicine in the Roman World
seemingly every possible facet of ancient medicine,
with numerous underresearched (and, on occasion,
acquired after 1973 and unprovenanced) artifacts used
as illustrations.5 As both a response to and a product
of the pandemic shutdowns that began in 2020, how-
ever, the ambitious scope of The Empire’s Physician
reckons with a future that witnesses soaring access to
digital content. Consequently, it is situated at a criti-
cal moment for considering the role of digital exhibi-
tions in opening new avenues for the exploration of the
ancient world in experimental and educational ways.
Chapters of Galen’s Life and Work
The home page of The Empire’s Physician is largely
devoted to eight colored placards on various topics that
provide insight into Galen’s life and, broadly speaking,
medicine in the Roman world (fig. 3). Each placard,
with title and subtitle, functions as an individual “chap-
ter” or gallery space that visitors enter one at a time.
Each chapter has four or five subsections (fig. 4, across
the top). Several of these have more pages nested
within, providing additional insight into observations
on certain focal points. In total, the eight chapters
include 34 subsections and 15 additional pages that
focus on topics of Roman history and culture related
to medicine as it was practiced in Galen’s time.
Far beyond “prosperity, plague, and healing in an-
cient Rome,” the exhibition endeavors to paint a holis-
tic picture of the state of ancient science and medicine
in the Roman empire and how it was experienced by a
multitude of classes, genders, ages, and backgrounds.
The first chapter, “Dream Child: Religion & Upbring-
ing,” centers Galen’s biography with a vivid dream had
by his father that dictated his son’s education should
include studying medicine together with philosophy.
Related subsections discuss the interplay between
ancient religion and healing as formative for Galen’s
education, with a particular emphasis on Asclepius
5
Examples of these include a mosaic fragment with a pea-
cock, Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum 75.AH.121 (acq. 1975
[unprov.]; qual. pub. Frel 1976); a Roman copy of the Dory-
phoros, Minneapolis Institute of Art 86.6 (acq. 1986 [unprov.];
qual. pub. Meyer 1995, but argued by Pappalardo [2002, with
newspaper sources] to be illegally taken from Stabiae in the late
1970s and displayed in Munich in 1980); and an amulet with
Poseidon, Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum 78.AN.322.3 (acq.
1978 [unprov.]; qual. pub. Spier 1992). These objects were ac-
quired after 30 December 1973; there is no evidence of their
documentation before that date or their legal export from their
country of origin.
141
and his sanctuaries at Pergamon and elsewhere. In the
next chapter, “Becoming Galen: Medical Education,”
the history of clinical training during Galen’s time is
elaborated, including perspectives of his predecessors,
such as Hippocrates, and how they shaped Galen’s
medical instruction.
“Spectacles of the Body: Science & Violence” re-
veals the world of gladiators and Galen’s treatment of
their injuries, while also considering the taboo aspects
of dissections and vivisections. In the chapter “The
Healer’s Arsenal: Treatments,” an overview of inter-
ventions by ancient physicians is provided through
discussions of dietetics, pharmacology, and surgery.
Next, “A Well-Balanced Life: Avoiding Illness,” pres-
ents ancient approaches to maintaining health through
individual regimens, diet, activities, and in the inevi-
table process of aging.
“Choices, Charms & Charlatans: The Medical Mar-
ketplace,” outlines both traditional approaches to heal-
ing and the multifaceted potential of magic, with an
additional section highlighting amulets, long thought
to carry immense physical powers when worn or car-
ried on the body. The penultimate chapter, “Wander-
ing Wombs: The World of Women” inspects Galen’s
interactions with women, with “only as much contex-
tual social information about his female patients as is
necessary to his stories about them,” which is admit-
tedly sparse. Instead, the chapter includes a subsection
on women healers, who were the primary caregivers
for other women. Another subsection analyzes the
practice of midwives through the writings of Pliny the
Elder and Soranus of Ephesus.
The final chapter, “Glory & Catastrophe: The
Plagues of Rome,” may be the most pertinent chapter
for our times, contextualizing Rome within a chrono-
logical framework leading from the Pax Romana to
the Antonine Plague and a contemporary devastating
fire. Galen’s emotional response to these tribulations,
known best through his treatise Avoidance of Grief, is
described in depth here. This section also includes an
exploration of Galen’s legacy, manifest in the trans-
mission of his texts through time and his portrayal in
subsequent centuries. The curators are careful to em-
phasize how Galen is known best through his writings
rather than his image or likeness.
