Search

[German version] The use of definitiones (‘discussions’) was extensive in medical teaching in the Greek as well as the Roman world (Gal. 1,306 K.; 19,346-7 K.). The most substantial surviving work of this genre is the Definitiones medicae ascribed to Galen (19,346-462 K.), the authenticity of which was doubted even in late antiquity (schol. in Orib. Syn, CMG 6,2,1, 250,29). Wellmann [1. 66] was of the opinion that their author lived towards the end of the 1st cent. AD, and was a member of the Pneumatic school. Although the work con…

[German version] (Οὐλιάδαι; Ouliádai). Family connected with medicine and healing cults in Velia [1] in southern Italy. The name derives from Oú lios (Οὔλιος;  Str. 14,1,6-8), one of the numerous epithets of Apollo (B. 4), and refers to his power both to harm and to heal (cf. Asclepius/Asclepiadae). The first verifiable member of this family was Parmenides. Statues and inscriptions in Velia, which were created primarily c. AD 20, represent members of the family, bearing the names Ulis or Uliades, as physicians and as φώλαρχοι/ phṓlarchoi; this probably suggests a cultic communit…

(Ἄντυλλος; Ántyllos). [German version] [1] Grammarian and rhetor of unknown time Grammarian and rhetorician of unknown time (Suda). He authored a biography of Thucydides, which was used by Marcellinus in his Thucydides-Vita (22, 36, 55), and a commentary to Thucydides, which was used and quoted in a number of scholia (to 1,2,3; 3,95,1; 4,19,1 and 28,2). Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) Bibliography F. Goslings, Observationes ad Sch. in Thuc., 1874, 54 ff. R. Tosi, Scolifantasma tucididei, 1983. [German version] [2] Greek physician and surgeon of the imperial period Greek p…

[German version] The two Greek terms μήτρα/ mḗtra and ὑστέρα/ hystéra are both of disputed etymology (Soran. Gynaecia 1,6) and are often used in the plural (the belief in its many chambers derives from animal anatomy). Hippocratic authors ( Corpus Hippocraticum ) shared the idea of the uterus as a jar moving up and down a tube in the body ( Vulva ) and closing in on itself during pregnancy. They were of the view that the uterus can, like a living creature, be attracted or repelled by pleasant or unpleasant smells, and that it held no fix…

[German version] Greek doctor and philosopher, teacher of  Galen, lived about AD 150 in Asia Minor (Gal. 19,58, CMG V 10,2,2, 287). A long-standing student of  Quintus (Gal. 18A, 575) and follower of  Hippocrates, he interpreted at least some of their teachings in a Stoic sense, e.g., from the field of psychology, in which he followed the Stoic Simias (Gal. 19,58; 18b, 654]. The Hippocratic commentary, which is ascribed to him in the Galen edition by Kühn at Gal. 16,484, is a Renaissance forgery. Nutton, Vivian (London)

[German version] Paris, BN, suppl. gr. 636, contains excerpts from a doxological work about acute and chronic diseases. C. Daremberg first discovered its significance for the history of medicine in his 1851 edition of Oribasius, p. XL, and collated at least two other MSS, without ever producing an edition. Following a hint by G. Costomiris, R. Fuchs took over the editio princeps in 1894 on the basis of two Paris MSS [1] but caused confusion by separating the doxographic part from the therapeutic part. Fuchs did not edit the section on acute diseases unt…

(Θεόμνηστος/ Theómnēstos). [German version] [1] From Athens, c. 400 BC Athenian, accused by Lysitheus of cowardice after the battle of Corinthus (in 394 BC) in an action of dokimasia ( epangelía dokimasías) or 'scrutiny'. By being convicted T. was unable to appear as a rhetor in the People's Assembly, but managed to have the verdict quashed by means of an action for false witness against Dionysius. Against a renewed accusation of cowardice raised by Theon T. proceeded with an action of defamation ( díkē kakēgorías; Kakegoria ) and succeeded. He was then cha…

[German version] (σφυγμός/ sphygmós, Latin pulsus). Although a pounding pulse was long recognized as an indication of illness, it seems to have been Aristotle [6] (Hist. an. 521a; De respiratione 479b) who was the first to connect the phenomenon with the heart [1]. His assertion that the pulse was a normal, constant presence in all blood vessels was disproved by Praxagoras, who was able to show that only arteries had a pulse. His view that arteries contained only pneûma and functioned independent of the heart was in turn questioned by his pupil Herophil…

