Rufus of Samaria

Rufus of Samaria is the earliest Jewish physician and writer on medicine whose name has been preserved. He was a learned and wealthy Jewish physician who emigrated to Rome from Samaria. He probably changed his Hebrew name to the Latin name Rufus because of its similarity in sound to rofe, the Hebrew word for physician. Rufus wrote medical books in Greek, and collected an extensive library of commentaries on Hippocrates, to which he added several of his own. It is clear that Rufus was an eminent medical authority from the fact that Galen mentions him in detail, although the latter was no great friend of the Jews.