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 Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 21:409–426, 2012
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DOI: 10.1080/0964704X.2011.626265

Alcmaeon of Croton’s Observations on Health,

Brain, Mind, and Soul

GASTONE G. CELESIA
Loyola University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago Council on Science and
Technology, Chicago, IL, USA

Alcmaeon of Croton (sixth–fifth century BC), a pre-Socratic physician–philosopher,

introduced the concept that mind and soul are located in the brain. Alcmaeon made
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observations about seeing, hearing, tasting, and smelling and distinguished perception
from understanding. Alcmaeon contributed two major ideas to natural sciences: (1) the
brain is the seat of human intelligence, and (2) physicians should draw conclusions from
empirical observations, an idea that implicitly rejects the alternative notion that science
should depend on “divine revelation.” Two thousand and five-hundred years later, these
two insights remain true and guarantee Alcmaeon a place in the history of neuroscience.

Keywords brain, Croton, empirical observations, intelligence, mind, perception, soul,

special senses, understanding

Introduction
In the sixth century BC, as “wealth created leisure; an aristocracy of culture” developed
in the Greek speaking world and “for the first time thought became secular, and sought
rational and consistent answers to the problems of the world and man” (Durant, 1966,
p. 135). Natural philosophers began discussing knowledge, reasoning, and natural sci-
ences. Pre-Socratic scholars thrived in this atmosphere of enlightenment and developed
“a new mentality of research and speculation, no longer passively accepting an uncertain
cosmology, but with anxious rationality and love of knowledge, ushered in the dawn of
philosophy” (translated from Alcameone e Pitagora, Teti, 1988, p. 43). Human thought and
knowledge, they proposed, is either processed in the heart (Cardiocentric theory) or in the
brain (Encephalocentric theory). The heart was probably considered the seat of the mind
because of the observation that life persisted as long as the heart kept pulsing and death
occurred when the heart stopped (Crivellato & Ribatti, 2007). Historically, the Egyptians,
as far back as the third millennium BC, believed that the seat of thought, memory, reason-
ing, emotion, will, and intention (the mind), was in the heart (Wallis Budge, 1967; Santoro
et al. 2009). The alternate concept that memory, knowledge, and thinking may reside in the
Many thanks to Professor Walter Sannita of the University of Genoa who introduced me to
Crotone (a vibrant city in modern Italy) and to Doctor Giovanni Pugliese, President of St. Anna
Hospital in Crotone, who provided information about Alcmaeon and the Crotoniate Medical School.
Special thanks to Professor Stavros Baloyannis of the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki in
Greece for his help in the interpretation of the Doric and Ionian Greek dialects and his thoughtful
advice about Alcmaeon. The author’s appreciation extends to Linda Celesia, Louis Sudler, Gloria
Tison, and Edward Walbridge, who painstakingly corrected the manuscript language.
Address correspondence to Gastone G. Celesia, 3016 Heritage Oak Lane, Oak Brook, IL 60523,
USA. E-mail: g.celesia@comcast.net

409
 410 Gastone G. Celesia

brain was most likely based on the empirical observation that the senses of seeing, hear-
ing, smelling, and tasting resided in the head (Lloyd, 1991). Both theories had passionate
supporters and were debated until the time of Galen and continued into the Renaissance
(Mazzolini, 1990; Crivellato & Ribatti, 2007). Alcmaeon of Croton, as far as can be deter-
mined in historical documents, was the first individual who declared that mind and soul
were located in the brain.
The original works of Alcmaeon are lost, thus our information is derived from
doxographic studies of later philosophers, commentators, and other writers who reported
the ideas of their predecessors. The materials in this article were gathered mostly from
the fragments that have survived in literature as documented in Doxographi Graeci (Diels,
1879; Diels & Kranz, 1952)1 and in Pythagoras’ testimonials and fragments (Timpanaro
Cardini, 1962). Whenever possible, the Alcmaeon quotes in Doxographi Graeci were
verified by checking their sources in the works of Aristotle (1896, 1897; Barnes, 1984),
Chalcidius (1876), Herodotus (1875), Laertius (1853), Plato (1875, 1992), Plutarch (1898),
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Strabo (1867), and Theophrastus (1917, 1991).

The information scattered in various publications and written in several languages is
collected into this single article. All the fragments documented in Doxographi Graeci,
including the five original quotes from Alcmaeon, are cited. The contributions of Alcmaeon
are presented objectively without excessive claims and speculations and are framed in the
historical context of the time in which he lived. All translations are close to the original text.

Background of Croton
Alcmaeon, or Alkameon, or Alkmaion (’Aλχμαίων), a pre-Socratic physician–
philosopher, lived in Croton around 520–450 BC. Croton, or Kroton, or Crotona (present
day Crotone) was a Socratic city-state in Magna Grecia, presently known as Southern Italy
(Figure 1). In ancient times, Croton was considered an important cultural center, famous
for the temple to Hera Lacinia built on the cape by the same name: “Lakinion àkron”
(Placanica, 1999, p. 42) It was also recognized for its athletic, Pythagorean, and medical
schools. The poet Theocritus of Syracuse (circa 310–250 BC), the creator of Greek bucolic
poetry, sings in Idyll IV about Croton:

“I sing the praises of Croton,

. . . and I sing of the Lacinian shrine that faces the dawn” (Theocritus,
2002, p. 16).