[German version] Masseur, a profession that seems to have become fashionable in the 1st cent. AD (e.g. CIL 6,9476) but the linking of medicine and gymnastics extends as far back as Herodicus [1] of Selymbria (5th cent. BC). Trimalchio was treated by three aliptae (Petron. Sat. 28). Pliny considers this entire branch of medicine a form of quackery (HN 29,4-5). Vespasian however guaranteed all who practiced this art various privileges (FIRA 1,77) and Pliny the Younger managed to persuade Trajan to confer Roman (and Alexandrian) citizenship to his Egyptian iatraleiptes Harpocrates, w…

(Πέλοψ; Pélops). [German version] [1] Son of Tantalus Son of Tantalus (Cypria fragment 13 EpGF; in Hyg. Fab. 82 from his liaison with Dione), husband of Hippodamia [1], father of Atreus, Thyestes, Pittheus and other children (Pind. O. 1,88f. with schol.). P.'s original homeland was Asia Minor (cf. Pind. Ol. 1,24; Hdt. 7,8).  P.'s father Tantalus chops him into pieces, cooks him and serves him up to the gods. Demeter is the only one who fails to notice the horrendous deed and eats part of his shoulder (A…

(Ἀλκαμένης; Alkaménēs). [German version] [1] of Abydus Greek physician Greek physician of the 5th and 4th cents. BC. According to Aristotle or his student Meno, A. blamed illnesses on the residue of undigested food: presumably, it rises to the head where it accumulates only to be distributed throughout the body as a harmful substance (Anon. Londiniensis 7,42). A. assumed a position contrary to the opinions of Euryphon of Cnidus, who ascertained that the head is less involved in the origin of illnesses. It is not certain whether A. was his student.  Anonymus Londiniensis Nutton, Vivian (…

(Μητρόδωρος/ Metródōros). [German version] [1] M. of Chios Democritan philosopher, 5th/4th cent. BC Democritan philosopher ( Democritus [1]) of the 5th-4th cent. BC who recognised Fullness and Emptiness, Being and Non-Being as the first principles. This orthodoxy, however, does not go beyond the fundamental theoretical views of Atomism: M. is said to have had his own views in other matters (70 A 3 DK). M. propounds the uncreatedness of the universe (τὸ πᾶν) in the Eleatic manner ( Eleatic School) because a c…

[German version] A. Egypt and ancient Orient Anatomy in the sense of a systematically gained body of knowledge on the basis of dissections appears to have been a Greek invention. We do know that Babylonian (and later also Etruscan) hepatoscopy entailed the removal of an animal liver, but aside from the relatively differentiated terminology for this organ and the assignment of certain emotions to the main organs, Babylonian texts are silent about the topic of anatomy [17]. The beginnings of anatomical r…

(Μαντίας; Mantías). [German version] [1] Athenian strategos, 360/359 BC Son of Mantitheus of Thoricus In 377/76 BC tamias of the shipyards (IG II2 1622,435f). In 360/359 BC Athenian strategos of a naval division and auxiliary troops sent to assist the Macedonian claimant Argaeus against Philip II. By delaying in Methone, he was co-responsible for Argaeus's defeat (Diod. Sic. 16,2,6 and 16,3,5; in c. 358/7). Details about his family are distorted by diabolḗ (‘slander, calumny’) in Demosthenes (Or. 39 and 40). For his trierarchies cf. IG II2 1604,10 and 46 as well as 1609,61f. Engels, Joh…

(Τιμόθεος; Timótheos). [German version] [1] T. of Metapontum Greek physician, c. 400 BC Greek physician, fl. c. 400 BC. According to the Anonymus Londiniensis (8,8), T. believed that disease was the result of the blockage of passages through which residues would have been excreted. Residues that have risen up from the entire body are forced to remain in the head until they are transformed into a saline, acrid fluid. They then break out and cause a wide variety of disease, whose character is determined by the place or places to which they flow.. Humoral theory Nutton, Vivian (London) …

