Search

[German version] Greek physician, head of an Erasistratean school in Smyrna, early 1st cent. BC (Str. 12,8,20); he wrote on  dietetics (Plin. HN 14,130; 20,35; 27,31), embryology (Tert. De anima 25) and toothache (Plin. HN 12,40). He was the inventor of a famous black plaster that ‘helped with all types of wounds’ (Gal. 13,787). Galen, who recorded four different recipes for this medication (13,780; 787; 810; 812) and cites the four authors ( Andromachus [5] the Younger,  Heras,  Heraclides [27] a…

[German version] [1] Founder of Miletos (Νειλεύς/ Neileús; Νηλεύς/ Nēleús; Νείλεως/ Neíleōs). Mythical founder of the city of Miletus [2]; from Pylos; son of the Attic king Codrus, brother of Medon [5]; since he is second to his brother in the succession, he leaves Attica with a group of Athenians und Ionians from Pylos, settles the Ionian cities in Asia Minor, founds Miletus and the Milesian dynasty of rulers. His son Aepytus founds Priene (Hellanicus FGrH 125 F 10; Hdt. 9,97; Callim. Iambi fr. 191,76; Str. 14,1,3; Paus. 7,2,1ff). Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) [German version] [2] Greek surgeon a…

[German version] (Ἀκουμενός; Akoumenós) [of Athens] Doctor from the late 5th cent. BC. As father of the doctor  Eryximachus, who was a friend of Socrates and Phaedrus, A. emerges briefly as a fictitious dialogue partner in Pl. Phdr. 268a and 269a, in order to emphasize the thesis that the art of medicine comprises more than merely knowledge, which has been gleaned from books and teachers. Nutton, Vivian (London)

(Στράτων; Strátōn). [German version] [1] Attic comedy writer, 4th cent. BC Attic comedy writer of the 4th cent. BC, according to the Suda belonging to the Middle Comedy [1. test. 1], but on the basis of fr. 1,43 (mentioning Philitas [1] of Cos) certainly to the New Comedy [2.62 f.]. At the Dionysia of 302, S. attained the fourth place [1. test. 2]. Of the comedy Phoinikídes (fr. 1 PCG) a rhesis survives on papyrus (fr. 1,4-8; 11; 13-15; 17-21; 23-25; 34-50; cf. [3]) and in a divergent version in Athenaeus (fr. 1,1-47; cf. [1.621 f.]); the spe…

(Διοσκουρίδης; Dioskourídēs). [German version] [1] Son of Polemaeus, naval commander in 314-313 BC Son of Polemaeus, nephew of  Antigonus [1] Monophthalmus. Led the fleet to a few victories as naval commander in 314-13 BC. Nothing further is known about his life. Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) Bibliography R. A. Billows, Antigonus the One-Eyed, 1990, 381f. [German version] [2] Polyhistor of the 4th and 3rd cents. BC Polyhistor of the 4th and 3rd cents. BC, pupil of Isocrates (Ath. 1,18,11 A). Of his works, the following titles are known (cf. FGrH 3 B 594): 1. Apomnēmoneúmata (‘Memorabil…

[German version] A. Greek (Ἀντώνιος; Antṓnios). [German version] [1] Thallus Epigrammatic poet, 2nd half of the 1st cent. BC Epigrammatic poet from Miletus (according to [2] he had received Roman citizenship, through the patronage of Antonia Minor) lived in the 2nd half of the 1st cent. BC (in Anth. Pal. 6,235 the birth of a Καῖσαρ [ Kaîsar] is celebrated, who is to be equated with either C. Julius Caesar, the grandson of Augustus, or with Germanicus). His five epigrams, which derive from the ‘Garland’ of Philippus, are certainly conventional in their…

[German version] (Φυλότιμος; Phylótimos) of Cos. Physician and chief magistrate ( mónarchos) of Cos in the first half of the 3rd cent. BC; along with Herophilus [1], he was a pupil of Praxagoras and became one of the classic authorities of Greek medicine (cf. Gal. De examinando medico 5,2), although only fragments of his writings now survive. He pursued anatomical interests, placed the seat of the soul in the heart and held that the brain was merely a useless extension of the spinal medulla (Gal. De usu pa…

Three bearers  of the Italic gens name S. are known from the late Republic. [German version] [1] S., L. Held a pro-consular imperium over Hispania Ulterior By popular vote a pro-consular imperium over Hispania Ulterior was transferred to him for 199 BC (Liv. 31,50,10-11 and [1]), and he returned in 196 with such great booty that he was able to have three arches built in Rome (Liv. 33,27,3-4); In 196 he was a member of a commission to re-organize Greece (Pol. 18,48,2 and [2]). Schmitt, Tassilo (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] S., C. Praetor of Sardinia in 188 BC Praetor of Sardinia in 188 BC …

(Γλύκων; Glýkōn). [German version] [1] Poet Named by Heph. 10,2 Consbruch as the inventor of Glyconic verse ( Metre). His existence is disputed and the three verses ascribed to him (= 1029 PMG) are generally viewed as alexandrine in terms of metre: G. could hardly have lived before Sappho (late 7th cent. BC), who used this meter. Choeroboscus names G. (in his Comm. on St. In Heph. Consbruch) as a comedic poet, but probably mistook him for Leucon (PCG V 612). Anth. Pal. 10,124, a two-liner on the futil…

