Commentary and performance narrative: Some stance acts in Galen (GoHA Working Papers 2)

While the self-presentation of authorship in ancient Greek medical texts has been explored through various lenses and terminologies, Galen's dynamic interplay of literary form and medical content presents serious challenges across his extensive body of work. This paper proposes 'stancetaking' as a more adaptable framework and focuses on two types of texts—or sections of texts—that are less firmly established in the medical tradition: the commentary and the performance narrative. Both forms are abundantly present in Galen's writings. Specifically, I will examine his commentaries on the Hippocratic Aphorisms and Epidemics III, as well as some of his performance narratives in Anatomical Procedures and On Prognosis. Through this analysis, I aim to demonstrate that Galen is, in fact, always taking stances—thereby pushing us to adopt particular perspectives—even in contexts where we might not expect him to do so.