(Ἀριστόξενος; Aristóxenos). [German version] [1] Musician, Musical theoretician, philosopher, biographer, from Tarentum from Tarentum, musician, musical theorist, philosopher, biographer, known as μουσικός. According to Suda son of Mnesias or of the musician Spintharus, pupil of his father, of a certain Lamprus of Erythrae, of the Pythagorean Xenophilus and finally of Aristotle. In Mantinea A. turned to philosophy. Claims to have heard in Corinth the story of Damon and Phintias from the tyrant Dionysius II …

[German version] The term originally designated treatises about antidotes, for instance Gal. de antidotis, 14,1-209 (trans. and comment. by [1, cf. 6]) and Philomenus (ed. by [2]), but, in medieval Latin, it referred to all writings about composite medications. It is unclear when exactly the shift in meaning occurred, since most collections of medications in late antiquity show neither titles not authors. The earliest documentation of the title is found in a MS from the 11th cent., which, however,…

[English version] In Late Antiquity, a hospital was a place within an environment of religious character, where one cared for people in need including old and sick ones. In the early MA, along the great routes of pilgrimage, chains of small inns developed. Many Benedictine monasteries had their own hospital wards, which may also have catered for the needs of a large part of the public. As of the 11th cent., hospitals were constructed in cities, again under the influence of eastern Mediterranean cu…

(Ἄβας). [German version] [1] Figure from Myth of the Peloponnese and central Greece Myth of the Peloponnese and central Greece: a) Argus. Son of Lynceus and Hypermestra. By Aglaea, daughter of Mantineus, father of the twins Acrisius and Proetus (Apollod. 2,24; Hes. fr. 129 M-W; cf. Paus. 2,16,2; 10,35,1) and Idomene, mother of Bias and Melampus by Amythaon (Apollod. 2,24). Lynceus gave A. the shield, consecrated by Danaus to Hera, and for whose festival he had established the agon ἄσπις ἐν Ἄργει (Hyg. Fab. 1…

(Μενεκράτης; Menekrátes). [German version] [1] Attic comic poet, 5th cent. BC Attic comic poet of the 5th cent. BC. Two titles of his plays have survived, Ἑρμιονεύς/ Hermioneús (or Ἑρμιόνη/ Hermiónē?) and Μανέκτωρ/ Manéktōr (probably ‘Manes as Hector) [1. test. 1], as well as an anapaestic tetrameter (fr. 1) from the latter. It is uncertain whether Menecrates was once victorious at the Dionysia [1. test. *2]. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG VII, 1989, 1-2. [German version] [2] Tragic poet, 5th cent. BC Greek tragic poet, victor at the Great Dionysia in…

[German version] I. Prehistory and early history Epidemic diseases (ED), or in the broadest sense, diseases that attack a large number of living beings simultaneously have been documented archaeologically since the middle of the Bronze Age, that is, since c. 2800 BC. Their appearance has been linked to population growth and the resulting ease with which disease can spread from animals to humans and from person to person [9. 251]. In Egypt, smallpox appears to have been known since c. 1250 BC, although papyri with medicinal content do not refer to this or any other compara…

[German version] The papyrus inventory no. 137 of the British Library in London is the most important surviving medical papyrus. It was written towards the turn of the 1st to the 2nd cent. and is divided into three parts: columns 1-4,17 contain a list of definitions that concern the páthē of body and soul (cf. the discussion in Gal. Meth. med. 1); columns 4,21-20,50, present different views about the causes of diseases; columns 21,1-39,32 deal with physiology. The text as well as many internal characteristics indicate that these chapters, thou…

(Δίφιλος; Díphilos). [German version] [1] Athenian operator of a silver mine c. 330 BC Athenian operator of a silver mine. In 330 BC, he was charged by Lycurgus with illegally mining the mesokrineís (pillars), which served both as markers to separate the various leases within the mine but also as safety props, and sentenced to death. His assets of 160 talents were confiscated and distributed amongst the citizens (Ps.-Plut. Mor. 843D).  Mining Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) Bibliography J. Engels, Studien zur polit. Biographie des Hypereides, 21993, 224-237 M. H. Hansen, Demography…