Together, the eight chapters that constitute The Em-
pire’s Physician are neither connected nor circuitous;
they exist largely independent of one another and can
be read in succession or any variation. The organization
is such that each entry point to the various subsec-
142 Jacquelyn H. clements [aja 126

fig. 3. Landing page for The Empire’s Physician: Prosperity, Plague, and Healing in Ancient Rome.

fig. 4. Example of the chapter page for “Glory & Catastrophe: The Plagues of Rome,” in The
Empire’s Physician.

tions entails at least three clicks: from home page to
main chapter, then to subsections, enticing the visitor
to make certain choices based on each topic. With no
central search option, navigation system, or table of
contents, however, the exhibition is reliant on viewers’
own memories to recall on which page a certain fact,
anecdote, or image was seen. Quotations from Galen’s
writings are extensive and marked in bolded red, yet
they largely lack primary source citations. Ultimately,
this digital exhibition is constructed with a simple de-
sign in mind, most likely for optimal viewing on a vari-
ety of devices, but these basic design weaknesses make
it challenging to access the complexities and depth of
Galen’s writings as well as the images and to see the in-
terrelatedness between the parts and the whole.
In returning to the home page, a brief bibliogra-
phy is a natural way to “conclude” a virtual visit and
provides an avenue to further learning. It lists well-
regarded scholarship on Galen, such as Susan Mattern’s
biography The Prince of Medicine, as well as a recent
2022] The Empire’s Physician: Galen and Medicine in the Roman World
study by Vivian Nutton.6 As open access resources
become increasingly common, this “Further Reading”
section could be augmented with other websites and
sources related to Galen and the history of medicine,
such as the Corpus Medicorum Graecorum/Latinorum,7
the “History of Medicine” on the National Library of
Medicine website,8 or the History of Medicine Topo-
graphical Database (Himetop),9 to provide access to
Galen’s texts and an understanding of his relevance in
the modern world. I offer these suggestions as a way of
recognizing online resources as opportunities to forge
further, deeper connections between topics, but The
Empire’s Physician should be lauded for being perhaps
the first exhibition of its kind in English to focus on a
singular figure from ancient medicine.10
There is also a particularly welcome element that
sets this exhibition apart from many physical exhi-
bitions: the home page includes a link to Additional
Project Credits, with recognition of the financial sup-
port from foundations and a private donor, as well as
consultants from the Deutsches Archäologisches In-
stitut and the Österreichisches Archäologisches Insti-
tut. This page, however, also lists the contributions of
those involved in the project, from curators to content
writers and editors, video producers, and an intern.
Often, these behind the scenes roles are uncredited,
but the virtual environment allows for proper recog-
nition of the multitude of contributions that go into
creating any kind of exhibition or interpretive space.
It is refreshing to see acknowledgement of the variety
of critical roles that help bring an exhibition to life.
6
Mattern 2013; Nutton 2020.
7
http://cmg.bbaw.de/; this site includes numerous online
reference publications, including many from Galen’s corpus,
as well as information about a long-term project, Galen of Per-
gamum: The Transmission, Interpretation, and Completion of
Ancient Medicine.
8
www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/index.html.
9
http://himetop.wikidot.com/. Links to open access books
would also be a welcome addition; for example, a sourcebook
such as McElduff (2020) could serve as a thought-provoking
pendant to The Empire’s Physician’s analysis of the gladiatorial
games and Galen’s role in them.
10
A 2018 exhibition at the Musée royal de Mariemont in Bel-
gium was also devoted to Galen (Au temps de Galien, un méde-
cin grec dans l’empire romain). The exhibition and accompanying
catalogue (Verbank-Piérard et al. 2018) framed the physician’s
work within Roman society in the second century CE and
looked at his lasting influence, similar to The Empire’s Physician.
143
A World of Texts and Images
The Empire’s Physician is richly illustrated, with far
more objects “on display” than in many physical ex-
hibitions; I counted approximately 250 images and
maps scattered through 49 individual pages, but with
no central checklist; on occasion, images are dupli-
cated. A vast array of mosaics, frescoes, manuscripts,
portraits, and more are illustrated, spanning several
millennia. From Greece’s Classical period through the
20th century, they reflect locations and proveniences
throughout the Mediterranean and beyond. Modern
replicas are also included, such as a copy of an arti-
ficial leg known as the “Capua leg” as well as several
examples of bronze medical instruments.11 Many of
these objects have their own intriguing histories; for
example, replicas of the surgical instruments from
the Casa del Chirurgo at Pompeii, several of which
are illustrated (fig. 5), were donated to the Univer-
sity of Virginia School of Medicine by the U.S. 8th
Evacuation Hospital, who were on duty in Italy dur-
ing World War II.12 This history is not covered in the
exhibition but is worthy of study in its own right, given
the popularity of reproductions from Pompeii and
fig. 5. Modern bronze replica of a vaginal speculum from the
Casa del Chirurgo at Pompeii, original dated before 79 CE
(courtesy Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, University
of Virginia).