Both ancient Greek historians Diodorus Siculus2 and Strabo3 documented the history
of Croton. Students from the Athletic School won 12 of the 27 Olympic Games played
from 588 to 480 BC. Its most famous athlete was Milo (or Milon), who won in six Olympic
Games. Diodorus Siculus, reporting the war between Croton and Sybaris, wrote: “Milo the

1
Diels and Kranz, in Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (1952), established a numbering system
for the fragments of pre-Socratic authors. A indicates testimonia, that is, ancient accounts of the
authors’ lives and doctrines, while B indicates ipsissima verba, that is, the exact words of the author.
Customarily the fragments are quoted as DK, A or DK, B followed by the number of the fragment.
2
Diodorus Siculus (90–21 BC) was a Greek historian who wrote a Universal History in
40 volumes. Volumes 1–5 and 11–20 have survived and provide important information on antiquity.
3
Strabo (circa 64 BC to 24 AD) was a Greek historian and geographer that wrote ”Rerum
Geographicorum” (Geographica) in 17 volumes.
 Alcmaeon Crotoniata 411
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Figure 1. Greek colonies in Southern Italy (Magna Grecia) during the sixth and fifth century BCE.
The extent of the territory controlled by the Greeks is outlined in gray.

wrestler . . . was of invincible strength, and had courage answerable to his strength, and
had been six times victor at the Olympic Games” (Siculus, 1814, p. 438). Strabo stated:

Croton is reputed to produce soldiers and athletes; for example, in one

Olympiad the seven men who took the lead over all others in the stadium-
race were all Crotoniates, and therefore we can truly say: “The last of the
Crotoniates was the first among all other Greeks.” And this, it is said, is
what gave rise to the other proverb, “more healthful than Croton,” the belief
being that the place contains something favorable to the development of
vigor and good health. (translated from Géographie de Strabon, Strabo, 1867,
pp. 437–438)

Pythagoras of Samos founded the Pythagorean School in Croton around the year
518 BC, with an emphasis on self-discipline, religious rituals, dietary restrictions, and
“the study of mathematical sciences” (Aristotle, 1896, p. 22). The date of the founding
of the Crotonian Medical School is not known, but as early as the sixth century BC, it had
achieved an excellent reputation. Herodotus (circa 484–425 BC) wrote: “the physicians
of Crotona had the name of being the best, and those of Cyrêné the second best, in all
Greece” (Herodotus, 1875, p. 518). The relationship between the Pythagorean School and
the Croton Medical School is unclear; however, there is historical evidence that the medi-
cal school existed before Pythagoras settled in Croton and before Alcmaeon was a member
(Wachtler, 1896; Burnet, 1920; Guthrie, 1962). It was in this center of cultural activity that
Alcmaeon flourished.

Life of Alcmaeon
Alcmaeon was born in Croton, a fact on which “a multitude (of authors) agree from innu-
merable testimonials” (translated from De Alcmaeone Crotoniata, Wachtler, 1896, p. 16).
The date of his birth and the precise date of his death are unknown. The best estimate is that
 412 Gastone G. Celesia

Alcmaeon lived approximately from the end of the sixth to the first half of the fifth century
BC, when Croton was at the peak of its power (Wachtler, 1896; Diels, 1879; Diels & Kranz,
1952; Teti, 1988; Huffman, 2008). Aristotle reported: “Alcmaeon had reached the age of
manhood when Pythagoras was an old man” (Aristotle, 1896, p. 23). Iamblicus4 wrote:

those young men who were the disciples of Pythagoras when he was an
old man, viz. Philolaus and Euritus, Charondas and Zeleucus, and Brysson,
the elder Archytas also, and Aristaeus, Lysis and Empedocles, Zanolxis and
Epimenides, Milo and Leucippus, Alcmaeon, Hippasus and Thymaridas, and
all of that age, consisting of a multitude of learned men, and who were above
measure excellent, all these adopted this mode of teaching. (Iamblicus, 2003,
pp. 75–76)

Wachtler (1896) concluded: “Alcmaeon was young and Pythagoras Senior that is after
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510 BC (from Zeller5 Philos. Der Griech. I, 296). According to the convention of the
ancient writers, it is customary to place the disciples at a distance of forty years from their
master; then we estimate Pythagoras flourished about 532” (translated from De Alcmaeone
Crotoniata, Wachtler, 1896, p. 16). Thus, Alcmaeon may have been an adult at about
500–450 BC. According to Laertius,6 Alcmaeon “was the son of Pirithus, as he himself
states at the beginning of his treatise, where he says, ‘Alcmaeon of Croton, the son of
Pirithus, says this to Brontinus, and Leon and Bathyllus7 . . . .’ ” (Laertius, 1853, p. 371).
As these three men were considered Pythagorians, Alcmaeon was often believed to be
a member of Pythagoras’ School. Laertius stated: “Alcmaeon was a citizen of Crotona; he
also was a pupil of Pythagoras. The chief part of his writings is on medical subjects; but he
also at times discusses points of natural philosophy” (Laertius, 1853, p. 371). Iamblichus
(2003) also listed Alcmaeon among the young disciples of Pythagoras. Recent scholars
view Alcmaeon as an independent figure who was as familiar with the Pythagoreans as
he was a fellow citizen of Croton (Teti, 1988; Lloyd, 1975; Marchese & Nisticó, 1993;
Huffman, 1993, 2008). According to Guthrie, the Crotonian Medical School: “went back
into the sixth century and was independent of Pythagoras and his followers, although after
Pythagoras’s arrival in the same city the two could not have remained without mutual con-
tact or influence” (Guthrie, 1962, p. 347). Marchese and Nisticó (1993) pointed out that
Pythagoras’ School was an elitist school with religious overtones and limited to a few
selected disciples, while the medical school was democratic, open to all, and based on
practical teachings. Huffman (1993), in his biography of Philolaus of Croton, pointed out:
“The reason that Philolaus is a Pythagorean and Alcmaeon is not, is that Philolaus lived a
Pythagorean life while Alcmaeon did not” (Huffman, 1993, p. 11). The Crotonian Medical
4
Iamblicus (circa 250–330 AD) was a Syrian neoplatonic philosopher. He wrote The life of
Pythagoras and De Mysteriis.
5
Zeller E (1903): Die Philosophie der Griechen. Leipzig, OR Reisland.
6
Diogenes Laertius (ιoγένης αέρτιoς) lived around 200–250 AD and was a biographer of
Greek philosophers. He wrote “The Life and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers.”
7
This is an original fragment from Alcmaeon (DK, B1), as quoted by Laertius. Little is known
about these individuals. Brotinus was either the son-in-law or father-in-law of Pythagoras. Laertius
stated: “and Pythagoras had a wife, whose name was Theano; the daughter of Brontinus, of Crotona.
But some say that she was the wife of Brontinus and only a pupil of Pythagoras” (Laertius, 1853,
p. 355). Leon was from Metaponto and Bathyllus from Posidonia; both possibly were disciples of
Pythagoras (Burnet, 1920). The fragment also contains the following sentence: “About things invisi-
ble, and things mortal, the Gods alone have a certain knowledge; but men may form conjectures” (see
p. 24, footnote 21).
 Alcmaeon Crotoniata 413

