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Andronicus

(836 words)

Author(s): Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) | Mehl, Andreas (Halle/Saale) | Günther, Linda-Marie (Munich) | Gottschalk, Hans (Leeds) | Degani, Enzo (Bologna) | Et al.
(Ἀνδρόνικος; Andrónikos). [German version] [1] from Olynthus Macedonian officer (2nd half of the 4th cent. BC) Participated in all campaigns of  Alexander [II 4]. 315 BC officer of  Antigonus [1] at Tyre, then advisor of  Demetrius [2], whom he advised 312 to decline the battle at Gaza. In the battle he commanded the cavalry at the right flank and escaped after the defeat to Tyre, where he took over command and was able to hold the city for a time. At the end, delivered by the garrison to  Ptolemaeus [1], by whom he was honoured as a friend. Diod. Sic. 19. Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) Bibliograph…

Callimorphus

(80 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] Military doctor, who according to Lucian (Quomodo historia 16,24 = FGrH II 210), wrote, in a highly tragic and stilted style, a history of the Parthian Wars of Lucius Verus in the years AD 162-166 that bore the title Parthica. Unless this was a figment of Lucian's imagination, it appears that he served in the Parthian War, either in the legio VI Ferrata, or in an ala contariorum (a troop division of pike-bearers). Nutton, Vivian (London)

Callimachus

(3,899 words)

Author(s): Stein-Hölkeskamp, Elke (Cologne) | Neudecker, Richard (Rome) | Lehnus, Luigi (Milan) | Fornaro, Sotera (Sassari) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Et al.
(Καλλίμαχος; Kallímachos). [German version] [1] Athenian, 490 BC archon and supreme commander at Marathon Athenian, árchōn polémarchos ( Archontes) in 490 BC, supreme commander at  Marathon (490 BC). It is disputed if C. was appointed polémarchos by lot (Hdt. 6,109). Aristotle's claim (Ath. Pol. 22,5) that the archontes were first selected by lot in 487/86 appears preferable. But perhaps areas of responsibility were already distributed among them by lot after 509/8. C. only nominally held supreme command, but he was a voting mem…

Penis

(165 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] (φαλλός/ phallós, lat. mentula (for synonyms, see [1]). Its anatomy, including the glans, scrotum, and testicles, was established by 250 BC, but its physiology, especially its capacity as to achieve an erection, was harder to explain. Galen ( De usu partium 15,3) called it a 'nerve-like part', and in De motibus dubiis discussed the possible effects of imagination on the process. Although circumcision (Circumcisio) was seen as essentially Jewish, infibulation was widely practised. Medical and surgical texts offer a variety of treat…

Dionysius

(11,175 words)

Author(s): Meister, Klaus (Berlin) | Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) | Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Et al.
(Διονύσιος; Dionýsios). Famous personalities: D. [1], the tyrant of Syracuse; the historian D. [18] of Halicarnassus. Dionysios (month),  Months, names of the. The chronicle of Ps.-D. by Tell Maḥre see D. [23]. I. Politically active personalities [German version] [1] D. I. Notorious tyrant in Syracuse c. 400 BC of Syracuse, son of Hermocritus, born in c. 430 BC, died in 367 BC. Founder of the ‘greatest and longest tyrannical rule in history’ (Diod. Sic. 13,96,4; appearance: Timaeus FGrH 566 F 29). Possessing a sophist education (Cic. Tusc. 5,63), D. had enormous ambitions a…

Iatraleiptes

(106 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Pelops

(1,023 words)

Author(s): Stenger, Jan (Kiel) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(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…

Alcamenes

(438 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Neudecker, Richard (Rome)
(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 (…

Metrodorus

(1,340 words)

Author(s): Bodnár, István (Budapest) | von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) | Dorandi, Tiziano (Paris) | Günther, Linda-Marie (Munich) | Hidber, Thomas (Berne) | Et al.
(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…

Anatomy

(1,960 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Mantias

(261 words)

Author(s): Engels, Johannes (Cologne) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(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…