11
The bronze Capua leg: London, Science Museum
A646752, ca. 1910; the original, dated to ca. 300 BCE, was ex-
cavated from a grave in Capua, Italy, and was destroyed in World
War II. See Draycott 2019, 7–8.
12
My thanks to Daniel Cavanaugh at the University of Vir­
ginia, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, as well as Ken-
neth Lapatin, for assisting my research into the history of
these reproductions. In 2007, Historical Collections at UVA
launched a digital exhibition of the group of instruments: An-
cient Roman Surgical Instruments (http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.
edu/romansurgical/).
144 Jacquelyn H. clements
Herculaneum that were crafted at bronze foundries
located around the Bay of Naples during the 19th and
20th centuries for tourists and connoisseurs.13
The Empire’s Physician often groups objects from anti­
quity and later eras with maps and contemporary pho-
to­graphs of archaeological sites. The inclusion of
photographs of places where Galen and other physi-
cians lived and visited gives a sense of where medi-
cine, somatic care, and healing were practiced and
experienced, from various sanctuaries of Asclepius to
the Baths of Diocletian. Contextualizing the locations
that were important to Galen’s upbringing and career,
including Pergamon, Smyrna, Corinth, and Rome,
along with what is known from archaeology about
medical practice in action, are among the strengths of
the exhibition.14 Furthermore, such breadth of image
choices would be difficult in a traditional, in-person
exhibition; the loan agreements alone would be bur-
densome. Associated hurdles that often arise when
procuring image rights and gaining permissions to use
them online long-term have been alleviated by sourc-
ing stock images from vendors such as Art Resource
and Alamy, as well as using images from the public do-
main and museums with strong open access policies.15
It is surprising, then, that such diverse visual imag-
ery is discussed so little in the text of the exhibition
itself. Rather than labels, each image has basic “tomb-
stone” information providing facts such as culture,
date, medium, and a credit line, but how the images
relate to Galen and ancient medicine is often unclear.16
Many images lack context and appear to simply accom-
pany the lengthy texts. In the “Dream Child” chapter,
for example, a striking Roman fresco of several pieces
13
For discussion of the reproduction of “souvenirs of anti­
quity” by bronze foundries such as Fonderia Chiurazzi, see Ko-
vacs 2013; Bliquez 2014 provides a comprehensive study of
surgical instruments in general.
14
There is much to be gleaned from the archaeological record
regarding ancient medicine; see Baker 2013.
15
Many of these are from Wikimedia and designated with
Creative Commons licenses; for an overview of Creative Com-
mons licensing and the various “layers” of public copyright,
see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/. ISAW’s own “An-
cient World Image Bank” (https://isaw.nyu.edu/publications
/research-reference/awib) is not utilized for this exhibition, but
it is an excellent source for free digital images related to the an-
cient world.
16
The tombstone information is also inconsistent in provid-
ing dimensions of objects, which would be helpful in indicating
scale in an online environment.
[aja 126
of fresh fruit and a clear vessel is used to illustrate the
subsection “Asclepius,” where Galen describes his suf-
fering from abdominal pain (online fig. 1).17 He self-
diagnoses as having eaten too much fresh fruit, and a
subsequent visit from Asclepius in a dream brings a set
of suggestions and much relief. The fresco, one section
of a series of still life compositions, leaves the viewer
unclear whether these peaches, as they are often identi-
fied, were the type of fruit that upset Galen’s stomach,
or are simply illustrative of the plethora of food variet-
ies in the Roman empire.18
Such surface analysis of objects persists throughout
the exhibition: a Roman copy of the Doryphoros is
inserted into a section on women, presumably to give
a sense of the “ideal (male) body” that Galen wrote
about in his case studies.19 A fifth- or fourth-century
BCE Greek votive relief of Asclepius and Hygeia heal-
ing a sleeping patient, illustrated on two separate web
pages, feels temporally incongruent given its date and
findspot in the Piraeus.20 Six striking folios from the
sixth-century CE manuscript of Dioscurides in Vienna,
De materia medica, appear in several subsections, but
their relationship, and the complex textual tradition
of Dioscurides found in Arabic translations (of which
there are two folios displayed, one that is in New York
and one in Leiden), are not deliberated as a whole.21
17
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli 8645, from the
Casa dei Cervi at Herculaneum (IV.21); excav. either by the
Bourbons, 1748–49, or by Maiuri, 1930–31 (not noted in the
exhibition’s caption). Online figures available at https://doi.org
/10.1086/718182.