School offered care to everyone and provided practical teaching with “direct contact with
the patient” (Teti, 1988, p. 55). Diodorus Siculus reported that the citizen of Thuria (a city
close to the town of Sybaris) entered “into league with the Crotonians, governed their com-
monwealth from henceforth with great commendation” and provided “physicians for the
curing of private men’s distemper [diseases], at the charge of the public” (Siculus, 1814,
Volume 1, pp. 440–441). This represents the first historical documentation of a government
providing health care to their citizens. In the sixth century BC, city-state governments began
to engage physicians to attend to public health and to care for the poor. Gradually, all major
Greek cities employed state-salaried physicians; a special tax “iatrikon” (Iατ ρικ óν) was
introduced to support this state function (Siculus, 1814; Woodhead, 1952; Durant, 1966;
Plato, 1992; Rosen, 1993; Nutton, 2004). As pointed out by Woodhead (1952), ancient
Greece had “great appreciation of the skill and activity of the medical profession.”
The fame of the Crotonian Medical School was not based on their physician-stars such
as Democedes8 and Alcmaeon but rather on the school’s philosophy of applying practi-
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cal methods based on empirical observations (Teti, 1988). Alcmaeon and the Crotonian
Medical School adopted a practical approach which included the observation of diseases,
direct contact with the patients, treatment of the poor, and teaching others. It was the
antithesis of the aristocratic Pythagorean School which was based on strict discipline and
secret information revealed only to the members of the elite.
There is no known portrait of Alcmaeon dating back to the sixth or fifth century BC.
The few illustrations of Alcmaeon in the literature are idealized images created in the nine-
teenth century AD (Figure 2). One portrait of Alcmaeon, located at the History of Medicine
Museum of the University of Rome, “La Sapienza” is a bust of semi-glazed terracotta. The
provenance of the bust is not documented. The museum received the statue on October 20th,
1950 as a gift from Professor G. Alcieri. In 1991 the city of Crotone honored its two
illustrious ancient citizens by inaugurating a monument to Alcmaeon and Pythagoras by
the sculptor Ludovico Graziani. The sculptor based the image of Alcmaeon on a portrait
published by Teti (1988) and attributed to: “an old print” (Teti, 1988, p. 78).

Alcmaeon on Anatomy and Physiology

Alcmaeon wrote several books about medicine and natural sciences. Laertius (1853)
indicates that the title of Alcmaeon’s most important book was De Natura or “Natural
Philosophy.” De Natura was quoted frequently in ancient times and influenced Hippocrates,
Herophilus, Plato, Galen, and others. The book has been lost, and only about five original
fragments quoting Alcmaeon verbatim have survived. An additional 18 fragments repre-
senting testimonials of the work of Alcmaeon as reported by ancient authors (Wachtler,
1896; Diels & Kranz, 1952; Freeman, 1970) also exist. Controversy exists whether
Alcmaeon wrote in Doric or in Ionic Greek. Herodotus and Antiochum Syracusanum claim
he wrote in Doric, while Theophrastus reported he wrote in Ionic Greek (Wachtler, 1896).
Wachtler (1896) debated this issue extensively and concluded that he probably wrote in
a mixture of Doric and Ionic. The lack of original documents from Alcmaeon leaves the
dispute unsettled. Laertius referring to De Natura stated: “He appears to have been the first

8
Democedes was the most famous physician from Croton; he later went to Athens as the city–
state physician. About two years later (522 BC) he was hired by Polycrates, the tyrant of Samos.
When the Persians defeated Polycrates, they captured Democedes and sent him as a slave to the court
of Darius at Susa. He became the physician of the Persian King until he escaped and returned to
Croton (Herodotus, 1848).
 414 Gastone G. Celesia
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Figure 2. Idealized portraits of Alcmaeon. The image of Alcmaeon on the right half of the figure
is from the monument of “Alcmaeon and Pythagoras,” by the sculptor Ludovico Graziani. The full
bronze relief includes the image of Pythagoras and was installed in Crotone, Italy, in 1991. The temple
behind Alcmaeon is a representation of the temple to Hera Lacinia. The bust of Alcmaeon on the left
half of the figure is a glazed terracotta dated to the nineteenth century, in the collection Pazzini of
the Museo di Storia della Medicina, University of Rome “La Sapienza” (item 2423, reproduced with
permission).

person who wrote a treatise on natural philosophy, as Phavorinus9 affirms, in his Universal
History” (Laertius, 1853, p. 371). The statement of Laertius is probably incorrect, because
Thales, Anaximenes and Anaximander, all natural philosophers (Table 1) associated with
the city of Miletus in Ionia (Asia Minor), discussed and wrote about natural phenomena
and medicine before Alcmaeon (Barnes, 1982; Nutton, 1995; Sullivan, 1996). Wachtler
suggested he had a more restricted role, saying: “that as far as we know, nobody before
Alcmaeon, with the exception for medicine, dedicated himself to the specialized study of
anatomy” (translated from De Alcmaeone Crotoniata, Wachtler, 1896, p. 18). Alcmaeon
had a keen interest in the anatomy and physiology of the special senses (hearing, seeing,
smelling, tasting). He described the tubes connecting the middle ear to the nasopharynx,
presently named Eustachian tubes after the Renaissance anatomist Eustachius who redis-
covered them in 1562 AD (Chalcidius, 1876; Codellas, 1932; Laertius, 1853). According
to Theophrastus,10 Alcmaeon wrote about hearing, seeing, smelling, and tasting:

