New Remarks on the Relationship Between Alcmaeon and the Egyptian Medical Tradition: A Comparative Analysis of Theophrastus' De Sensibus Chapters 25-26 and Column 56 of the Shabaka Stone (Bm Ea 498)

Abstract

A comparative analysis of column 56 of the Shabaka Stone (BM EA 498), also known as Memphite Theology (747-656 BC), and the testimonium of Theophrastus' De Sensibus chap. 25-26 (4th century BC) allows us to gain valuable insights into the knowledge heritage that Alcmaeon probably drew upon - either directly or indirectly - as he conducted his research on sense-perceptions and channels/poroi in 5th-century BC Croton. This comparison with Egyptian medical tradition enables us to reassess the vexata quaestio regarding the origins of anatomical dissection of the human body in Greece and to place Alcmaeon's theories in a more interconnected historical context.