18
Peaches such as these are thought to be a fruit not native to
the Roman world, imported in the first century CE; see Sadori
et al. 2009, 46, 56; O’Connell 2018, 28.
19
See infra n. 5 for the purported provenance of the Minne-
apolis Doryphoros.
20
Piraeus Archaeological Museum 405, which most likely
comes from the Asklepieion in the Piraeus, excav. Iakovos Dra-
gatsis, late 19th century.
21
The Vienna Dioscurides, also known as the Juliana Anicia
Codex (JAC) or Codex Vindobonensis, came into the collection
of the Imperial Library in Vienna (now the Österreichische Na-
tionalbibliothek) in 1592. See Janick and Stolarczyk 2012, 11.
The New York folio of Dioscurides, translated by ‘Abdullah ibn
al-Fadl in 1224 CE, is Metropolitan Museum of Art 13.152.6
(acq. 1913). The Leiden Dioscurides, translated by Abu ‘Ab-
dallah al-Natili in 1083 CE, is Universitaire Bibliotheken
Leiden Or. 289 (acq. 1665, bequest of Levinus Warner); a ful-
ly digitized copy can be found at http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1
/item:1578266. See Sadek 1983 for the Arabic tradition of
Dioscurides.
2022] The Empire’s Physician: Galen and Medicine in the Roman World
Were these objects and others discussed more fully,
it would make the exhibition more accessible for the
general viewer as well as for students of antiquity. Con-
sidering more holistically the critical role that material
culture plays in understanding ancient science and
medicine, an area that has been rather understudied,
would enhance this visually opulent exhibition even
further.
In addition, none of the images in The Empire’s Phy-
sician, apart from two maps, can be enlarged, rendering
them of limited use for exploring details and obscuring
critical information that would create a more in-depth
viewing experience. This is particularly true in the case
of manuscripts, of which there are numerous excellent
examples in the exhibition. Employing the Interna-
tional Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF), for
example, would allow for high-resolution viewing and
reading, rendering objects more detailed;22 an alterna-
tive approach could link images to institutional collec-
tions pages that already employ IIIF. A colorful chart
of urine analysis from Ulrich Pinder’s 1506 treatise
Epiphanie medicorum, for example, is illustrated in
the chapter “The Healer’s Arsenal,” in the subsection
“Therapeutics.” Housed today in the Folger Shake-
speare Library, it could be linked to the library’s col-
lections page to provide access to a high-quality image
through the viewer Mirador, permitting visitors to ex-
amine the manuscript and its written text and image
in much greater detail, along with other pertinent in-
formation (online fig. 2).23
Several objects that are part of The Empire’s Physician
also reflect questionable provenience and provenance,
which should be an important area of consideration
any time an image is used in research, teaching, or dis-
play. Two reliefs from the Wellcome Collection in Lon-
don of a midwife attending a birth, for example, lack
secure contextual information.24 Their authenticity has
22
International Image Interoperability Framework, https://
iiif.io/.
23
https://collections.folger.edu/detail/Epiphanie-medico
rum/ca54cd9a-e905-45f2-9154-0ca2116e7c55.
24
London, Wellcome Collection M003964 (illustrated in
the “Becoming Galen: Medical Education” chapter, subsection
“Bedside Showdowns”; the inv. no. is not included with the il-
lustration) and M0003964EB (illustrated in the “Wandering
Wombs: The World of Women” chapter, subsection “Midwife-
ry”). Correspondence with Wellcome Collection Information
Librarian Nicola Cook in August 2021 indicated that these
numbers are glass plate negatives from photographs taken be-
ginning in the 1920s, and it is uncertain whether these objects
145
been called into question on multiple occasions, given
their lack of provenience and undocumented collect-
ing history.25 A focused discussion of the dual reliefs
of the midwife Scribonia Attice and her husband, the
doctor Marcus Ulpius Amerimnus, from Tomb 100 of
Ostia’s Isola Sacra (dated to ca. 140 CE), would have
been a stronger option, since they can be traced to a se-
cure archaeological context (online fig. 3).26 Moreover,
contextualizing these reliefs, along with their associ-
ated inscription, would constitute an informed analysis
of skilled medical labor, gender, and commemoration
in the Roman world.27
Likewise, a Severan portrait bust of a woman in the
chapter “Wandering Wombs: The World of Women,”
subsection “Veiled Problems,” is described as “said to
be from the Greek islands” (online fig. 4). The auction
catalogue of its sale in Germany in 1930 does not note
any prior history, nor does its first publication on ar-
rival at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.28 Although
roughly contemporary with Galen’s time period in the
second century CE (as are many images in the exhibi-
tion), the lack of information about this sculpture’s
origins leaves lingering questions regarding its use,
meaning, and original context. The ubiquitous phrase
“said to be” for object provenances can often point to
a contrived or exaggerated connection with valuation
and must be considered within the full “palimpsest” of
an object’s history, along with archival sources, conser-
vation studies, and comparanda.29
Overall, the provenience and provenance of many
objects in The Empire’s Physician is not considered
fully, a crucial missing component given the wide
are, or were ever, part of the Wellcome Collection. Their current
location is unknown.