Hearing is by means of the ears, he (Alcmaeon) says, because within them is

an empty space, and this empty space resounds. A kind of noise is produced
by the cavity, and the internal air re-echoes this sound. (Theophrastus, 1917,
p. 89)

9
Phavorinus, or Favorinus (circa 80–160 AD), was a Hellenistic philosopher who, according to
Laertius, wrote a universal history. None of his writings have survived.
10
Theophrastus (
εóϕραστoς) lived circa 371–287 BC. He was the successor of Aristotle in
the Peripatetic school and wrote On the Physical Tenets of Natural Philosophers, On the Senses,
Methaphysics, etc.
 Alcmaeon Crotoniata 415

Table 1
Chronology of Alcmaeon, His Contemporanei, and Related Political–Cultural Events

Dates of birth Political and cultural

Name and death Bibliography events
Pre-Alcmaeon
Homer∗ Ninth–eighth Iliad, Odyssey 776 First Olympic
century games at Olympia
Solon of Athens 638–558 Law maker, one of the 750–594 Age of
seven sages of Greece government by
aristocracies
Thales of 639–544 Philosopher (one of 705 First architecture in
Miletus seven sages of stone; 630 Law of
Greece); doxographic Lycurgus in Sparta
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tradition
Anaximander 610–546 Philosopher; 612–570 Sappho
of Miletus doxographic tradition Poetess; 600 Alcmen
poet at Sparta
Anaximenes of 560–528 Philosopher; 594 Law of Solon in
Miletus doxographic tradition Athens; 580 Aesop of
Samos, fabulist
Contemporanei of Alcmaeon
Xenophanes of 570–480 Philosopher and poet; 558 Carthage conquers
Colophon doxographic tradition Sicily;
560–546 Craesus of
Lydia subjugate Ionia
Pythagoras of 569–475 No known writing; all 545 Persia subjugate
Samos that is known is from Greek Ionia
his disciples
Heraclitus of 535–475 Philosopher; 535–515 Polycrates
Ephesus doxographic tradition dictator of Samos
Alcmaeon of 520–450 Doxographic tradition 534 Thepsis establish
Croton drama in Athens
Parmenides of 520–450 Poem, the way of 510 Destruction of
Elea inquiry, the way of Sybaris by Croton
mortals, etc.
Democedes of 550–460 Physician; doxographic 507 Establishment of
Croton tradition Democracy in Athens
Anaxagoras of 500–428 Philosopher; 499–468 Persian wars;
Clazomenae doxographic tradition 485 Epicharmus first
comedy in Syracuse
Empedocles of 495–435 On Nature 499 Aeschilus first play;
Agrigento 478 Pindar poet;
468 first contest
between Aeschilus and
Sophocles

(Continued)
 416 Gastone G. Celesia

Table 1
(Continued)

Dates of birth Political and cultural

Name and death Bibliography events
Authors born one generation after Alcmaeon
Herodotus of 484–425 The Histories 463–431 Public career
Halicarnassus of Pericles;
456 Temple of Zeus in
Olympia
Philolaus of 470–385 Disciple of Pythagoras; 448 Peace with Persia;
Croton doxographic tradition 442 Myron of
Eleuthera, sculptor
Socrates∗ 469–399 No known writing; all 447–431 Building of
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that is known is from Parthenon; 430 Plague

his disciples in Athens
Democritus of 460–400 Philosopher; 431–404 Peleponnesian
Abdera doxographic tradition war; 423–
422 Aristophanes:
Clouds and Wasps
Hippocrates of 460–370 Corpus Hippocraticum 431–424 Euripides and
Cos Sophocles at peak
Antiochum 450–420 History of Sicily 401 Retreat of
Syracusanum Xenophon’s Ten
Thousand
Plato∗ 429–347 Phaedo, Republic, 386 Plato found the
Timaeus, etc. Academy
Authors living about a century after Alcmaeon
Aristotle of 384–322 Metaphysics, 360 Praxiteles and
Stageira Problematica, History Scopas sculptors;
of Animals, etc. 355–335 peak
Demosthene orator
Theophrastus of 371–287 On Sensation, Enquiry 353–349 Building
Eresus into Plants Mausoleum of
Alicarnassus
Herophilus of 335–280 Physician; doxographic 336 Alexander access to
Chalcedon tradition the throne; Apelles of
Sicyon, painter
Epicurus∗ 341–270 Philosopher; 331 Alexander conquer
doxographic tradition Babylon and Susa
323 Death of Alexander;
322–146 Hellenistic
period
All dates are approximate and in BC era.
∗
Indicates that the city of birth is uncertain or unknown.
 Alcmaeon Crotoniata 417

Wachtler (1896) suggested that Alcmaeon was the first to attempt to explain the phe-
nomenon of human perception of sound and to refer it to the structure of the ear and to
the motion of the air. Alcmaeon’s concept of the other senses was:

Smelling is by mean of the nostrils in connection with the act of respiration

when one draws up the breath to the brain. By the tongue we discern tastes. For
since it is warm and soft, the tongue dissolves [substances] with its heat; and
because of its loose and yielding texture it readily receives and transmits [the
savours]. (Theophrastus, 1917, p. 89)

Plutarch11 similarly wrote: “Alcmaeon says that moist warmth in the tongue, joined with
the softness of it, gives the difference of taste” (Plutarch, 1898, p. 170). Alcmaeon was
fascinated by the sense of vision, having allegedly dissected an eye. He concluded:
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Eye sees through the water round about. And the eye obviously has fire within
for when one is struck [this fire] flashes out. Vision is due to the gleaming—
that is to say, the transparent—character of that which [in the eye] reflects the
object; and sight is the more perfect, the greater purity of this substance. All
the senses are connected in some way with the brain.12 (Theophrastus, 1917,
p. 89)

