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[German version] The term malaria covers a polymorphous complex of feverous diseases whose origin can be traced back to the parasite plasmodium carried by the anopheles mosquito. In antiquity, malaria could be distinguished by some of its symptoms: recurrent attacks of fever, particularly of three and four-day duration, swelling of the spleen (splenomegalia) or black urine. Aetiologially the feverous diseases were related to swampy regions, especially within the framework of climatic medicine. Treatment was symptom-…

[German version] ( klystḗr/ klystḗrion, Lat. clyster/ clysterium; also klŷsma/ klysmós and éngklysma, derived from klýzein/ engklýzein, Lat. inicere: to pour, to rinse, and enetḗr/ énema, from: eniénai: to inject) or clyster: pharmaceutical substance of, and device for, administering parenteral (in this case, often in combination with the adverb kátō or the verb hypoklýzein) or (in gynaecological treatises) vaginal injections of therapeutic solutions. The instrument consisted of a flexible and compressible container (animal skin or bladder) with two opening…

[German version] Medical analysis of the urine (οὖρον/ oû ron, Latin urina) of a sick person for diagnosis (or  prognosis). Ancient sources: the Corpus Hippocraticum (Hippocrates [6]; Hippoc. Aphorismi 4,69-73; Hippoc. Prognosticon 12; also the comm. by Galen 17,2,750-763 and 18,2,146-165), Rufus [5] of Ephesus ( De renum et vesicae affectionibus) respectively, Galen (De crisibus 9,594-607), the Corpus Galenicum (De urinis 19,574-601; De urinis compendium 19,602-608; De urinis ex Hippocrate et Galeno 19,609-628; De signis ex urinis [1]) and the encyclo…

[German version] Greek doctor from Cappadocia who practiced in Rome. He explained his medication-based therapy, dated to between 100 BC and AD 40, in a treatise that has been dated [1. 242-246] to between 20 BC and AD 20. The recipes, which characteristically tend to be composite, indicate a late date. H.'s origin and the classicism of his medical material suggest an association with the ‘School of Tarsus’ [2], as it may be called, or at least permit classification with the current that it represents. Apart from a papyrus fragment [3], we have 25 quotes in Galen, of which 20 ap…

[German version] (κράσις/ krásis, Latin mixtio, 'mixture'; complexio, temperatio, temperamentum). Medical term (in physiology, pathology and pharmacology). Continuing the theories of the first Greek philosophers concerning nature (Natural philosophy), especially on the four elements (Elements, theories of) together with their qualities, krásis describes the 'mixture' of materials and thus of specific characteristics which are individually constitutive for the psychology of every subject (e.g. Emp. 31 B 6,96 DK). In the ancient humoral …

[German version] (Κρατεύας; Krateúas). Rhizotómos ‘root-cutter’, ‘herb man’; [6. test. 7 and 8]) of the 2nd/1st cent. BC. He was assumed to be the pharmacologist of  Mithridates VI Eupator simply because he is attributed with assigning the name of mithridátia (6. test. 2) to a plant, although there is no proof for it in the phytonymy. It was also assumed that he went to Thapsus [3. 1644], but this was a mistake since the fr. in question [6. test. 16] points to Sicily [1; 2. 206, 529 and appendix]. The portrait of the Codex Vindob. med. gr. 1, f. 3v has been regarded as authentic [5. 1139.6…

[German version] (Μητροδῶρα; Mētrodôra). According to the manuscript Flor. Laur. 75,3 (12th cent. AD), the author of surviving extracts under the title ‘Diseases of the Womb (Περὶ γυναικείων παθῶν τῆς μήτρας). Although M. has been identified with various male or female physicians, his/her identity remains unknown, even enigmatic. It is possible that M. never existed, if the name ( mētròs dôra, ‘gifts of the mother’) really is only an erroneous interpretation of the title of a collection of advice given to young women of marriageable age by their mothers. The text, which is based on …

