The Complete Works of Galen, Vol. 1

[Nicon's] son was born in Pergamum d) in Asia, once the noble royal seat of the Attalids The Attalid dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Pergamon in the third and second centuries BCE., in the year 131 after the birth of Christ, during the 14th or 15th year of the Emperor Hadrian. By his father—who was not only a geometrician and architect, as Suidas The Suda is a massive 10th-century Byzantine Greek encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world. records, but also most highly cultured in all mathematical sciences and other literature (see Galen, On the Good and Bad Juices of Foods, chapter 1, page 419, volume VI) e)—and by certain other teachers of excellent reputation in his childhood f), he was excellently taught the liberal arts and shaped toward every refinement and culture. Having completed his 14th year, or, what amounts to the same thing, at the start of his 15th year of age, in the year 145 AD, and in the 7th year of Antoninus Pius (who ruled after Hadrian), he began to devote his efforts to philosophical studies under Caius the Platonist, a certain disciple of Philopator the Stoic, and others; then...

d) From this fact, in written manuscripts and published editions, he is always called "The Pergamenian" original: "Pergamenus". He explicitly calls Pergamum his fatherland in book 10 of On the Properties of Simple Medicines, chapter 2, number 9, in the section concerning cheese, volume III, page 282 of the cited edition.

e) He extols his father with the highest praise in very many places in his books, for example, in the book On Recognizing the Diseases of the Mind, chapter 8, volume VI, page 531.

f) He reports that he was excellently instructed by his father, who was a most suitable teacher, in book 2 of On the Difference of Pulses, chapter 5, page 46, volume VIII. He also shows that his father spared no expense of any kind in his education in book 8 of On the Method of Healing, chapter 3, page 188, volume X. He says that from his early youth he was captured by the love of philosophy and made use of the best teachers in book 9 of On the Method of Healing, chapter 4, page 205, volume X. Compare Galen’s book On the Order of His Own Books, addressed to Eugenianus, page 52, volume I; and On His Own Books, chapter 2, page 138, and chapter 11, page 45, volume I, where he recounts many things about the study of philosophy pursued by him.