Finger (2001) pointed out that Alcmaeon might have gathered this concept from the
observation that a blow on the eye produced “a flash within it” (phosphene).
Alcmaeon further noted that the globe of the eye contained: “not liquid water, but com-
pletely a concrete humor” (p. 93), therefore, according to Wachtler, “indicating without a
doubt that he saw it by dissection” (translated from De Alcameone Crotoniata, Wachtler,
1896, p. 51). From empirical observations that the eye, via a channel or path (πóρoι), is
connected to the skull and the cranial nerves also enter the skull, Alcmaeon concluded
that “principatum esse in cerebro,” “the governing faculty is in the brain” (translated from
Doxographic Graeci, Diels, 1879, p. 407). There is no documentation that Alcmaeon recog-
nized the eye’s poroi as the optic nerve, although he identified it as a connection of the eye
to the brain. Approximately 700 years later, Galen13 was the first to identify this connection
as the optic nerve.
Chalcidius14 called Alcmaeon the “Father of Human Anatomy,” suggesting “he was
the first to dare use dissection” (“primus exsectionem aggredi est ausus”) (translated
from Platonis Timaeus Interprete Chalcidio cum Ejusdem Commentario, Chalcidius, 1876,
p. 279) and to cut organs for the purpose of studying and dissecting them (Codellas, 1932).
Singer concluded that Alcmaeon’s descriptions of anatomy were based on the dissection of
11
Plutarch of Chaeronea (46–120 AD) was a Greek historian, biographer, and philosopher. He
wrote Parallel Lives, Moralia, and other treatises.
12
The Greek word used by Theophrastus and in Doxographic Graeci is εγκεϕαλoς, which has
been translated by some as “the stuff inside the head” (Doty, 2007). Chalcidius (1876), Diels (1879),
and Wachtler (1896) translated εγκεϕαλoς into Latin as “cerebrum,” (i.e., brain). In modern Greek,
enkephalos is “the brain.”
13
Galen of Pergamon (130–201 AD) was a Greek physician and philosopher and was the physi-
cian of the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. He wrote extensively about medicine. He
wrote books on: Nature of Science (three volumes), On Physiology and Medicine, On Anatomical
Procedures, etc.
14
Chalcidius (circa 300 AD) was a Christian neo-platonic philosopher who translated the first
part of Plato’s Timeus from Greek into Latin in 321 AD and included an extensive commentary.
 418 Gastone G. Celesia

animals (Singer, 1925). On the other hand, Lloyd (1975, 1991) contended that there was no
historical evidence of dissection and that a mere probing of the ear and nose and removal of
an eye would have been sufficient for the purpose of inferring the relation of sensorial input
to the brain. Doty (2007) believed that Alcmaeon would have had the opportunity to observe
the connection to the brain directly because of the custom at that time of opening the skull
and extracting the brain for culinary purposes. This controversy cannot be resolved, due
to the lack of written evidence; nevertheless, the important issue is that Alcmaeon reached
his conclusions based on practical observations, whether or not he conducted a complete
dissection.

Sleep and Death

Plutarch summarized the opinions of Alcmaeon on sleep and death: “Alcmaeon says that
sleep is caused when the blood retreats to the concourse of the veins, but when the blood
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diffuses itself, and then we awake” (Plutarch, 1898, pp. 188–189). Thus sleep and awak-
ening for Alcmaeon were related to retreat and diffusion of blood in the vessels from the
smaller to the large “vein” and vice versa, a concept accepted by his contemporaries and by
Aristotle (Beare, 1906).
Wachtler (1896, p. 61) quoted Aristotle in Problemata, saying that Alcmaeon stated
“the reason men die is that they cannot join the beginning to the end” (translated by Guthrie,
1962, p. 651). This puzzling statement, considered to be an original fragment (DK, B2) of
Alcmaeon by Diels and Kranz (1952), is best understood in the context of the metaphysics
of the time. As Guthrie explained:

To recapture as far as possible the thought behind Alcmaeon’s dictum we must,

as Khan has noted, bear in mind not only the eternal celestial motions to which
the Problemata refers, but also the Hippocratic statements about the cycle
(περίoδoς) of the body. In the human subject, which is of primary concern
to a doctor like Alcmaeon, the maintenance of life depends upon the circu-
lar knitting-together of all parts into one continuous whole. When the link is
snapped, death occurs. The individual human soul, in its action on the body,
is trying to reproduce in its own way the eternal circular motions of the stars,
for, as Alcmaeon himself said, “all divine things also move continuously and
forever, the moon, sun and stars and the heaven as a whole.” (Guthrie, 1962,
p. 353)

Conversely, Plutarch reported that Alcmaeon stated: “when there is a total retirement of
the blood (from the vessels), then men die” (Plutarch, 1898, p. 189). The two concepts
represent an interesting dichotomy: Alcmaeon as a metaphysical philosopher hypothesized
death as a break of the circle of life; however, as an empirical physician he observed the
cause of death as “a total retirement of blood.” We do not know how, if ever, he managed
to reconcile these contradictory opinions.

Brain, Mind and Soul

Alcmaeon declared that the sensory organs are connected to the brain by πóρoι (poroi), or
“pores.” The proper translation of π óρoι is a debated issue. According to Wachtler (1896),
the correct Latin translation of π óρoι is “pori,” which corresponds to English “pores”
 Alcmaeon Crotoniata 419

or “channels.” He wrote: “Alcmaeon said ‘we saw πóρoι exit from the eyes, similarly
from the auditory, olfactory and taste openings’” (translated from De Alcmaeon Crotoniata,
Wachtler, 1896, pp. 53–54). Teti (1988, pp. 65–66) argued that poroi was better translated
to “path.” Whether the correct translation is “pores,” “channels,” or “paths,” Alcmaeon
was the first to recognize the importance of the brain as the seat of sensory perception,
understanding, and thought (Diels, 1879; Diels & Kranz, 1952). He was also the first to
distinguish understanding from perception (Laertius, 1853; Wachtler, 1896; Diels, 1879;
Diels & Kranz, 1952; Theophrastus, 1991). Theophrastus reported that Alcmaeon described
that “all the senses are connected to the brain” (translated from Doxographi Graeci, Diels,
1879, p. 507). It followed that, when the channels are disturbed, the senses are incapaci-
tated, because the poroi through which the senses operate are disrupted or closed (Wachtler,
1896; Diels and Kranz, 1952).
Alcmaeon was interested in cognitive functions and believed that thought and
understanding were characteristics of humans that differentiated humans from animals.
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Theophrastus stated:

