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(Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης). [English version] I. Leben Der in Anazarbos (Kilikien) geb. Verf. der Abh. Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς/ Perí hýlēs iatrikḗs ( De materia medica, ‘Über Heilmittel) ist ins 1. Jh.n.Chr. zu datieren: Im Vorwort (§ 4) zit. er einen Laikanios Bassos, den er als krátistos (“höchsten”) bezeichnet und den man mit dem Senator C. Laecanius Bassus, dem Consul von 64 n.Chr., gleichsetzt; Plinius zit. die Abh. in seiner Naturalis historia (die dem Widmungsbrief zufolge 77 n.Chr. vollendet wurde) nicht, weshalb man annimmt, daß sie zu dieser Zeit noch nicht …

[English version] (Μητροδῶρα). Nach der Hs. Flor. Laur. 75,3 (12. Jh.) Verfasser(in) der unter dem Titel ‘Krankheiten der Gebärmutter (Περὶ γυναικείων παθῶν τῆς μήτρας) enthaltenen Auszüge. Obwohl M. mit verschiedenen Ärzten und Ärztinnen gleichgesetzt wurde, bleibt ihre/seine Identität unbekannt, ja sogar rätselhaft. Möglicherweise hat M. nie existiert - falls der Name ( mētrós dōra, “Geschenke der Mutter”) wirklich nur die irrtümliche Interpretation eines Titels einer Slg. von Ratschlägen sein sollte, die jungen Frauen im heiratsfähigen Alter v…

[English version] Medizinische Schule des 1. Jh.n.Chr. Ihre Vertreter definierten sich explizit als M. (μεθοδικοί), da es ihr Ziel war, die Ausübung der Medizin auf eine einzige, einfache Methode (μέθοδος) zu gründen, die sie jedem in wenigen Worten beibringen konnten. Erh. sind nur die gynäkologische Abh. des Soranos und die lat. Übers. seiner pathologischen Schriften durch Caelius [II 11] Aurelianus sowie doxographische Fr., z.B. POxy. 3654 [1. 382-386, 388-390], wohl ein medizinisches Lehrbuch aus der Zeit des Galenos. Die M. werd…

[German version] 1st-century AD medical school. Its representatives explicitly defined themselves as Methodists (μεθοδικοί; methodikoí), as it was their goal to base the practice of medicine on a single simple method (μέθοδος; méthodos) that they could teach to anyone in just a few words. Extant are only the gynaecological treatise of Soranus,a Latin translation of his pathological writings by Caelius [II 11] Aurelianus and doxographic fragments, e.g. POxy. 3654 [1. 382-386, 388-390], probably a medical textbook from the time of Galenus. …

[German version] Renaissance title of a Latin book of formulae, based largely on the Medicina Plinii and written in the 5th/6th cents. AD. There are three recensions: 1. Sangallensis (6th/7th cents.) in three books (not yet published; titles of the chapters: [6. 41-55]; contains numerous incantations [5]); 2. Bambergensis [3], dated to the 5th/6th cents., but possibly more recent, and divided into three books; 3. Florentino-Pragensis [11; 10; 7] in five books (including the Medicinae ex oleribus et pomis of Gargilius [4] Martialis and the Liber dietarum diversorum medicorum by …

[German version] (κολλύριον; kollýrion, Lat. collyrium and βάλανος/ bálanos: Caelius Aurelianus, De morbis acutis 2,83; De morbis chronicis 2,39). Pharmaceutical form for administering medicinal substances, in local applications. These were pulverished and made into a uniform paste with binders, as is evident from the etymology ( kollýra: small, round bread roll without yeast [2. 145], bread dough [1. 556]). The kollyrion's two main types of use determine its form and function: a small cone was formed for insertion into anatomical or pathological orifice…

[German version] (κρίκωσις; kríkōsis, κρικοῦσθαι; krikoûsthai, infibulare). Placement of a ring (κρίκος; kríkos) or a fibula, minor surgery on the penis described by Celsus (7,25,2) and by Oribasius (50,11). The operation entailed tightening a thread through perforations in the foreskin until it would close no farther. A ring (or fibula) was then attached to prevent exposure of the glans. In some cases at least, it could be removed. Celsus considers the operation to be much more frequently useless than necessary and sees behind it health motives and an attempt t…