[German version] Alexandrian doctor, lived between the time of Herophilus (330/320-260/250 BC), whose successor he was, and Apollonius (1st cent. BC), by whom he is cited; generally he is placed in the 2nd cent. BC because of his polemics against the  Empiricists and their views on aetiology. Of his works only indirect citations are extant, of which three bear his name, and the last (Gal. Def. med. 220 = 19,448f. K.) was merely attributed to him [1. 73 n. 44; 137 n. 183; 2]. Fragment 3 comes from a work Perì aitíōn (‘On the causes’) in which H. refutes the aetiological nihilism of th…

[German version] A. Definition Iatromathēmatiká (Herm. 1,387,1 Ideler) or nosoúntōn perignostiká ek tês mathēmatikês epistḗmēs (ibid. 1,430,2-3) etc. is the term for the medical implications of astrology, i.e. the recognition of a nosological predisposition of patients or a prognosis of current illnesses, connected with prevention or therapy, depending on the case. Touwaide, Alain (Madrid) [German version] B. Sources The books on which iatromathematics is based are the alleged revelations of  Hermes, who was possibly assisted by Asclepius. These revela…

Touwaide, Alain (Madrid) I. Europe (CT) [German version] A. Early Middle Ages (CT) The practice of post-Classical curative art is characterised by six tendencies that complement or follow upon one another: 1. The fundamental texts survived in their original Greek version at least until the 5th-6th cent. (Dioscurides). Some were presumably translated into Latin during the same period at Rome or Ravenna (Hippocrates, Peri diaites, Oribasius, Synopsis and Euporista) or else in North Africa (Dioscurides). There were also new Greek texts from Constantinople (Dioscu…

[German version] Therapeutic intervention in human and veterinary medicine, consisting of the causing of a ‘burn’ on the surface of the body using two different techniques with their respective indications: a burn in the actual sense by means of an iron made red-hot on coals, then by means of a lamp-wick ( mýkēs, e.g. Hippoc. De internis affectionibus 212,14 L.); it was used to make the tissue contract. In this way it was said that a mechanical repair of fractures was achieved [3. 164-165], or in the case of a poisonous bite or sting, the poison …

[German version] (φυσιογνωμονία/ physiognōmonía, Lat. physiognomia). Within ancient psychology, physiognomy represented a set of techniques, assessing a person's personality and character through the observation of physical characteristics and behaviour (Ps.-Aristot. Physiognom. 6-7). Extant sources: the treatise Physiognōmoniká, attributed to Aristotle [6], but probably originating from the Peripatos and the 3rd cent. BC; based on this, Polemon's [6] treatise, written between AD 133 and 136, of which a fragment and an Arabic tran…

[German version] Helvius V., 4th-century AD physician, of African origin, teacher of Theodorus [3] Priscianus. V. had - probably in 382 - contacts with Augustinus. He concluded his political career with a proconsulship in Africa, where, after being comes archiatrorum presumably in 379, he worked as a physician. V. is mentioned in the Codex Theodosianus (Cod. Theod. 10,19,9: AD 378; 13,3,12: 379). V. wrote several treatises influenced by Greek medicine, today lost apart from forewords ( praefationes) or fragments: (1) a collection of recipes, of which only the Epistula ad Valentinia…

[English version] [1] aus Megara, Lehrer in Selymbria, 5. Jh. v. Chr. Paidotribḗs aus Megara, der sich in Selymbria niederließ, Zeitgenosse des Protagoras. Seine Geburt wurde um 500 v.Chr. angesetzt [2. 200f.], sein im Alter eingetretener Tod um 430-420 [5. 53]. Nachdem Platon ihm die Entwicklung einer neuen Therapieform zugeschrieben hatte, sah man ihn als Verf. eines kleinen Werks an [1. 979, Z.21f.], ohne zu wissen, ob er überhaupt etwas geschrieben hatte, noch gar, ob er trotz Anon. Londiniensis IX, 20-36 eine explizite, ausgearb…