25
See Perkins 2012, 178–80; Carroll 2018, 59.
26
Ostia, Museo Archeologico Ostiense 5203 and 5204; ex-
cav. between 1925 and 1938 by Guido Calza. Inscription: Thy-
lander 1952, A 222. The relief of Scribonia Attice is illustrated in
the chapter “Wandering Wombs,” subsection “Midwifery.”
27
See the recent discussion by Landskron (2020, 188–91).
28
Helbing 1930, cat. no. 28 (pl. XIII); Alexander 1931. New
York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 30.11.11 (acq. 1930). The
collections page for this object can be found at www.metmu
seum.org/art/collection/search/253055; the provenance line
“said to have been found in the Greek islands” was deemed to
be erroneous and was updated after correspondence between
this author and Associate Curator Sarah Lepinski in May 2021.
29
Barr 2019, 122–23, provides a nuanced discussion of prov-
enance histories as “palimpsests” of intersecting and overlaid
information.
146 Jacquelyn H. clements
expanse of time and geography that is covered in the
exhibition. Normally, the provenance of incoming
loans for a physical exhibition would be reviewed
from both an ethical standpoint and possible legal
implications that might arise for objects with ques-
tionable status.30 In an online environment, however,
such concerns are lessened, and copyright of digital
derivatives takes precedence over indemnity of physi-
cal objects. But these examples illustrate the neces-
sity of “grounding” objects in displays of all kinds
within their archaeological findspots as well as their
complex collecting histories in order to understand
their biographies—and subsequent meanings—more
fully.31
The extensive use of images in The Empire’s Physi-
cian illustrates the multifaceted nature of medicine in
the Roman world, but it also effectively causes the ex-
hibition to suffer under the weight of this superabun-
dance. With the concept of “slow looking” increasingly
popular in the museum world, less is often more, and
the sustained and in-depth study of a small group of
objects can elucidate larger, more complex topics.32
In The Empire’s Physician, artifacts frequently become
generalized illustrations that are secondary to the text,
largely devoid of context and, by extension, of mean-
ing, often leaving the viewer wondering why they are
included. Pared down yet scalable content—such as
linking to the collections page for each image when
possible so that viewers could learn more about spe-
cific objects, or even interweaving discussion of them
and their complex histories, interpretations, and mean-
ing into the exhibition itself—would make for a more
evocative learning experience.
Multimedia and Public Programming
Exhibitions at ISAW have always catered to a schol-
arly audience, and the density of text in The Empire’s
Physician suggests that it is meant for such viewers.
The inclusion of several games and quizzes, however,
30
The American Alliance of Museums and the Association of
Art Museum Directors both encourage a review of provenance
information as part of loan agreements; see Daly 2010.
31
Here I borrow the term employed by Marlowe 2013, who
uses “grounded” and “ungrounded” to describe objects with
known findspots or lack thereof.
32
For example, “Slow Art Day” (see, e.g., www.slowartday.
com/), in which multiple museums around the world partici-
pate annually.
[aja 126
also demonstrates ISAW’s desire to reach more public
audiences. “Asclepius’ Dream Game,” in the chapter
“Dream Child: Religion & Upbringing,” subsection
“A Temple of Healing,” posits a single multiple-choice
question that interprets a dream, while “Hot or Not?,”
in a subsection about Hippocrates in the “Becoming
Galen” chapter, is a quiz with a series of questions
(with accompanying images) that determine one’s
constitution (online fig. 5). “Patient Portal,” a subsec-
tion of “The Healer’s Arsenal,” encourages visitors to
click through multiple responses to illness in order to
“prescribe” a doctor or other healer. Answers to these
quizzes are not fully explicated or particularly infor-
mational (nor, again, are the images), but they are fun
to work through and may entice viewers to read the
accompanying texts more carefully.
