Alexandrian school of anatomy
Introduction-
During the 3rd century B.C., the school was founded in Alexandria, Egypt. Like other previous Hellenistic institutions, the school incorporated Greek humanism in their principles and followed the Hippocratic Oath. Many pupils at this institution traveled along the Mediterranean, spreading their knowledge and findings throughout the region. Notable ancient physicians who represented the school included Galen, Erasistratus, and Herophilus. After a fire ravaged the Alexandrian library, most documents were destroyed, however some analyses were saved partly by Christian monks, Arab, and Jewish scholars of the middle ages. In the civilizations of antiquity, the school revolutionized the study of anatomy by becoming the first institution to study the dissection of the human body (presumably that of condemned criminals), which was pioneered by Herophilus and Erasistratus. They were presumably the first and last physicians to use the human body to study anatomy during antiquity. Challenging the widespread superstitious notion during antiquity that the human body was sacred, and to perform any dissections or surgeries upon a body was denounced, they opposed the Greek cultural sanctity of the human body. Many previous physiological anatomical theories were based on speculative hypotheses as opposed to factual scientific evidence that depended on the study of actual human cadavers. This allowed the study of the specific internal human processes and workings of the human body. The human anatomy was studied through the comparisons of both animal and human cadavers. Through dissecting the human body, the professors at the Alexandrian school of Anatomy compared various parts of the organs with the nerves and ventricles adjacent to it. They were able to verify and amend the works of the great founders of anatomy, Hippocrates and Aristotle, who studied the human anatomy through the organs of animals. With this revolutionary process, the Alexandrian school successfully reshaped the future of anatomy and subsequently progression in science and medicine.
Background History
Traditional Greek attitudes and laws to the corpse and the skin have prevented the systematic human dissection during almost all of Greek antiquity. From the Pre-Socratic philosopher-scientists of the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. to distinguished Greek physicians of the later Roman Empire. The cultural, political, and social circumstances in early Alexandria emboldened Herophilus to overcome the pressures of cultural traditions and to initiate systematic human dissection. During the 4th century in Macedonia, Alexander the Great set out to conquer the ancient world with his massive military establishments. After his conquest of Egypt, Alexander founds the great capital city of Alexandria, which became a major cultural and scientific forefront of the Hellenistic world. The growing wealth and prestige of Alexandria made it a coveted conquest for the mighty Roman Empire. Amidst the chaotic and unsettled state of society, the Egyptian Greeks successfully preserved Alexandria as the center of knowledge, science, and civilization. After Alexander’s empire fell, the Romans then appropriated Alexandria along with the entire Mediterranean region, which was dubbed “Our Lake”. The Romans unified the Mediterranean region during this Christian era, and spread the medical know-how of Alexandria throughout the Roman Empire through the Latin vernacular.

Library and Museum of Alexandria
The founder of the library and museum is not certain, though most can assume that it was first founded by Ptolemy I and developed under Ptolemy II. The Museum was both a religious and scholarly institution, whose religious faction focused mostly on the Muses, which were the Greek deities of artistic and intellectual pursuits (hence the name Museum). The scholars studies medicine, mathematics, astronomy, and literature. The scholars at Alexandria were supported by the kings, who provided them with meals and pay. The museum was an extremely beautiful public institution, extravagantly ornamented much like a royal palace, to the love and splendor of the kings. The library and most direct works of Herophilus and Eristratus were ravaged by time and the pillages of war, many findings can be discerned through the accounts of Galen, Oribasius, Celsus, and other Greek scholars.

Discoveries at Alexandria
Erasistratus studied the valves of the heart distinguishing them by the names tricuspid and sigmoid. He studied the shape, structure, and divisions of the brain’s cavities and membranes. He also formed the notion that the nature of the nerves was in direct correlation with the spinal cord and the brain. Overall, he distinguished the difference between the sensory nerves from motor. By extensively studying the dissection of the human body, Herophilus acquired vast anatomical knowledge of the most mysterious parts of the body. He studied the pulmonary artery, arterious veins, vessels of the mesntery, and concluded that they did not flow into the vena portae, but to specific glandular bodies. He also named the part of the alimentary canal adjacent to the stomach the duodenum (dodekadaktulos). He also studied the brain, sensory, and motor nerves, and correlates them to the ligaments and tendons. He identified the vascular membrane, venous sinus, and calamus scriptorious.
In, De Medicina, Celsus differentiated between the windpipe and esophagus, which leads to the stomach in relation to the diaphragm. He explicates the workings of the liver, spleen, and kidneys. He also studied the uterus, vagina, and the bones and teeth. He describes the vertebrae, ribs, scapula, humerus, radius, ulna, carpal and metacarpal, pelvis, and lower extremities. Galen was one of the most important figures at Alexandria, discerning the concept of humoral theory with the concept of nature, but he also worked on his system of pneumatic theories of the Stoics founded experimental physiology and the exponent of design in nature.