[German version] (ἰχώρ; ichṓr). The word has been connected to the Aramaic or Hebrew root meaning ‘dignity’, ‘splendour’, with possible etymological overlap of the Sumerian root meaning ‘blood’ and the Akkadian root meaning ‘to pour’. In Homer (Il. 5,340; cf. 416), the word denotes the lifeblood of the gods as opposed to regular blood that is produced by eating bread and drinking wine. Ichor also appears in Aeschylus (Ag. 1479f., 458 BC), where the word denotes a fluid which is discharged from wounds that will not close. In the 4th cent., it is more common …

[German version] A. Terminology Νόσος/ nósos (Ionic νοῦσος/ noûsos, ‘D’.; etym.: ‘being weakened’) describes disease in an imagery of aggression, which remained in use for a long time [17], as a result of external (divine) or internal origin, which ‘ruled over people and struck them down’ (e.g.: ἱερὰ νόσος; hierà nósos, ‘the sacred disease’, epilepsy). From about the 5th cent. BC, the term was increasingly rivalled by the derivation nósēma [30], perhaps an expression coined by the Sophists; in any case, it rapidly spread through the medical world. It does not hav…

[German version] Compilation of medical texts written in Latin and attributed in the MSS to an otherwise unknown Plinius Secundus Iunior. Mentioned by Marcellus [8] Empiricus, it is generally accepted to date back to the early 4th cent. AD or even slightly before that. The compilation starts with the author's declaration of his intention to prevent the counterfeiting of medicinal products whose ingredients he then lists together with the relevant composition. The work consists of three books. Bk. 1-2: medicinal preparations, ordered accor…

[German version] Name of the author to whom is ascribed the Liber medicinae ex animalibus from the corpus also containing Ps.-Musa, De herba vettonica, Ps.-Apuleius, Herbarius, the anonymous treatise De taxone and Ps.-Dioscorides, De herbis feminis. As the work borrows from Marcellus' [8] De medicamentis, it would appear to date from the 1st half of the 5th cent. AD. The author, who is sometimes confused with Sextus Platonicus, is unknown and may be historically dubious, especially since text [5. 233-286] and illustrations [6] are atteste…

[German version] (φίλτρον/ phíltron, Latin philtrum; also στέργηθρον/ stérgēthron and θέλκτρον ἔρωτος/ thélktron érōtos; Latin amatorium, pocula desiderii or amoris). Generally a love charm, more often instruments of such a charm (e.g. the tunic of Deianira, Soph. Trach. 584, 1144), usually made from plants, sometimes with mineral and animal substances. Phíltra were used in two ways: 1. The substances were burned in a magical ritual carried out by a professional sorcerer using additional materials (lead plates carrying magical formulae, a statu…

[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…

CH Greek Latin name Main areas of use in antiquity Modern medical Identification Common Diosc. Plin. HN (*1) (*2) name (*3) (selection) (*4) properties (*5) (*6) name (*7) (*8) 1 87 smýrna balsamum, myrrha 69 + 18 (ophthalmology , wound treatment) ? Commiphora abyssinica Engl. Myrrh 1,64 12,66-71 2 72 kýminon cuminum 51 + 21 (stomach complaints , fever) adstringent, peptogenic, emmenagogic, lactogenic, stomachic Cuminum cyminum L. Cumin 3,59 20,159-162 3 63 helléboros elleborum, elleborus 16 + 47 (consumption , purification , hydropsy , rheumatism) Veratrum album: antirheumatic, H.…

[German version] (ἰός/ iós and φάρμακον/ phármakon sc. δηλητήριον/ dēlētḗrion, lat. virus and venenum). Poisons were not distinguished according to their origin (animal or plant), but according to the manner in which they were introduced to the body: inoculation (sting: πληγή/ plēgḗ, ictus; bite: δάκος/ dákos, morsus) or oral absorption (πόσις/ pósis, potus); common to all is the definition of a substance affecting the organism. Starting with the Epic Cycle, there is documentary evidence of animal and plant poisons as well as plants with magical or respectively h…