[English version] A. Terminologie Νόσος/ nósos (ion. νοῦσος/ núsos, “K”.; Etym.: “geschwächt sein”) bezeichnet in einer Metaphorik von Aggression, die lange in Gebrauch blieb [17], die Krankheit als eine Tatsache äußeren (Götter) oder inneren Ursprungs, die ‘den Menschen beherrschte und niederschlug’ (z.B.: hierá nósos, “die heilige Krankheit”, Epilepsie). Etwa vom 5. Jh.v.Chr. an erhielt dieser Begriff Konkurrenz von der Ableitung nósēma [30], vielleicht eine Prägung der Sophisten, die sich jedenfalls schnell in der medizinischen Welt verbreitete; sie …

[English version] ( klystḗr/ klystḗrion, lat. clyster/ clysterium; auch klýsma/ klysmós und éngklysma, abgeleitet von klýzein/ engklýzein, lat. inicere: gießen, spülen, und enetḗr/ énema, von: eniénai: injizieren). Klistiergerät: Pharmazeutische Form und Verabreichungsinstrument zur parenteralen (in diesem Fall oft in Verbindung mit dem Adverb kátō oder dem Verb hypoklýzein) oder (in gynäkologischen Traktaten) vaginalen Einspritzung therapeutischer Lösungen. Das Instrument bestand aus einem flexiblen, zusammenpreßbaren Behälter (Tierhaut oder -blase)…

[English version] Lat. abgefaßte heilkundliche Slg., die in den Hss. einem sonst unbekannten Plinius Secundus Iunior zugewiesen wird. Von Marcellus [8] Empiricus erwähnt, geht sie nach allg. Ansicht auf den Anf. des 4. Jh.n.Chr. oder etwas früher zurück. Die Slg. beginnt mit der Absichtserklärung des Verf., Fälschungen von Medikamenten zu vermeiden, deren Bestandsliste er dann mit der jeweiligen Zusammensetzung vorlegt. Das Werk besteht aus drei B. B. 1-2: Medikamente, angeordnet nach den betreffenden Organen (die “von Kopf bis Fuß…

[English version] (φίλτρον, lat. philtrum; auch στέργηθρον/ stérgēthron und θέλκτρον ἔρωτος/ thélktron érōtos; lat. amatorium, pocula desiderii bzw. amoris). Im allg. ein Liebeszauber, häufiger Instrumente dieses Zaubers (z.B. das Gewand der Deianeira, Soph. Trach. 584, 1144), meistens aus Pflanzen sowie mineralischen und tierischen Substanzen hergestellt; phíltra wurden auf zwei Arten eingesetzt: 1. Die Substanzen wurden in einem magischen Ritual verbrannt, das ein professioneller Magier unter Verwendung weiterer Gegenstände (Bleiplättche…

[English version] Aus der Renaissance stammender Titel eines lat. Rezept-B., das zu einem großen Teil auf der Medicina Plinii beruht und im 5./6. Jh.n.Chr. abgefaßt wurde. Es liegt in drei Rezensionen vor: 1. Sangallensis (6./7. Jh.) in drei B. (noch nicht hrsg.; Titel der Kap.: [6. 41-55]; enthält zahlreiche Beschwörungsformeln [5]); 2. Bambergensis [3], ins 5./6. Jh. gesetzt, aber vielleicht jünger und in drei B. eingeteilt; 3. Florentino-Pragensis [11; 10; 7] in fünf B. (unter Beifügung der Medicinae ex oleribus et pomis des Gargilius [4] Martialis und des Liber dietarum div…

[English version] (Ὀρειβάσιος bzw. Oribasios/Ὀριβάσιος). Griech. Arzt und Verf. medizinischer Abh., geb. um 320 n.Chr. in Pergamon, gest. um 390/400 an unbekanntem Ort. O., der nicht Christ war, kehrte nach dem Studium in Alexandreia nach Pergamon zurück; dort übte er seinen medizinischen Beruf aus und erwarb sich einen hervorragenden Ruf - als Arzt wie als hochgebildeter Mann. Er war mit dem nachmaligen Kaiser Iulianus [11] bekannt, den er vielleicht während dessen Aufenthalts in Pergamon i.J. 35…