[German version] The idea that physical health was connected with bodily fluids was widespread. Mucus is already mentioned in ancient Egyptian medicine, and also in Babylonian medicine particular attention was paid to the quantity and colour of bodily fluids. The Greeks regarded   ichṓr of the gods, blood (α(̃ιμα; haîma) in humans and sap (χυμός; chymós) in plants as the bearers of life. These fluids (χυμοί/ chymoí, Latin humores) could also become dangerous in excess. Two humours, phlegm (φλέγμα; phlégma) and bile (χόλος; chólos or χολή; cholḗ), are already represented as hazard…

[German version] Evodus (Εὐστόχιος; Eustóchios) from Alexandria. He encountered  Plotinus towards the end of the latter's life ( c. AD 269), who converted him to philosophy. E. also acted as Plotinus' physician, accompanied him on his last journey, and was with him when he died (Porphyrius V. Plot. 7). Nutton, Vivian (London)

[English version] Documentary evidence for a use of the HO in Late Antiquity is ambiguous. Gregory of Nazianzus (Greg. Naz. Or. 7,10) reported that his brother Caesarius did not have to swear the oath as a medical student in Alexandria, thus implying that others probably had to. However, there is no record for the Byzantine or Muslim world to confirm any official obligation to swear this oath, even though it was evidently well-known. In practice, it was superseded by the Galenic concept equating e…

[German version] also ‘Hansen's Disease’. A chronic disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae affecting the peripheral nerves, and often also the skin. Palaeopathological finds prove its existence in the Mediterranean area only for the Hellenistic period [1], but texts from Babylon, Egypt and Israel from c. 800 BC onwards describe disfiguring skin diseases, among which could be included leprosy, even though the descriptions probably refer to psoriasis. The biblical name of the disease ṣaraʿat, in the Middle Ages wrongly translated as leprosy, referred to a disease whic…

[German version] I. Greece Greek medicine is fundamentally different from Egyptian and Babylonian medicine because it allots dietetics in the broader sense of a regime of eating, drinking, exercise and bathing, a key role within therapeutics [2. 395-402; 3]. Originally, dietetics referred to the administering of balanced foods in liquid, pasty or solid form, depending on the degree of illness (Hippocr. De medicina vetere 5 [4. 241-257]). However, about the mid 5th cent. BC it expanded well beyond a …

[German version] Several MSS of Dioscorides contain an anonymous poem of 215 hexameter verses about the qualities of herbs, which was written probably in the 3rd cent. in highly stylized Greek. It refers back to Nicander, Dioscorides and Andromachus [4, the Elder] According to [1], the poetic language shows similarities with the Orphica (newest edition: [1; cf. 2]). Nutton, Vivian (London) Bibliography 1 E. Heitsch, in: AAWG 1964, 23-38 2 NGAW 1963, 2, 44-49.

(Ὄλυμπος/Ólympos). Geography: [1-13]. People: [14-15]. [German version] [1] Home of the ›Olympian‹ gods, highest mountain in Greece (Latin Olympus) (Latin Olympus). Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) Meyer, Ernst (Zürich) [German version] I. Geography The highest mountain in Greece, regarded as the home of the 'Olympian' gods (twelve (Olympian) gods). Its altitude, overlooking all of its surroundings, creates a powerful impression, as do its massive size and density and its dramatic ascent, especially at the east and west, which …

[German version] Medical writer, 4th cent. AD, author of a Latin paraphrase of a Greek letter to (an undefined) king Antigonus that is passed down under the name of Hippocrates [6] and that contained a dietetic plan and advice on treating diseases of the head, chest, belly and kidneys. This paraphrase is extant in the introduction to a medical treatise of Marcellus Empiricus, where it is preceded by a letter of L. to his sons. Both texts probably belonged to the introduction to a medical work by L. that is lost today. Nutton, Vivian (London)

(Ἡράκλειτος; Hērákleitos). [German version] [1] H. of Ephesus Ionian philosopher, c. 500 BC Son of Bloson, outstanding personality within Ionian philosophy. Betegh, Gábor (Budapest) [German version] A. The person H.'s main period of activity is estimated to have been about 503-500 BC (Diog. Laert. 9,1). He belonged to a leading family in the public life of Ephesus. The doxographic tradition records several anecdotes of H.'s arrogance and contempt for his fellow citizens and humanity in general, which are mostly based on fragments of H. Betegh, Gábor (Budapest) [German version] B. La…

Name of a Roman lineage (Sabine Clausus, with the vernacular variant of   Clodius , esp. in the 1st cent. BC). The Claudii supposedly immigrated to Rome from the Sabine city of Regillum at the beginning of the republic in 504 BC under their ancestor Att(i)us Clausus ( Appius) and were immediately accepted into the circle of patrician families (Liv. 2,16,4-6), which explains why the early members received the invented epithets of Inregillensis C. [I 5-6] and Sabinus C. [I 31-32], [1. 155f.]. The praenomen Appius came to signify the family. Named after them was the Tribus Claudi…

[German version] Physician, the son of Hesychius of Damascus, changed his residence in the early 6th cent. AD in order to join his father's medical practice in Constantinople. He treated emperor Leo, whereupon he became a   comes and   archiatros (Chron. pasch. 8254a; Malalas, Chronographia 370 Dindorf; Photius, Bibliotheca 344A). As a pagan philosopher who was honoured in Athens and Constantinople with statues, he ordered the rich to help the poor. The latter he incidentally treated without charging a fee. His nic…