Several short videos have been added in the months
since the exhibition opened, lending a modern per-
spective to the ancient material. The first of these was
by Eleanna Varangis, under the subsection on aging
in the chapter “A Well-Balanced Life.” A cognitive
neuro­scientist at Columbia University’s Taub Institute,
Varangis discusses how time contributes to changes
in cognitive function, and that while modern tools
such as the MRI machine help with diagnoses, Ga-
len’s prescription of gentle exercise for the aging brain
still holds true today. The videos include captions; in
fact, audio has been added to all exhibition pages, so
both text and videos are easily accessible in a variety
of ways. Inclusion of these videos adds contemporary
viewpoints from medical professionals, connecting
the relevance of Galen to today and illustrating his
long-standing influence even with vast advances in
medicine.
ISAW also developed a robust schedule of public
programming over Zoom to accompany The Empire’s
Physician. The first two lectures, presented by curators
Claire Bubb and Clare Fitzgerald, introduced view-
ers to “Science and Spectacle in Galen’s Rome” and
a slideshow tour of the exhibition, respectively. More
programming was announced in early April 2021, in-
cluding a lecture by Felix Pirson on Galen’s Pergamon,
another by Rebecca Fleming on Galen’s expositions
on female anatomy and physiology, and a virtual
workshop on botanical drawing by illustrator Wendy
Hollender. It is hoped that recordings will be posted
online as well as incorporated into the exhibition itself;
I found Pirson’s lecture to be an engaging and timely
study of recent archaeological investigations in and
2022] The Empire’s Physician: Galen and Medicine in the Roman World
around Pergamon that provided an illuminating sense
of the metropolis during Galen’s lifetime.33 ISAW has
also included several highlights of objects from the
exhibition on social media, such as a series of “Object
History” and “#amuletmonday” posts on Instagram;
these both advertise the exhibition and focus on indi-
vidual objects, expanding their outreach approach to
the abundantly illustrated platform.
The Present and Future of Digital
Exhibitions
Virtual exhibitions are not new, but there has been
a considerable increase in their quantity since the start
of the COVID-19 pandemic, largely due to museums’
commitment to reaching their audiences despite the
many closures faced across the United States and the
world.34 They offer several environmentally sound
alternatives to the in-person experience that also alle-
viate the pressures and risks associated with the lend-
ing and transport of physical objects.35 In addition, by
shifting the experience online, museums are freed to
present material in a variety of ways. Some opt to create
a walk-through of their galleries using video or virtual
reality environments, others create online galleries that
mimic physical spaces, and a third category utilizes dig-
ital platforms to reimagine what an exhibition might
look like.36 In these born-digital spaces, curators have
flexible, adaptable means to home in on complex ob-
jects, as is done with the J. Paul Getty Museum’s Book
of the Dead;37 to explicate diverse geographies, as in
33
A similar discussion can be found in Singer 2019.
34
In March 2020, the Museum Computer Network posted a
list of virtual museum resources, Longo 2020; Longo notes that
it will be continually updated, but it is surely not exhaustive. See
also Hoffman 2020; Clerkin and Taylor 2021.
35
The website Ecology of an Exhibition (https://artmuseum.
princeton.edu/ecologyofanexhibition/start/), which accom-
panied the exhibition Nature’s Nation: American Art and Envi-
ronment (Princeton University Art Museum, October 2018–
January 2019), considers the environmental impact of exhibi-
tions from a variety of perspectives and how they influence criti-
cal planning decisions when creating a (physical) exhibition.
36
The Uffizi Gallery, for example, recently launched the ex-
hibition Imperatrici, Matrone, Liberte in a virtual environment
(www.uffizi.it/mostre-virtuali/imperatrici-matrone-liberte).
Since most of the labels in this 3D-photographed exhibition are
challenging to read in the virtual environment, many objects
offer a link to the collections page for further detail about indi-
vidual objects.
37
The Getty Book of the Dead, https://g.co/arts/Ye66bkp5
QBZYGHEf9.
