'Choose your master well'. Medical training, testimonies and claims to authority.

Abstract

This paper explores the ways in which a doctor could use his master's name to enhance his authority and back his claims to being a qualified physician. This is looked at mainly in two contexts: when applying for the position of public physician, and in medical treatises. I argue that the influence of teachers was widely recognised in Greek society. This meant that using the name of one's master to defend one's skills was accepted by both colleagues and laymen and could therefore be used in very different contexts. Sometimes this argument had to be confirmed by witnesses, in which case fellow-pupils or patients treated during a pupil's apprenticeship could come in useful.