Timotheus

(2,915 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Robbins, Emmet (Toronto) | Zimmermann, Bernhard (Freiburg) | Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) | Neudecker, Richard (Rome) | Et al.
(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) …

Aristoxenus

(833 words)

Author(s): Zaminer, Frieder (Berlin) | 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 …

Antidotarium

(264 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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,…

Hospital

(590 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Abas

(302 words)

Author(s): Schachter, Albert (Montreal) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(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…

Epidemic diseases

(1,056 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Anonymus Londiniensis

(480 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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

Diphilus

(1,242 words)

Author(s): Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) | Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) | Di Marco, Massimo (Fondi Latina) | Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(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). …

Pleistonicus

(351 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Zopyrus

(988 words)

Author(s): Wiesehöfer, Josef (Kiel) | Baumbach, Manuel (Zürich) | Heinze, Theodor (Geneva) | Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Meister, Klaus (Berlin) | Et al.
(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…

Glaucias

(360 words)

Author(s): Neudecker, Richard (Rome) | Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(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…

Philo

(5,673 words)

Author(s): Walter, Uwe (Cologne) | Döring, Klaus (Bamberg) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Knell, Heiner (Darmstadt) | Folkerts, Menso (Munich) | Et al.
[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. …

Sabinus

(1,149 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Albiani, Maria Grazia (Bologna) | Fündling, Jörg (Bonn) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Et al.
[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 …

Philinus

(600 words)

Author(s): Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) | Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Zimmermann, Bernhard (Freiburg) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Meister, Klaus (Berlin) | Et al.
(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…

Agnellus [of Ravenna]

(294 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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 …

Humanism

(10,894 words)

Author(s): Hinz, Berthold (Kassel RWG) | Hinz, Manfred (Passau RWG) | Burmeister, Karl Heinz (Bregenz RWG) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Kreyszig, Walter (Saskatoon/Wien RWG)
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…

Aetius

(1,578 words)

Author(s): Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) | Runia, David T. (Leiden) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Leppin, Hartmut (Hannover)
(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…

Alexion

(162 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Montanari, Franco (Pisa)
[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…

Flavius

(4,130 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Giaro, Tomasz (Frankfurt/Main) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
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…

Charmis

(123 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Lead poisoning

(406 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Medicine

(6,211 words)

Author(s): Böck, Barbara (Madrid) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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. The treatment of diseases - seen as either caused by demons, or as a punishment sent by the gods, or as the result of being bewitched, as well as the result of natural causes - was the domain of two different experts, the asû, more versed in herbal lore, evident from as early as the mid-3rd millennium BC, and the spe…

Caelius

(1,467 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Will, Wolfgang (Bonn) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Schmitt-Pantel, Pauline (Paris) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
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). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 2] C., C. see C.  Coelius. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 3] C., M. People's tribune in the 2nd cent. BC People's tribune in the 2nd cent. BC, against whom Cato -- perhaps as censor in 184 BC -- directed a speech (ORF I4 46-48) [1. 86]. Elver…

Dentistry

(659 words)

Author(s): Böck, Barbara (Madrid) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
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, Barbara (Madrid) [German version] B. Dental diseases and treatment Various periodont…

Aretaeus

(401 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Galen of Pergamum

(3,449 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
(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 turned G. towards a medical career. After studying with Satyrus, Aiphicianus and Stratonicus in Pergamum, G. went to Smyrna c. 149 to learn from Pelops, a pupil of the Hippocratic Quintus. From there he journeyed to Corinth to find Numisianus, another pupi…

Polybus

(651 words)

Author(s): Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Πόλυβος; Pólybos). [German version] [1] Name of numerous peripheral figures in Greek mythology Name of numerous peripheral figures in Greek mythology, e.g. a Trojan, son of  Antenor [1] (Hom. Il. 11,59), killed by Neoptolemus [1] (Quint. Smyrn. 8,86); an Ithacan, suitor of Penelope, killed by Eumaeus (Hom. Od. 22,243 and 284), also his father (Hom. Od. 1,399); a Phaeacian (Hom. Od. 8,373); a mythical king of Thebes (Hom. Od. 4,126). Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) [German version] [2] Mythical king of Corinth Mythical king of Corinth, husband of Merope [4] or Periboea [4]. They bring …