[German version] (Πλειστόνικος; Pleistónikos). Doctor fl. c. 270 BC; he was a pupil of Praxagoras of Cos (Celsus, De medicina, proem. 20) and one of the 'classics' of Greek medicine in the so-called Dogmatic tradition (Dogmatists [2]; Gal. Methodus medendi 2,5; Gal. De examinando medico 5,2). It is difficult to assess his individuality, as, according to tradition- i.e. fundamentally in Galen - his views are transmitted as being in agreement with those of Praxagoras or other Dogmatists. Like his master…

(Ζώπυρος; Zṓpyros). [German version] [1] Persian, took part in the capture of Babylon Prominent Persian, son of Megabyzus [1], who according to Hdt. 3,153ff. had the gates of rebelling Babylon opened to Darius [1] I by using a ruse (self-mutilation and pretending to be a victim of the Great King). For this deceptive manoeuvre (Polyaenus, Strat. 7,13; referring to King Cyrus: Frontin. Str. 3,3,4) Z. allegedly received from Darius the satrapy of Babylonia for life and tribute-free, but he was killed when the B…

(Γλαυκίας; Glaukías). [German version] [1] Bronze sculptor from Aegina Bronze sculptor from Aegina. According to Pausanias, he created statues of the boxers Glaucus, Philo and Theagenes in Olympia, whose victories or honours occurred in the 1st quarter of the 5th cent. BC. According to the description, they were depicted in motion, some of them at shadow-boxing; small bronze statues give at least an idea of this. He created a monument for Gelon of Syracuse after his chariot victory in 488 BC; parts of the base with inscriptions are preserved. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography Overb…

[German version] I Greek (Φίλων/ Phíl ōn). [German version] [I 1] Athenian politician Athenian from Acharnae who was exiled by the Oligarchic regime in 404 BC (Triakonta). During the civil war, he lived as a metoikos (resident without Attic citizenship) in Oropos awaiting the outcome of events. Following his return, when he applied to join the boulḗ he was accused of cowardice and other misdemeanours at a dokimasia investigation (Dokimasia) (Lys. 31; possibly 398 BC). Walter, Uwe (Cologne) Bibliography Blass, vol.1, 480f.  Th.Lenschau, A. Raubitschek, s.v. P. (2), RE 19, 2526f. …

[German version] A. Greek (Σαβῖνος; Sabînos) [German version] [1] Hippocratic physician and commentator on Hippocrates, 1st-2nd cent. AD Hippocratic physician and commentator on Hippocrates, who was active in the 1st to 2nd cent. AD. He was the teacher of Metrodorus [8] and Stratonicus, who in turn was the teacher of Galen; the latter regarded S. as a more careful and concise interpreter of Hippocrates [6] than his predecessors had been (CMG 5,10,2,1, p. 17, 329-330; 5,10,2,2, p. 510). S.' weakness lay mainly in …

(Φιλῖνος; Philînos). [German version] [1] Athenian politician Athenian. P. proposed absorbing all thetai (thetes) into the hoplites ( hoplítai ) (Antiph. fr. 61 from the speech Katà Philînou). In 420/419 BC, he attempted to prevent a case brought against him for the improper use of public funds by inciting one Philocrates to raise a charge of accidental killing against the accuser immediately before the trial. Once the charge was accepted, P.' accuser was no longer permitted to enter any protected places, including places of justice ( nómima) (Antiph. 6,12; 21; 35f.). Schmitz, Winfrie…

[German version] Iatrosophist and commentator of medical texts around AD 600, Milan. Ambr. G 108 f. contains his commentaries on Galen's De sectis, Ars medica, De pulsibus ad Teuthram and Ad Glauconem, just as they were recorded by Simplicius (not the famous Aristotle commentator!). The first mentioned is in many places in agreement with a commentary which is ascribed to Iohannes Alexandrinus or Gesius, as well as Greek passages of text, which are associated with Iohannes and Archonides (?). As controversial as the question …

Hinz, Berthold (Kassel RWG) I. Renaissance (CT) [German version] A. Definition (CT) Renaissance Humanism (RH) is understood as a literary and philological movement which first established itself with Petrarch in the courts and city oligarchies of Italy (and to a lesser extent in the universities).  Its objective was to imitate and restore Classical Latin (essentially Cicero's for prose and Vergil's for metric texts), in view of a newly arisen, non-clerical, urban bourgeois educated class for both production…

