Meges of Sidon: The "Most Learned" of Surgery's Founding Fathers

This paper aims to bring back to life an underrated, even forgotten surgeon of the late first century B.C.E., Meges of Sidon. He was an experienced surgeon of his time and was considered the most erudite Roman surgeon before Galen. He belonged to the Alexandria School of Medicine and later migrated to Rome to practice. Although most of his work did not survive, he was mentioned by notable ancient figures, such as Celsus and Galen. He excelled in various surgical specialties, not limited to neurosurgery, orthopedics, ophthalmology, and urology. Galen cited Meges in his surgical book on head injuries and cranial procedures. Meges was known to have invented a "double-edged" blade that he used to remove stones from the neck of the bladder. His treatment of anal fistulas was a reference through the Middle Ages. Celsus, a Roman encyclopedist of the first century, would later erroneously receive credit for ancient surgical innovations, such as the nonslipping cranial drill and the treatment of depressed skull fractures, even though he was not a surgeon. However, as Celsus was going over the history of surgery, he described Meges as the "most learned" of its prominent figures. Meges' neurosurgic techniques and teachings are deduced from Celsus, who shortly succeeded him, did not practice surgery, and acknowledged him as his primary source on surgical topics.