Charmis of Marseilles

Charmis of Marseilles (fl. 1st century AD) was a famous Roman physician. A native of Massilia, he came to Rome during the reign of Nero.^[1] Pliny counted him as a "completely Greek physician".^[2] He achieved great fame and fortune in Rome by introducing the practice of cold bathing, which supplanted the astrological medicine of his fellow townsman Crinas.^[3] Crinas had in turn supplanted Thessalus, who followed the principles of the Methodic school of medicine.^[3]

It is said that he charged a client two hundred thousand sesterces for his services.^[1]^[4] He also practiced outside Rome, probably in his native Massilia.^[2] After some dealings with a "sick man from the provinces" he was fined a million sesterces by Claudius, who also exiled him.^[2]^[4]

Nonetheless, according to Pliny, he quickly regained a fortune while in exile in Gaul and after his return in Rome.^[2] It is thought that Charmis of Marseilles and the "Charmes" mentioned in Galen's On Antidoctes are the same person.^[1]^[2] Thus, thanks to Galen we know that he also treated women. An antidote used by him had several benefits, including effectiveness for menstrual problems, as well as the pain-free expulsion of the embryo.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Charmis". Perseus Project. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Hemelrijk, Emily; Woolf, Greg (18 July 2013). Women and the Roman City in the Latin West. Brill. p. 276. ISBN 9789004255951. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
^ ^a ^b Conrad, Lawrence I.; Neve, Michael; Nutton, Vivian; Porter, Roy; Wear, Andrew (1995). The Western Medical Tradition 800 BC to AD 1800. Cambridge University Press. p. 54. ISBN 9780521475648. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
^ ^a ^b Prioreschi ·, Plinio (1998). Roman Medicine (Mellen history of medicine). Horatius Press. p. 602. ISBN 9781888456035. Retrieved 10 February 2022.