147
the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art’s The
Sogdians: Influencers on the Silk Roads;38 and even to call
attention to archaeological sites in flux and at risk, such
as the Getty Research Institute’s Return to Palmyra, a
bilingual platform for understanding the UNESCO
heritage site’s intricate, lengthy history.39
Several platforms currently exist for building digi-
tal exhibitions; institutions can, for example, partner
with Google Arts & Culture to produce sites using
aggregated content.40 In addition, open-source plat-
forms are generally user-friendly and do not require
extensive programming experience for basic displays
of collections and texts. The long-standing Omeka, for
example, developed since 2008 by the Roy Rosenzweig
Center for History and New Media at George Mason
University, is an open-source content management
system that allows individuals and institutions to cu-
rate digital collections.41 Omeka also includes a suite of
tools called Neatline in which interpretive content can
be used to visualize spatial complexities.42 Intuitively
designed, with many tutorials and examples available,
these platforms offer rich pedagogical opportunities
for cocuration with students through the process of
experiential learning.43
Likewise, Scalar, developed through the University
of Southern California, is often used for publishing
38
The Sogdians: Influencers on the Silk Roads, https://sogdians.
si.edu/.
39
Return to Palmyra, www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions
_events/exhibitions/palmyra/.
40
A recent article by Kizhner et al. (2020) considers digi-
tal colonialism and bias in the Google Arts & Culture online
platform.
41
https://omeka.org/. Examples of Omeka-powered digi-
tal exhibitions are numerous, including Living Late Antiquity
(http://livinglateantiquity.org/), curated by graduate students
at Saint Louis University, and Classicizing Philadelphia (https://
classicizingphiladelphia.omeka.net/), a digital research and
outreach project at Bryn Mawr College.
42
https://neatline.org/about/. See, e.g., Mapping the Cata-
logue of Ships (https://ships.lib.virginia.edu/), created by Jenny
Strauss Clay, Courtney Evans, and Ben Jasnow, in collaboration
with the Scholars’ Lab at the University of Virginia.
43
Yale University Library has compiled a helpful set of re-
sources and best practices for creating digital exhibitions us-
ing Omeka: https://guides.library.yale.edu/onlineexhibitions
/resourcesandbestpractices. Kilroy-Ewbank (2018) discusses
pedagogical approaches to doing digital art history using the
pre-Columbian Mixtec Codex Zouche-Nuttall (CZN) to cre-
ate a student-developed digital exhibition using Omeka.
148 Jacquelyn H. clements
digital scholarship as well as digital exhibitions.44 Its
basic design includes a table of contents, which could
be an ideal choice for digital essays that are broken
into chapters, like the format of The Empire’s Physician.
Quire, another digital publishing platform developed
by Getty Publications, also shows promise as an online
platform.45 A recent digital exhibition on the Bauhaus
utilized Quire’s open-source, extensible framework to
develop conceptual “rooms” that serve as an organi-
zational model for the translation of physical gallery
spaces to the virtual sphere.46 The handful of open-
access platforms discussed here demonstrate ample
opportunity for curating online content in a variety of
ways, with relatively low bars of entry for access, reuse,
and customizable options.
Curators also have the option of working with an
outsourced company specializing in online museum
exhibitions. In the case of The Empire’s Physician,
ISAW partnered with CultureConnect, a technology
company that “empowers museums, libraries, attrac-
tions, and cultural organizations to deliver engaging
mobile and digital experiences to their audiences.”47
Institutions can also work with a local web developer,
as is seen with a recent exhibition on daily life at the
Etruscan-Roman-Medieval site of Cetamura del Chi-
anti, or with programmers at a local university, such
as in a digital scholarship lab.48 These options are par-
44
USC Libraries provides several examples of exhibitions
built using Scalar: https://libraries.usc.edu/collection/digital
-exhibitions; York University Libraries offers a helpful Open
Educational Resource (OER) on working with Scalar: https://
pressbooks.library.yorku.ca/scalar/.
45
https://quire.getty.edu/.
46
Bauhaus: Building the New Artist (www.getty.edu/resea
rch/exhibitions_events/exhibitions/bauhaus/new_artist/)
curated by M. Casciato, G. Fox, and K. Rochester; on this online
exhibition’s design process, see Nair et al. 2019.
47
https://cultureconnectme.com/. The Empire’s Physician
was migrated from a CultureConnect platform to a WordPress
host in October 2021 for better mobile viewing experiences.
48
The 3 Cetamuras: A Virtual Exhibition of Daily Life (https://
museum.cetamuradelchianti.com/) was curated by graduate
student Wyatt Haywood and other students at Florida State
University and designed by local developer WPTallahassee.
For an example of utilizing university resources to create digi-
tal exhibitions, see Bowdoin College’s Spectacle in Antiquity and
Beyond (www.bowdoin.edu/coursework/classics/class-exhibi
tions/spectacle/index.html), cocurated by Prof. Ambra Spi-
nelli and her students, with web development by Bowdoin Aca-
demic Technology.