Of those who do not explain perception by similarity, Alcmaeon first defines

the differences among animals. For he says, that “humans differ from the other
animals because they alone understand, whereas the others perceive but do not
understand.”15 He supposes that thinking and perceiving are distinct, not—as
Empedocles holds—the same thing. (Theophrastus, 1991, p. 60)

Chalcidius reported that Alcmaeon believed that “cerebri sede, in qua est sita potestas
animae summa ac principalis,” which is “the brain is the principal and hegemonic site of
the power of the soul” (translated from De Alcmaeone Crotoniata, Wachtler, 1896, p. 50).
Similarly Aetius,16 according to Diels (1879), wrote: “Alcmaeon says ’that the govern-
ing faculty [hegemonic] is in the brain’ (translated from Doxographi Graeci, Diels 1879,
p. 407).
The spirit or soul was considered to be one with mind and thought. Alcmaeon believed
the soul made consciousness possible (Lloyd, 1991), and that the soul was located in the
brain. Plutarch reported: “Alcmaeon believes that the principal part of the soul, residing
in the brain, draws to itself odors by respiration” (Plutarch, 1898, p. 170). The concept of
animal spirit or soul gradually evolved and became a source of discussion among Greek
philosophers.
In the Greek Archaic Period, the concept of a unitary psychic life (body and mind) was
not yet developed (Bremmer, 1967). The Greeks of Homer’s time believed in several type
of souls. Psyche, or “breath soul,” represented the life source and when it left the body the
individual died. The psyche at the time of death departed for Hades. This soul lacked any
personal attributes. (Snell, 1951; Bremmer, 1967; Kirk, Raven, & Schofield, 1983: Garland,
2001; Crivellato and Ribatti, 2007). The other souls, sometimes called sensory and intel-
lectual souls (Kirk, Raven, & Schofield, 1983), were part of the body and had characteristic
properties usually associated with humanity: thymos (emotion), menos (strength or rage)
and nous (intellect) (Bennett, 2007; Crivellato & Ribatti, 2007). When the “breath soul”
left the body the person died, as Homer (ninth to eighth century BC) described in the Iliad:

15
This is considered one of Alcmaeon original quotes (DK, B1a) by Diels and Kranz (1952).
16
Aetius (first or second century BC) was a Peripatetic philosopher; none of his work sur-
vived. He wrote Placita Philosophorum and Eclogae Physicae. Only fragments are preserved in
Doxographic Graeci.
 420 Gastone G. Celesia

“γέρων χεν ένς̀ óλεσσεν άπò θυμòν” “old-man would then have-perished from soul [have
´ óλεσσεν άπò θυμòν” “[the wounded man] falling there lost
lost his life]” and “πεσὼν αϋςι
from soul [lost his life]” (Homer, The Iliad, 1888, Book VIII, pp. 334 and 347). In Homer,
the psyche did not represent the individual personality in life, dream, or in the afterlife. The
souls in Hades had no menos (strength) or phrenes (wits). They wandered in the “joyless
kingdom of the dead” (Homer, The Odyssey, 1996, Book XI, p. 252) and even the heroes
were unhappy as Achilles stated to Odysseus:

By god, I’d rather slave on earth for another man,

some dirt-poor tenant farmer who scrapes to keep alive,
than rule down here over all the breathless dead.
(Homer, The Odyssey, 1996, Book XI, p. 265)

Gradually during the sixth–fifth century BC the unitary and abstract idea of soul
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became accepted together with a new concept of spiritual life. Natural philosophers debated
the properties of the mind-soul. Democritus (circa 460–400 BC), a proponent of the atom-
istic theory maintained that the “soul is one with thinking” (translated from Doxographi
Graeci, Diels, 1879, p. 515). The word “soul” during this period encompassed the meaning
of thought, consciousness, knowledge, sensations, perception, and emotions (Crivellato &
Ribatti, 2007). The soul was initially considered mortal, as Simmias argued in Phaedo:
“the soul, being a mixture of the component parts of the body, perishes first in what is
called death” (Plato, 1875, p. 55). Plutarch discussing the soul stated that for “Epicurus
and Democritus the soul is mortal and it perishes with the body” (Plutarch, 1898, p. 164).
Alcmaeon and Pythagoras, as far as can be ascertained, were the first among the pre-
Socratic philosophers to argue that the soul was immortal. It is not known who formed
this opinion first: Alcmaeon or Pythagoras. Pythagoras did not record any of his thoughts,
and all we know about him is derived from his disciples’ writings, mostly from Philolaus.
It was 100 years later that Aristotle concluded that it was unclear who thought what: “and
this philosopher (Alcmaeon) either from those just named (the Pythagoreans), or they from
this person, have derived this their theory” (Aristotle, 1896, p. 23). According to Laertius:
“He (Alcmaeon) used also to say that the soul was immortal and that it was in a state
of perpetual motion in the same way as the sun” (Laertius, 1853, p. 371). Themistius17
reported: “and Alcmaeon the Crotonian Naturalist, stated, similarly to these, that it (the
soul) is immortal through being similar to the immortal objects, by moving forever, because
it and all the others are moving continuously, sun, moon, stars, heaven” (translated From:
Paraphrases Aristotelis Librorum quae Supersunt, Themistius, 1866, p. 24). As the sun and
the heavenly bodies are immortal and divine he concluded that the soul was also immortal.
Pythagoras, according to Plutarch believed “that part of the soul of man which is ratio-
nal is eternal; for though it is not God, yet is the product of an eternal Deity; but that part
of the soul which is divested of reason dies” (Plutarch, 1898, p. 164). Alcmaeon’s thought
on the immortality of the soul was developed extensively by Plato in Phaedo. Among the
many arguments the following best represents Plato’s concept of the soul:

—It is quite plain, Socrates, that the soul resembles the divine, and the body the
mortal.—Then consider, Cebes, said he, whether from all that has been said we

17
Themistius (circa 317–388 AD), was a statesman (Prefect of Constantinople in 384 AD), writer
and philosopher. He paraphrased Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics, Physics and De Anima (Codellas,
1932; Teti, 1988).
 Alcmaeon Crotoniata 421

obtain this result, that soul is most like the divine and immortal and intelligible
and uniform and indissoluble and that which is ever invariably consistent with
itself. (Plato, 1875, p. 44)

Greek philosophers and physicians at that period debated about the site of the soul and its
three parts: emotion, rage, and intellect. There were many theories, but two emerged pre-
eminent and conflicting: the soul is located in the heart versus the soul is located in the
brain. Alcmaeon, as we saw, argued that the soul and mind resides in the brain. His opin-
ion was accepted by later physician–philosophers such as Anaxagoras, Philolaus, Plato,
Hippocrates and Galen (Crivellato and Ribatti, 2007).

