Martin Akakia

{{Short description|French royal physician (1500–1551)}}File:Martin_Akakia_I_by_Barbat.jpg

Martin Akakia (1497–1551) was a physician of King Francis I of France.{{Cite book |last1=Kusukawa |first1=Sachiko |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HN6uQt3uVIcC&dq=%22Martin+Akakia%22&pg=PA151 |title=Transmitting Knowledge: Words, Images, and Instruments in Early Modern Europe |last2=Maclean |first2=Ian |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-928878-6 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Witkowski |first=Gustave Jules |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tWMPAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Martin+Akakia%22&pg=PA76 |title=The Evil that Has Been Said of Doctors: Extracts from Early Writers, Collated from "Le Mal Qu'on a Dit Des Medecins". |date=1889 |publisher=Reprint from the Lancet-clinic |pages=76 |language=en}} He was born at Châlons-en-Champagne, his real name being Aquaquia. He later adopted the name "Akakia," the Greek form of his name, following a common scholarly practice of the time to Latinize or Hellenize names. The name "Akakia" was later immortalized by Voltaire in his satirical writings, where he used it for a character described as a "pretended physician to the Pope," featured in a diatribe against Maupertuis. Martin Akakia in the image, is depicted as wearing a traditional scholar's Cap, a soft, rounded hat commonly associated with academics and intellectuals of the Renaissance period. This cap symbolized his learned status and complemented his formal robes, which were layered and high-collared, typical of the era's professional attire. This attire he is wearing helps allow people to see his role not only as a physician and that he is dedicated to academics.