(Ἀέτιος; Aétios). [German version] [1] Mythical king of Troezen Son of Anthas, mythical king of Troezen; his successors colonized Halicarnass and Myndus in Caria (Paus. 2,30,8 f.). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Doxographer of 1st cent. AD Doxographer of 1st cent. AD. Although historically elusive, A. played a central role in the doxographic tradition of antiquity, because he wrote the only detailed doxographic manual to have been handed down fairly complete ( Doxography). Large parts of the work can be quite accur…

[German version] [1] Physician and friend of Cicero's Physician and friend of Cicero's (Cic. Att. 15,1-3) who died suddenly in 44 BC from an undefinable illness. Cicero's grief about the loss of the summus medicus did not deter him from inquiring about whom A. had remembered in his testament. Nutton, Vivian (London) [German version] [2] Greek grammarian, 1st cent. AD (Ἀλεξίων; Alexíōn). Greek grammarian of the 2nd half of the 1st cent. AD, called χωλός ( chōlós; the limping one): he authored an epitome of the Symmikta by  Didymus, which was cited by Herennius Philo and used by He…

Roman plebeian gentile name, derived from the individual cognomen Flavus (‘the blond one’) through the suffix of affiliation -ius, abbreviated form Fl. The bearers of the name that was already common in the Republican period were initially politically unimportant; F. [I 5] was the first one to attain to Roman nobility. In the Imperial period the name was spread further in the Roman empire as a result of the granting of citizenship by the Flavian Emperors Vespasian, Titus and Domitian (AD 68-96). In Late Antiquity (4th-6th cents.) F. was initially gentilicium of the family of  Consta…

[German version] (Χάρμις; Chármis) Greek physician from Massilia, who went to Rome c. AD 55. Thanks to his cold-water cures he soon made a name there, and gained many wealthy patients (Plin. HN 29,10). For one treatment he invoiced a patient from the provinces for HS 200,000 (Plin. HN 29, 22), and demanded a similarly exorbitant price of 1,000 Attic drachmas for a single dose of an antidote (Gal. 14,114,127). During his lifetime C. invested HS 20 million in public construction projects in Massilia, and at h…

[German version] Even though the analysis of skeletons has shown that lead played a larger role in the classical period than in prehistoric times, the measured values are lower than expected in view of the considerable rise in lead production between 600 BC and AD 500 and its use in the manufacture of household goods and water pipes [1; 2; 3]. As the symptoms of lead poisoning (LP) are very similar to other diseases, there are hardly any descriptions which can be taken as referring to it unambiguo…

[German version] I. Mesopotamia Magic formulae - such as spells, apotropaea, and prophylacterics - and rational elements, i.e. empirically derived treatment methods with plant, mineral, or animal substances, characterize the image of medicine in a Mesopotamia. …

Plebeian family name (in MSS frequently confused with  Coelius), attested from the 2nd cent. BC. (ThlL, Onom. 24-26). I. Republican Age [German version] [I 1] C., C. praetor or propraetor in Gallia Cisalpina in 90 BC praetor or propraetor in Gallia Cisalpina in 90 BC (Liv. per. 73; MRR 2,25).…

I. Ancient Orient [German version] A. I. Sources The main source for Mesopotamian dentistry consists in two chapters from the medical manual ‘When the top of a person's head is feverishly hot’ (1st millennium BC; cf.  Medicine I) and there are also isolated texts of prescriptions. The oldest textual evidence is a cuneiform tablet from the ancient Babylonian period ( c. 18th to 16th cents. BC). The majority of the texts is accessible only in cuneiform autographs; for partial translations cf. [1]. Böck, Barba…

[German version] (Ἀρεταῖος; Aretaîos) of Cappadocia. Greek Hippocratic physician who was influenced by Pneumatic theory. [13] therefore assigned him to the middle of the 1st cent. AD. A.'s name was first mentioned in the late 2nd. cent as the author of a text about prophylactics in Ps.-Alex. Aphr. De febribus 1, 92, 97, 105. However, Galen repeats A.'s story of a leper that appeared in Morb. chron. 4,13,20 without any reference to the source in Subfig. emp. 10 = Deichgräber 75-9. Thirty years later…