Health and Other Alcmaeon’s Contributions

Alcmaeon believed that good health was based on equality (ίσ oνoμία, or isonomia) of
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contrary powers (wet and dry; cold and hot; bitter and sweet), while diseases were a dis-
ruption of this equality that he called “monarchy,” he used a political analogy of one power
becoming all-too powerful (Diels, 1879; Teti, 1988). Aetius in Placita explains that good
health “is everybody having equality of rights and thus (the equality of contrary powers),
while monarchy is the prevalence of one over the other, and therefore the rupture of social
and political equilibrium”18 (translated from: Doxography Graeci, Diels, 1879, p. 223).
Similarly Plutarch reported:

Alcmaeon says that the preserver of health is an equal proportion of the

qualities of heat, moisture, cold, dryness, bitterness, sweetness and the other
qualities; on the contrary, the prevailing empire of one above the rest is the
cause of diseases and author of destruction. The efficient cause of disease is the
excess of heat or cold, the material cause is superabundance or defect, the place
is the blood or brain. (Plutarch, 1898, pp. 192–193)

This concept of duality of contrary powers (i.e., that good health is related to an equilib-
rium between opposite influences) became a tenet of ancient medicine subscribed to by
Hippocrates and Galen (Powell, 2003).
Alcmaeon’s contributions extended to embryology and included other areas of physiol-
ogy. He noted that the head of the fetus was the first part to be developed in an embryo; this
was probably a justified deduction from the observed appearances of the fetus. Plutarch, in
a chapter entitled “What part of the body is first formed in the womb,” stated: “Aristotle,
as the keel of a ship is first made, so the first part that is formed is the loins. Alcmaeon,
the head, for that is the commanding and the principal part of the body” (Plutarch, 1898,
p. 184). Some physiological observations of Alcmaeon were reported by Aristotle:

The male begins to have semen at about the age of fourteen complete. At the
same time hair begins to appear on the pubes. As Alcmaeon of Crotona says
that flowers blossom before they bear seed, about the same period the voice
begins to become more harsh and irregular. (Aristotle, 1897, p. 179)

18
This quote of Aetius is considered one of Alcmaeon original fragments (DK, B4) by Diels and
Kranz (1952).
 422 Gastone G. Celesia

Alcmaeon was also interested in nature’s phenomena, and according to Plutarch he dis-
cussed mule sterility: “Alcmaeon says, that the bareness of the male mules arises from the
thinness of the genital sperm, that is, the seed is too chill; the female mules are barren, for
their womb does not open its mouth19 (as he expressed it)” (Plutarch, 1898, p. 182).
Alcmaeon was influenced by the period in which he lived, and as Durant commented:
“We are reminded of Goethe’s remark that a man’s vices (or errors) are common to him
with his epoch, but his virtues (or insights) are his own” (Durant, 1966, p. 137). Some of
Alcmaeon’s beliefs appear to us not only wrong but strange, yet they reflected the state of
knowledge in the sixth–fifth century BC. Regarding the source of the male semen, he stated
“enkephalau meros to sperma” (the sperm is part of the brain) (translated De Alcmaeone
Crotoniata Wachtler, 1896, p. 62). Anaxagoras, Democritus, and other natural philoso-
phers of the time believed that the sperm derived from the bone marrow (Codellas, 1932).
Censorinus20 reported: “Nam, ex quo parente feminis amplius fuit, eius sexum representari
dixit Alcmaeon,” that is, “Alcmaeon said that the sex of the newborn is derived from the
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parent who gives a greater quantity of sperm” (translated De die natali, Censorinus, 1642,
p. 40). He then discussed the ambiguity of the concept: “Illud quoque ambiguam facit inter
auctores opinionem” (“That also makes the question ambiguous among authors”) whether
the newborn comes from “the semen of the father only, as Diogenes and Hippon and the
Stoics wrote, or also from some seed of the mother, as is accepted by Anaxagoras and
Alcmaeon as well as by Parmenides, Empedocles and Epicurus” (translated De Die Natali,
Censorinus, 1642, p. 36).
Alcmaeon had considerable influence upon his contemporaries and the fifth–fourth
century BC philosophers and physicians. Table 1 gives a chronology of the relationship
between Alcmaeon, other philosophers–writers, and some political–cultural events of the
time. His opinions were still cited and debated one thousand years later. Aristotle consid-
ered Alcmaeon important enough to write a rebuttal of his ideas in a treatise (now lost)
entitled, according to Diogenes Laertius (1853), “A reply to the writings of Alcmaeon.”

