Luis Alejandro Salas

Assistant Professor of Classics​
PhD, University of Texas
research interests:
  • Greek and Roman Medicine and Philosophy

contact info:

mailing address:

  • WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
  • CB 1050
  • ONE BROOKINGS DR.
  • ST. LOUIS, MO 63130-4899
image of book cover

​Luis Alejandro Salas' research interests lie primarily in Greek and Roman medicine and philosophy. He is committed to promoting the importance of medical history and the history of philosophy to contemporary medicine and the humanities.

Salas's work focuses on the ways in which philosophical ideas and polemic influence their medical counterparts from the Hellenistic period through the second century CE, especially in the work of Galen of Pergamum (129-216 CE). Luis also maintains an interest in Aristotelian psychology and Philosophy of Language. Professionally, he is committed to promoting the importance of medical history and the history of philosophy to contemporary medicine and the humanities. He is the associate editor of APEIRON, an international journal for the history of science and philosophy.

He is currently working on a book about Galenic polemics, Cutting Words: Polemical Dimensions of Galen's Anatomical Experiments. He is also writing an article on prehension as an underlying taxonomical principle in the comparative anatomical claims of Greco-Roman anatomists. 

Luis Alejandro Salas holds a B.A. from St. John's College in Annapolis, an M.A. in Classics from Rutgers University, and an M.A. in Philosophy from The University of Texas at Austin. He took his Ph.D. in Classics from The University of Texas at Austin in the Joint Program in Ancient Philosophy. 

recent courses

Topics in Ancient Studies: Science and Medicine in Ancient Greece and Rome (L08 Classics 4361)

There is a sometimes popular narrative that contemporary science represents the culmination of a tradition that began in the Greco-Roman world. In a trivial sense, this story is true; in a far more interesting sense it is not. This course examines the scientific traditions of the ancient Greco-Roman world, with a focus on ancient biology and medicine. We will consider how the Greeks distinguished their sciences from traditional cultural accounts and discuss what factors contributed to the emergence of this distinction. It begins with the emergence of Greek scientific accounts in the Classical period (5th-4th centuries BCE), the growing importance of empirical observation in the Hellenistic period (4th-1st centuries BCE), and culminates with Galen of Pergamum's (2nd century CE) synthesis of the medical traditions that preceded him. A final week will describe the heirs of Greco-Roman science, from medieval Europeans and the Islamic world up to the Scientific Revolution. The goal of this course will be to expose the student to approaches and pitfalls to the study of ancient science while also engaging with the Greco-Roman scientific tradition, especially the ancient biological tradition, from the perspective of its practitioners.

    Beginning Greek I (L09 Greek 101D)

    An intensive introduction to Classical Greek, the language of Homer, Sophocles, Plato, and the New Testament. The goal will be to develop a reading knowledge as rapidly and efficiently as possible and the work of the course will include extensive readings in literary texts.

      Selected Publications

      "Fighting with the Heart of a Beast: Galen's Use of the Elephant's Cardiac Anatomy against Cardiocentrists", Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014) 697–726 (Duke University Press)

      in the news:

      Center for the Humanities interview with Luis Salas: The Feuding Physician of Ancient Rome

      Center for the Humanities interview with Luis Salas: The Feuding Physician of Ancient Rome

      Professor Salas' Loeb Classical Library Fellowship featured in Washington University Record

      Professor Salas' Loeb Classical Library Fellowship featured in Washington University Record

      Professor Salas receives Loeb Classical Library Fellowship

      Washington University Classics Faculty to be Well Represented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Classical Studies

      Washington University Classics Faculty to be Well Represented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Classical Studies

      Read more news