Theodas

(102 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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 School of the Empiricists. He wrote (1.) Chief points (Κεφάλαια), which Galenus and a later (otherwise unknown) Theodosius commented on; (2.) On the parts of medicine (Περὶ τῶν τῆς ἰατρικῆς μερῶν), in which he emphasised the significance of autopsy, historíē ('research') and analogy; (3.) an Introduction to medicine (Εἰσαγώγη). His works were  still being copied in the 3rd cent. in Egypt. Only…

Training (medical)

(600 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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 …

Surgery

(1,412 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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, esp. in the arms, and rare cases of trepanation. However, there is no reliable indication of surgical intervention in body cavities [1; 2]. The great diversity of knives, spoons, saws and needles reflects a highly-developed specialism, rooted in wide-ranging medical practice. Early pap…

Cassius

(5,432 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Giaro, Tomasz (Frankfurt/Main) | Birley, A. R. (Düsseldorf) | Et al.
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 Mithridat…

Athenaeus

(2,425 words)

Author(s): Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) | Mehl, Andreas (Halle/Saale) | Bowie, Ewen (Oxford) | Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Baatz, Dietwulf (Bad Homburg) | Et al.
(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,…

Iatromaia

(95 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Hospital

(2,037 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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 xenṓn, xenodocheîon, ptōcheîon, gerontokomeíon, Latin xenon, xenodochium, ptochium, gerontocomium, valetudinarium; ‘guesthouse’, ‘pilgrims' hostel’, ‘poorhouse’, ‘old people's home’, ‘hospital’) point to a diversity of functions, target groups and services that partly overlap with each other. Private houses for sick members o…

Gesius

(298 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Magnus

(1,025 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Groß-Albenhausen, Kirsten (Frankfurt/Main) | Portmann, Werner (Berlin) | Johne, Klaus-Peter (Berlin) | Et al.
Roman cognomen, which originally designated bodily size or birth order (‘the Elder’), as in the Republican period in the case of Sp. Postumius Albinus M. ( cos. 148 BC) and T. Roscius M. (Cic. Rosc. Am. 17) [1. 275; 3. 47]. As an assumption of the epithet of Alexander [4] ‘the Great’ (ὁ μέγας/ ho mégas, in the sense of great historical importance), first taken by Cn. Pompeius ( cos. 70 and 55) in the 1st cent. BC, then inherited by his sons Cn. and Sex. Pompeius and their descendants. Sex. Pompeius used M. also as a praenomen resp. nomen gentile [4. 364f.]. In the Imperial period, more frequen…

Mnesitheus

(118 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] (Μνησίθεος; Mnēsítheos). Athenian doctor, fl. 350 BC. His tomb was seen by Paus. (1,37,4). He was wealthy enough to erect statues and was one of the dedicators of the beautiful ex-voto inscription to Asclepius IG II2 1449. He is frequently associated with Dieuches [1]; he wrote extensively about dietetics including diets for children, and is counted amongst the more important Dogmatic physicians (Dogmatists) [1]. Galen ascribes to him a logical classification of illnesses that follows Plato's method (fr. 10,11 Bert…

Eryximachus

(89 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] (Ερυξίμαχος; Eryxímachos) Son of  Acumenus, Athenian doctor and Asclepiad, 5th cent. BC. As a friend of the sophist Hippias (Pl. Prt. 315A) and of Phaedrus (Pl. Phdr. 268A; Symp. 177A), he plays an important part in Plato's Symposium, in which he delivers a long speech in honour of Eros (185E-188E). His slightly pedantic manner earns him only the good-natured laughter of the invited guests but contemporary parallels to his linking of natural philosophy and medicine can be found in the Corpus Hippocraticum. Nutton, Vivian (London)
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