Charmis of Marseilles (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1st century AD) was a famous Roman physician. A native of Massilia, he came to Rome during the reign of

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

. Pliny counted him as a "completely Greek physician". 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 Crinas (Crinias) of Marseilles was a 1st-century physician from Massilia (Marseilles), contemporary of the Emperor Nero. He practiced medicine in Massilia, having mathematical and astrological knowledge. What we know about him comes from a few lin ...

. Crinas had in turn supplanted Thessalus, who followed the principles of the

Methodic school The Methodic school of medicine (''Methodics'', ''Methodists'', or ''Methodici'', el, Μεθοδικοί) was a school of medicine in ancient Greece and Rome. The Methodic school arose in reaction to both the Empiric school and the Dogmatic scho ...

of medicine. It is said that he charged a client two hundred thousand

sesterces The ''sestertius'' (plural ''sestertii''), or sesterce (plural sesterces), was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin. The na ...

for his services. He also practiced outside Rome, probably in his native Massilia. After some dealings with a "sick man from the provinces" he was fined a million sesterces by

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...

, who also exiled him. Nonetheless, according to Pliny, he quickly regained a fortune while in exile in Gaul and after his return in Rome. It is thought that Charmis of Marseilles and the "Charmes" mentioned in

Galen Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be one of ...

's ''On Antidoctes'' are the same person. 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.

References

1st-century Roman physicians 1st-century Greek physicians Ancient Massaliotes Ancient Roman people of Greek descent {{Ancient Roman medicine