[aja 126
ticularly useful for small museums and galleries situ-
ated within a larger matrix of university and library
resources.
Whatever platform is chosen, when planning a digi-
tal exhibition a museum should be particularly mindful
of accessibility, through the development process as
well as user experience testing (UX), before a project
is launched.49 In January 2021, the American Alliance
of Museums outlined some best practices for museum
websites to be accessible,50 and visitors who use assis-
tive technologies such as screen readers can participate
more equitably when online content is designed with
inclusivity in mind. The W3C Web Accessibility Ini-
tiative has issued its Web Content Accessibility Guide-
lines (WCAG), which provide the standard for best
practices in web accessibility; universities also often
have their own guidelines adhering to similar stan-
dards.51 One of the most common examples is the use
of alt text (short for “alternative text”), which provides
a short description of an image when visitors are not
able to view the image; The Empire’s Physician makes
extensive use of alt text for each of its many images.52
Museums must also consider the sustainability of
a digital exhibition. How will updates, additions, or
corrections to the site be communicated? And if the
exhibition is meant to be of indefinite duration, as is
The Empire’s Physician, how will it respond to changes
in web technology over time? While one might think
of sustainable measures in the museum field as pri-
marily focused on the environment and physical
collections care, digital sustainability is also a key com-
ponent for collections management as we navigate in
49
Although geared toward museum collections rather than
exhibitions, the rubric developed by MacDonald (2015) is a
helpful starting point for assessing the UX of digital interfaces.
50
Bahram 2021.
51
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): www.
w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/. New York Univer-
sity, of which ISAW is a part, provides detailed digital accessi-
bility guidelines: www.nyu.edu/life/information-technology
/web-and-digital-publishing/digital-publishing/accessibility.
html.
52
For museums looking to increase digital accessibility
through image descriptions, Cooper Hewitt has recently re-
leased a comprehensive “Guidelines for Image Description”
(www.cooperhewitt.org/cooper-hewitt-guidelines-for-image
-description/) that is tailored to creating detailed descriptions
of works of art, which will be a boon for museums creating in-
clusive digital content.
2022] The Empire’s Physician: Galen and Medicine in the Roman World
increasingly digital realms. One recent project, the
Socio-Technical Sustainability Roadmap, provides
guidelines for managing digital projects and think-
ing about their lifespans through project teams, infra-
structure, and the long-term preservation of digital
materials.53 These frameworks and others may serve as
models for museums working with a wide range of dig-
ital content and desiring to make their collections and
exhibitions endure and become established resources.
Digital Futures: Rethinking the
Exhibition Space
There is vast potential for museums to engage with
visitors through digital means and simultaneously at-
tract new audiences who may lack physical access to
traditional exhibitions. ISAW responded to the chal-
lenges of the pandemic this past year in creating an
in-depth look at the historical figure of Galen and his
contributions to medicine and the long history of its
practice. Viewed more as a copiously illustrated digi-
tal essay rather than an object-focused exhibition, the
eight chapters of The Empire’s Physician interact with
Galen’s writings, illuminating his thoughts and meth-
ods and relating them to our understanding of health
and healing today. Detailed interpretive content exam-
ines the nuances of scientific practice in the ancient
world; however, the enormous scope of this digital
exhibition also rather regrettably comes at the expense
of close engagement with primary source texts and ar-
tifacts, thorough provenance research, and responsive,
user-centered design. This makes a strong case for the
same careful curation in digital spaces as would be ex-
pected in traditional exhibitions, to ensure optimal and
accessible experiences for all visitors.
As digital exhibitions become increasingly popu-
lar, there is a wide opportunity to refine the ways in
which virtual spaces are curated and presented. With
an eye toward accessibility, sustainability, education,
and audience engagement, digital exhibitions repre-
sent potentially innovative and powerful platforms
for rethinking how knowledge and interpretations of
antiquity are understood and communicated. Con-
tinuing conversations about the hows and whys of cu-
rating digital spaces are necessary to develop capacities
for new forms of outreach about the ancient world.
53
https://sites.haa.pitt.edu/sustainabilityroadmap/, a proj-
ect of the Visual Media Workshop at the University of Pittsburgh.
149
Despite its design challenges and a number of missed
opportunities to engage more fully with artifacts and
primary sources, the innovative theme of The Em-
pire’s Physician, focused on the breadth of the history
of ancient medicine in the Mediterranean world, will
surely set the stage for future exhibitions that explore
antiquity through thoroughly modern means.
Jacquelyn H. Clements
Museum Studies Program
Johns Hopkins University
Washington, D.C.
jclements1@jhu.edu
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