Conclusions
The lack of any of Alcmaeon’s surviving manuscripts and the need to rely on sec-
ondary and/or tertiary sources reporting his views raise the issue of the veracity of the
information reported. Diels and Kranz, in Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (1952), noted
that only five fragments directly attributable to Alcmaeon survived, while the remaining
data were testimonials by ancient writers. Lanza, in 1965, added a sixth verbatim frag-
ment to the Alcmaeon collection. Work of earlier philosophers and writers even when
containing:

traditional material, were often updated and reflected the interests and predilec-
tions of their times, which as a rule were indebted to those of the professional
philosophers. The transmission of the early Greek philosophers [the so-called
physikoi] therefore is not only quite fragmentary but also often coloured or even
biased. (Long, 1999, p. 22)

19
This is considered one of the five original Alcmaeon quotes (DK, B3) by Diels and Kranz.
(1952).
20
Censorinus was a Roman grammarian and miscellaneous writer who flourished during the
third century AD; he wrote De Die Natali.
 Alcmaeon Crotoniata 423

The available information may also contain errors from scribe transcriptions (Crivellato &
Ribatti, 2007) and apocryphal data, such as the contention that Alcmaeon treated the plague
in Athens (Wachtler, 1896, p. 18). Another source of apocryphal information was Boureau–
Deslandes’ (1746) declaration that “Alcmaeon of Croton practiced medicine in many cities
of Magna Grecia” and “he did not ask anything for his honorarium . . . and even for the ones
who were very prosperous and could remain sick for a long time, he cured them promptly”
(translated from Histoire Critique de la Philosophie, Boureau–Deslandes, 1746, Volume
2, p. 94).
There has been a tendency to exaggerate the importance of Alcmaeon in medicine
and to speculate about his contributions. He has been heralded at different times as
the: father of Greek medicine, father of anatomy, father of psychology, and father of
neuroscience (Burnet, 1920; Chalcidius, quoted by Codellas, 1932; Lloyd, 1991; Dionigi,
2008, Debernardi et al., 2010).
The surviving fragmentary evidence must be interpreted cautiously in the context of
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the historical period of Alcmaeon’s life (Table 1). The birth of Greek natural philoso-
phy occurred approximately around 630–600 BC in Miletus and Athens. Durant (1966)
stated:

Here in Miletus, as later in Athens, were men from a hundred scattered states;
mentally active through competitive commerce, and freed from the bondage of
tradition.” . . . “No powerful priesthood, no ancient and inspired text limited
men’s thinking. (Durant, 1966, Part II, p. 135)

This atmosphere of free thinking produced a gradual secularization of medicine. At the

time of Alcmaeon, medical schools had been established in Cnidos, Croton, Cyrênés, and
other Greek cities. The natural philosophers at the time applied logic to their observations;
they argued against popular beliefs in the supernatural and developed novel theories and
explanations of natural phenomena (Sullivan, 1996).
Alcmaeon’s contributions to natural philosophy were considered sufficiently important
in antiquity to justify, more than a century later, both a rebuttal by Aristotle and a detailed
report by Theophrastus. He shared with his contemporaries a wide interest in physiology
and nature. His investigations on the characteristics of the sense organs stimulated the inter-
est of the pre-Socratic natural philosophers and became a standard topic of investigation in
the sixth and fifth century BC (Longrigg, 1993).
Two major contributions to the emancipation of medicine toward an independent
branch of study can safely be attributed to Alcmaeon: the advocacy for an empirical
approach to observations of nature and the encephalocentric theory of the mind. Alcmaeon
believed physicians and scholars should draw conclusions from empirical observations,
thus indirectly rejecting the ideas of Pythagoras and Parmenides (circa fifth century BC)
that we should depend on divine revelation (Tarán, 1965; Longrigg, 1993; Rocca, 2004).
Laertius quoted Alcmaeon in the beginning of his treatise: “About things invisible, and
things mortal, the Gods alone have certain knowledge; but men may form conjectures”21
(Laertius, 1853, p. 371). Longrigg explained: “Alcmaeon in the opening words of his trea-
tise draws a sharp distinction between human inference and divine certainty, holding that
only the gods can attain clear understanding concerning things unseen; mortals can only
feel their way by interpreting the signs afforded them in the visible world” (Longrigg, 1993,

21
This is a direct fragment from Alcmaeon (DK, B1) and is part of the quote “Alcmaeon of
Crotona, the son of Pirithus . . . ” reported on p. 8, and related to footnote 7.
 424 Gastone G. Celesia

p. 101). Alcmaeon stated that knowledge can be improved by “tekmairesthai kai ta hexē,
i.e., by collecting and collating empirical proofs (tekmēria22 )” (Anton & Kustas, 1971,
p. 88). Lanza (1965) argued that Alcmaeon developed the “first original declaration of the
methodology of Greek science” when he stated: “ είρά τoι μαθήσιoς αρχά” (“experience
is the foundation of knowledge”) (translated Un nuovo frammento di Alcmeone,23 Lanza,
1965, p. 279).
The other major contribution of Alcmaeon was the encephalocentric theory. His obser-
vations that the special senses (sight, audition, smell, taste) were located in the head and
that the eyes were connected via “pores” to the brain (εγκεϕαλoς) led him to conclude
that the brain was the important organ for perception (Wachtler, 1896; Diels, 1879; Diels &
Kranz, 1952; Olivieri, 1919). He further concluded that the “cerebrum” perceives all senses
(although he apparently never discussed the sense of touch). As reported by Theophrastus,
Alcmaeon believed that the brain was important for perceiving “sentire” and for compre-
hending “intellegere” (translated from Doxography Graeci, Diels 1879, p. 506). He was
probably the first to point out the important difference between perception (αὶσθάνεσθαι)
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and comprehension (τòευνιέναι). The originality and audacity of Alcmaeon’s conclusion

is to be viewed in the context of his time when the prevalent belief was that the heart was the
center of Alcmaeon’s ideas influenced Socrates and Plato (Huffman, 2008). Plato in Phaedo
expanded on Alcmaeon’s concept and stated: “ . . . the brain that furnishes the senses of
hearing and sight and smell, and from these arise memory and opinion, and from memory
and opinion, when they have attained a state of quiescence, in this way spring knowledge”
(Plato, 1875, p. 72). The primacy of the brain, advocated by Alcmaeon, was accepted by
Plato. Galen similarly believed the animal spirit was present in the brain and that the brain
was the organ responsible for sensation and thought (Rocca, 2004).
Two thousand five hundred years later, these two insights of Alcmaeon remain true and
guarantee him a place in the history of medicine and neuroscience.

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22
Tekmēria has been translated either as “perceptions” or “proofs.” The relationship between
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23
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