Celsus was neither a physician nor a surgeon, but rather
an intellectual patrician and a medical encyclopedist. His
writings had an important early influence on surgery and
he also examined the three contemporary rival medical
schools: dogmatic, methodic, and empiric. These writings
remain a valuable summary of the healing art for this peri-
od. As counselor to the emperors Tiberius and Caligula,
Celsus was held in great esteem. His book,
De Re Med-
icina,
10,11
was considered one of the most important early
medical documents after the Hippocratic writings. Be-
cause for a time his work was lost, he was one of the few
major authors not to be transcribed by the Arabists. It was
not until 1443, when an early Celsus manuscript was
uncovered by Thomas Sarazanne (later Pope Nicolas V)
that Celsus’ work could be reintroduced to the medical
community