(Γαλήνος; Galḗnos) [German version] A. Life AD 129 to c. 216, Greek doctor and philosopher. As the son of a prosperous architect named Aelius or Iulius Nicon (not Claudius, as older accounts have it), G. enjoyed a wide education, especially in philosophy. When he was 17, Asclepius appeared to Nicon in a dream which turne…

…

[German version] (Θεοδᾶς; Theodâs) from Laodicea. Greek physician c. 125 AD; he and Menodotus [2] were pupils of the sceptic Antiochus [20]; he was a leading representative of the Schoo

[German version] Although most healers in Antiquity learned their trade from their fathers or as autodidacts, some also went to study with a master (e.g. Pap. Lond. 43, 2nd cent. BC), or travelled to medical strongholds to receive training. Remains of these teaching centres are to be found in Babylonia [1] and in Egypt, where the ‘House of Life’ in Sais, rebuilt by Darius c. 510 BC, may have served as such a centre and scriptorium [2]. If, in the Greek world, the Hippocratic tradition (Hippocrates) emphasized the superiority of healers trained at Cos, Cnidus …

[German version] A. Egyptian The high prestige widely accorded to Egyptian medical practitioners for their surgical skills (Hdt. 3,129), was well-earned. Skeletal finds show the successful treatment of bone fractures,…

Name of a plebeian gens (cf. Tac. Ann. 6,15,1), the representatives of whom have been known historically since the middle of the 3rd cent. BC. The most important family, especially in the 1st cent. BC, are the Cassii Longini. A patrician C. (around 500 BC, C. I 19) is rare. I. Republican age [German version] [I 1] C., C. Governor of Asia 89-88 BC Praetor 90 BC (?), in 89-88 governor of the province of Asia whence he, with M'. Aquillius [I 4], induced Nicomedes of Bithynia to attack  Mithridates (MRR 2,34). He then had to retreat from the victorious Mithridates to P…

(Ἀθηναῖος; Athēnaîos). [German version] [1] Lacedaemonian, contributed in 423 BC to the truce with Athens Lacedaemonian, son of Periclidas, contributed in 423 BC to the truce with Athens (Thuc. 4,119), which he officially announced to  Brasidas a little later together with the Athenian Aristonymus (Thuc. 4,122). Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] Son of Attalus I of Pergamum, member of the 'Royal Council' A. was, as the youngest son of Attalus I of Pergamum, a member of the ‘Royal Council’; he is also documented as an agonothete (Alt. Perg. 8,3,3; OGIS 315,46; Str. 13,4,624; cf. OGIS 296; 319,16f.; 321). A. helped his ruling elder brothers Eumenes II and Attalus II, as well as the Romans militarily in 189/8 BC after the victory over the Seleucid  Antiochus III against the Galatians, in 167 in Greece after the Roman victory over the Macedonian ki…

[German version] (‘birth-helper’, ‘midwife’). Midwifery was usually practiced by women but was not exclusively in their hands. A Parian inscription, for example, records two male birth-helpers (IG 12,5,199) and the preserved treatises on midwifery address a male readership. Iatromaia as an occupational name appears in two Roman inscriptions of the 3rd and 4th cents. AD (CIL 6,9477f.); in one, a Valeria Verecunda is named as the ‘first iatromaia in her region’, an epithet that seems to refer to the quality of her work rather than a position in a collegium.  Midwife Nutton, Vivian (Lon…

[German version] A. Definition Hospital in the sense of public institutions for the medical care of exclusively sick people are not encountered before the 4th cent. AD, and even then the majority of terms used (Greek …

[German version] or Gessios, from Petra (Steph. Byz. s.v. Γέα/ Géa), physician and teacher, end of the 5th/early 6th cent. AD, close friend of Aeneas [3] (Epist. 19; 20) and Procopius of Gaza (Epist. 38; 58; 123; 134). He studied medicine under the Jew Domnos (Suda s.v. Γέσιος/ Gésios) in Alexandria, where he practised as   iatrosophistḗs (teacher of medicine). Although opposed to Christianity, he was baptized at the instigation of the emperor Zeno but retained a cynically negative attitude towards his new religion. He protected th…