Name Aelius Nicon Role Architect | Children Galen | |
Aelius Nikon was a Greek architect and builder in 2nd century AD Pergamon. Nikon is known only as the father of the ancient anatomist and philosopher, Galen.
Nikon was a mathematician, architect, astronomer, philosopher, and devotee of Greek literature. Nikon closely supervised Galen's education and tutored him at home, intending his son to study philosophy or politics. However, according to Galen, Nikon was visited in a dream by Asclepius, Greek god of healing, who told to him to allow his son to study medicine. Galen soon began his studies at the major sanctuary of Asclepius located in Pergamon.
In his book, On the Passions and Errors of the Soul, Galen says that his "father’s training lay chiefly in the sciences of geometry, arithmetic, architecture, and astronomy. He also describes his temperament: