Search

[English version] (πυρετός, febris) bezeichnet eigentlich ein Symptom, eine erhöhte Körpertemperatur, doch wird der Begriff von allen ant. medizinischen Autoren häufig zur Bezeichnung einer Krankheit oder einer Krankheitsklasse verwendet. Im mod. diagnostischen Sprachgebrauch deckt der Begriff eine Reihe von Zuständen ab, so daß die Identifizierung jedes antiken “F.” ohne weitere Untergliederung von F.-Arten oder ohne sonstige Symptombeschreibung zum Scheitern verurteilt ist. Solche Identifizierung…

[English version] (Φυλότιμος) von Kos. Arzt und Jahresbeamter ( mónarchos) von Kos in der ersten H. des 3. Jh. v.Chr.; zusammen mit Herophilos [1] war er Schüler des Praxagoras und wurde eine der klass. Autoritäten der griech. Medizin (vgl. Gal. de examinando medico 5,2), auch wenn seine Schriften h. nur noch in Fr. greifbar sind. Er verfolgte anatomische Interessen, legte den Sitz der Seele in das Herz und hielt das Gehirn für eine bloße und überflüssige Ausdehnung des Rückenmarks (Gal. de usu partium 8…

[English version] (“Geburtshelferin”, “Hebamme”). Geburtshilfe wurde gewöhnlich von Frauen geleistet, lag jedoch nicht ausschließlich in ihren Händen. So berichtet eine parische Inschr. von zwei männlichen Geburtshelfern (IG 12,5,199), außerdem richten sich die erh. geburtshilflichen Schriften an ein männliches Publikum. I. als Berufsbezeichnung taucht auf zwei röm. Inschr. aus dem 3. bzw. 4. Jh. n.Chr. auf (CIL 6,9477f.); in ersterer wird Valeria Verecunda die ‘erste i. in ihrer Gegend’ gen., ein Epitheton, das eher auf die Qualität ihrer Arbeit als auf ei…

[English version] (lat. contagio, “Ansteckung”). Krankheitsübertragung von einer Person auf eine andere auf direktem oder indirektem Wege. Mit K. verbindet sich die Vorstellung der Befleckung; im Judentum z.B. gilt, daß Menschen, die an bestimmten Krankheiten (wie Lepra) leiden, oder etwa menstruierende Frauen gemieden werden müssen (Kathartik). Die angeführten Gründe lassen sich entweder in hygienischem oder rel. Sinne verstehen. Ähnliche Empfehlungen sind auch aus dem alten Babylonien und Grieche…

[English version] A. Definition K. im Sinne öffentlicher Einrichtungen zur medizinischen Versorgung ausschließlich Kranker finden sich nicht vor dem 4. Jh.n.Chr., und auch dann noch weist die Vielzahl der verwendeten Bezeichnungen (griech. xenṓn, xenodocheíon, ptōcheíon, gerontokomeíon, lat. xenon, xenodochium, ptochium, gerontocomium, valetudinarium; “Fremdenhaus”, “Pilgerhaus”, “Armenhaus”, “Altersheim”, “K.”) auf eine Vielfalt sich z.T. überschneidender Funktionen, Zielgruppen und Dienstleistungen hin. Privathäuser für kranke Angeh…

[English version] (auch Muscio). Übersetzer bzw. Übermittler von zwei gynäkologischen Schriften des Soranos von Ephesos ins Lateinische. Bei der einen handelt es sich um ein kurzes Hdb. von Fragen und Antworten, dessen griech. Fassung verlorengegangen ist, bei der anderen um die berühmte Gynaikeía (‘Gynäkologie). Einige Hss. von M.s Kompendium enden mit einem Anhang, in dem Scheidenpessare aufgelistet sind. Wenn M.s Adaptation auch keine getreue Übers. des Soranos darstellt, so hilft sie doch bei der Konstitution des griech. Textes. In …

[English version] (Καλλιάναξ). Arzt, Anhänger des Herophilos [1] und Mitglied seines “Hauses”, was womöglich darauf hindeutet, daß er Mitte des 3. Jh.v.Chr. tätig war [1]. Bakcheios [1] erwähnt in seiner Denkschrift über die frühen Herophileer (Galen in Hippocratis Epidemiarum 6 comment. 4,10 = CMG V 10,2,2,203), K. habe Homer und die griech. Trag.-Dichter zit., wenn ihm seine Patienten ihre Angst vor dem Sterben bekannt hätten. Damit habe er ihnen zu verstehen gegeben, daß nur Unsterbliche dem To…

[English version] I. Vor- und Frühgeschichte Seit der mittleren Bronzezeit, d.h. seit ca. 2800 v.Chr., sind e.K., worunter man im weitesten Sinne Krankheiten versteht, die eine große Anzahl von Lebewesen gleichzeitig befallen, arch. bezeugt. Ihr Auftreten wird mit einem Bevölkerungswachstum und der dadurch bedingten Erleichterung der Krankheitsübertragung vom Tier auf den Menschen und von Mensch zu Mensch in Zusammenhang gebracht [9. 251]. In Ägypt. dürften Pocken seit etwa 1250 v.Chr. bekannt gewesen…

[English version] Paris, BN, suppl. gr. 636, enthält Auszüge eines doxographischen Werkes über akute und chronische Krankheiten. Seine Bedeutung als medizinhistor. Quelle wurde zuerst von C. Daremberg in seiner Oreibasios-Ausgabe von 1851, S. XL erkannt, der später mindestens zwei weitere Mss. kollationierte, ohne daß es zu einer Edition gekommen wäre. Einem Hinweis von G. Costomiris folgend, übernahm R. Fuchs 1894 die editio princeps auf der Grundlage zweier Pariser Mss. [1], stiftete jedoch dabei Verwirrung, als er den doxographischen vom therapeutischen…

[English version] (Σάλπη). Hebamme aus hell. Zeit, deren medizinische und kosmetische Rezepturen Plinius [1] in seiner Historia naturalis (Plin. nat. 28,38; 28,66; 28,82; 28,262; 32,135; 32,140) zitiert. Athenaios [3] (Athen. 322a) kennt eine S. als Verfasserin von παίγνια/ paígnia, “Spielereien”, doch bereitet die Identifizierung der beiden Probleme [1]. Nutton, Vivian (London) Bibliography 1 D. Bain, Salpe's ΠΑΙΓΝΙΑ; Athenaeus 322a and Plin. H. N. 28,38, in: CQ 48, 1998, 262-268.

[English version] (Πραξαγόρας) von Kos. Arzt, E. des 4. Jh. v. Chr., Lehrer von Herophilos [1], Phylotimos, Pleistonikos und Xenophon. Seine Familie führte ihre Abstammung auf Asklepios zurück, sein gleichnamiger Großvater wie auch sein Vater Nikarchos waren ebenfalls Ärzte. Die Familie gehörte auch noch Generationen nach P. der koischen Prominenz an [1]. Auf einer Statue hat sich ein Gedicht erh., das Krinagoras zu seinen Ehren verfaßte (Anth. Plan. 273). Unter den Werken dieses Arztes findet sich eine Abh. über Therapie in mindestens 4 B., eine Schrift über Kr…

[English version] Griech. Arzt aus Massilia, der ca. 55 n.Chr. nach Rom gelangte. Dank seiner Kaltwasserkuren machte er sich dort bald einen Namen und gewann zahlreiche wohlhabende Patienten (Plin. nat. 29,10). Einem aus der Prov. stammenden Patienten stellte er für eine Heilbehandlung HS 200000 in Rechnung (Plin. nat. 29, 22) und verlangte einen vergleichbar exorbitanten Preis von 1000 att. Drachmen für eine einzige Dosis eines Gegengiftes (Gal. 14,114,127). Ch. investierte zu Lebzeiten HS 20 Mio…

[English version] aus Kappadokien. Griech. Arzt, der als Hippokratiker von pneumatischen Lehren beeinflußt wurde. Von [13] daher in die Mitte des 1. Jh. n. Chr. datiert. Als Autor einer Schrift über Prophylaxe zuerst Ende des 2. Jh. erwähnt von Ps.-Alex. Aphr. De febribus 1, 92, 97, 105 der A.' Namen erwähnt; Galen aber wiederholt in Subfig. emp. 10 = Deichgräber 75-9, die von A. in morb. chron. 4,13,20 geschilderte Gesch. eines Leprosen ohne Quellenangabe. 30 Jahre später behauptete Gal. in Simp.…

[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)

[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…

[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.

[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)

[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…

[English version] Whereas between about AD 500 and 1100,  Galen was almost unknown in Western Europe, the orthodox  medicine of the Byzantine and Muslim world was substantially based on his concepts that were increasingly systemized and put into a logical order, with a particular focus on their theoretical content.  Galen's monotheism and teleology commended his works also to an environment dominated by religion. From the 12th cent. on, Galenism reached Western Europe in an Arabic guise where it s…

[German version] (Σάλπη/ Sálpē). Midwife of the Hellenistic era, whose medical and cosmetic recipes were quoted by Plinius [1] in his Historia naturalis (Plin. HN 28,38; 28,66; 28,82; 28,262; 32,135; 32,140). Athenaeus [3] (Ath. 322a) knows a S. as the author of παίγνια/ paígnia (‘light poems’), but it is problematic to consider the two identical [1]. Nutton, Vivian (London) Bibliography 1 D. Bain, Salpe's ΠΑΙΓΝΙΑ; Athenaeus 322a and Plin. H. N. 28,38, in: CQ 48, 1998, 262-268.

[German version] Originally meaning a teacher of medicine (esp. in Alexandria), iatrosophistes could later refer to any experienced practitioner ( medicus sapientissimus, Corpus Glossatorum Latinorum 3,600,32 Goetz), either in orthodox medicine (e.g.  Agnellus, In Galeni De sectis commentarium 33) or in the magical arts of healing (Ps.-Callisthenes, Vita Alexandri 1,3) [1]. Contrary to the emendation by von Arnim in Dion. Chrys. 33,6, the term was probably not coined before the late 4th cent. AD (Epiphanius, Adversu…

[German version] (Φανοστράτη; Phanostrátē). Greek-Athenian midwife and doctor, depicted on Attic grave stelae from the end of the 4th cent. BC (IG II/III2 6873; Clairmont, 2. 890). The inclusion of the professional title midwife suggests a certain degree of specialisation in medicine and shows at the same time that women were able to work as doctors and earn a considerable income, as is suggested by the quality and individual designs of the stone mason’s craftsmanship. Nutton, Vivian (London)

[German version] (μέλαινα χολή/ mélaina cholḗ, ‘black bile’). The fourth humour in the tradition of Hippocratic medicine represented by De natura hominis, ch. 4, and later by Rufus of Ephesus and Galen. It was predominant in autumn, associated with the element earth, and cold and dry. It was viewed as the antithesis of blood, having many deadly properties [1]. According to Galen (De atra bile 5,104-148 K.) in its purest form it was highly destructive to everything it touched, and had its origin in the spleen. Not ev…

[German version] In Babylonian, Egyptian and also Greek medicine, blood-letting was part of standard medical practice. This procedure was carried out either by directly opening a vein, by scarification or by using a cupping vessel. Considering how often the latter are depicted on monuments connected with physicians, cupping may have been the most common method [1]. Two notions seem to have favoured phlebotomy: on the one hand, it supposedly prevented the stagnating of the blood and its transformat…

[German version] (Ἀκεσίδας; Akesídas). According to Paus. 5,14, A. was considered a hero in Olympia and was elsewhere known under the name Idas. His name offers the assumption that he was worshipped as a healing god, who possibly shared a healing cult, which was very common on the Peloponnese, with  Paeonius,  Iason and  Heracles. Nutton, Vivian (London)

[German version] Greek grammarian, middle or end of the 1st cent. AD, author of a glossary of Hippocratic words, which he dedicated to  Andromachus [4 or 5], a doctor at the imperial court in Rome [2; 3]. The alphabetic structure of the glossary, in its surviving form, does not go back to E. since, in his preface (9), he expressly emphasizes that he had explained the words in the sequence of their appearance in c. 37 Hippocratic texts which in turn could be classified into 1) semiotic, 2) physiological-aetiological, 3) therapeutic texts, 4) miscellaneous, 5) texts on…

[German version] (Ἀκεσίας; Akesías). Greek doctor of 3rd cent. BC (?). According to an intentionally ambiguous proverb, he only treated those who suffered the worst (suffering or doctor) (Aristoph. Byz., Zenob. 1,52). It is possible that he also wrote about culinary art (Ath. 12, 516c). Nutton, Vivian (London)

[German version] (Πραξαγόρας; Praxagóras) of Cos. Doctor, at the end of the 4th cent. BC, teacher of Herophilus [1], Phylotimus, Pleistonicus and Xenophon. His family claimed its descent from Asclepius; his grandfather who shared the same name and his father, Nicarchus, were likewise doctors. His family continued to be very prominent on Cos for generations [1]. A poem composed by Crinagoras still survives on a statue in his honour (Anth. Plan. 273). Amongst the works of this doctor are a treatise on therapy in at least 4 books, a work about diseases in at least 3 bo…

[German version] (Καλλιάναξ; Kalliánax). Doctor, adherent of  Herophilus [1] and member of his ‘house’, which possibly refers to the fact that he worked in the mid 3rd cent. BC [1].  Bacchius [1] in his memoir on the early followers of Herophilus (Galen in Hippocratis Epidemiarum 6 comment. 4,10 = CMG V 10,2,2,203), mentions that C. quoted Homer and the Greek tragic writers if his patients told him that they were afraid of dying. He gave them to understand by this that only the immortals could esca…

[German version] (Ἄκρων; Ákrōn) [of Acragas] Son of a doctor of the same name (Diog. Laert. 8,65), older contemporary of Hippocrates. He was supposed to have rid Athens of the pest by lighting big fires in 430 BC (Plut. De Is. et Os. 80 [cf. 1]). The  Empiricists (Ps.-Gal. 14,638) considered A. as founder of their school and as such he entered the doxographic tradition [2]. It is possible that he participated in the debates regarding the epistemological value of sensory perception (he was familiar …

[German version] Greek physician, mid 5th cent. BC. The story recounted in Sor. Vita Hipp. 5, that E. cured Perdiccas II of Macedonia of an illness caused by unrequited love, arose comparatively late and is rather fantastical. According to Galen (17a,886), he provided the most important contributions to the so-called ‘Cnidian Sentences’, which have survived only in fragments [1. 65-66; 2. 14-26]. In the opinion of some ancient scholars some of his works, especially those dealing with dietetics, were taken up into the Hippocratic Corpus (Gal. 6,473; 7,960; 16,3). E. regarded disea…

[German version] In Late Antiquity in Alexandria [1] writings by Galenus and to a lesser extent by Hippocrates [6] were assembled into a medical compendium. Known as the '16 Books of Galen', it covers the basic areas of medicine  (including anatomy, physiology and therapeutics). According to Arab sources [1], a number of teachers ( Iatrosophistḗs ) in Alexandria are supposed to have written a series of summaries or abridgements of the books contained in this compendium, which were then collected under the title SA and translated into Arabic and perhaps also into Hebrew [2]. In…

[German version] (Φιλάγριος; Philágrios). Doctor from Epirus, fl. 3rd-4th cents. AD; he practised in Thessalonica and was the author of more than 70 books: treatises on dietetics, gout, dropsy and rabies as well as a commentary on Hippocrates [1]. He is often cited by later authors, especially in Arabic, for his treatment of diseases of the liver and spleen. Doctrinally, he often follows Galen, but pays particular attention to pneuma (Pneumatists) as the co-ordinating force in organisms. His name appears often in garbled form as Filaretus (e.g. frr. 131-133: Rhazes, Continens, V…

[German version] An eye disease characterized by exudation, covering a variety of specific diseases like trachoma and conjunctivitis. A dry variety of lippitudo, xerophthalmía, in which the purulent eyes become stuck shut over night is also described (Celsus, De medicina 6,6,29). Celsus [7] (ibid. 6,6,2) reports a large number of ointments and other agents against lippitudo, an extremely common condition; this is confirmed by many ‘oculists' stamps’ for eye ointments ( Kollyrion) with the inscriptions ‘against lippitudo’ and by the large number of manufacturers of such …

[German version] [1] Doctor Doctor and iatrosophist, who as Jew was expelled from Alexandria in c. AD 412, converted to Christianity in Constantinople and returned to Alexandria. Author of an abridged version of the Physiognomy of  Polemon of Laodicea, (ed. R. Förster 1893). Some prescriptions, which are ascribed to him, are handed down by Oribasius (Syn. ad Eustathium 2,58-59; 3,24-25; 9,57). He is probably not the author of the treatise ‘About the Winds’, Ed. V. Rose 1864), which refers to Peripatetic meteorology and apparently dates from the 3rd cent. AD.  …

[German version] According to Varro [2] (Rust. 2,1,19) derived from Latin volvere, 'roll', by which is meant the swathing of a fetus. In the early Imperial Period, vulva, like matrix, was used in addition to the technical term uterus as a term for the womb [1]. All three terms remained in use throughout Antiquity; in late Latin medical authors, vulva seldom occurs. In the course of time the term changed in meaning, in that it also included the vagina (Celsus, De medicina 4,1,12) and even the clitoris (Iuv. 6,129). In his Etymology (Isid. Orig. 11,1,137), Isidorus [9] of Seville connec…

[German version] (ἀρχιατρός; archiatrós). In the original use of the name during Hellenistic times, archiatros was the title of the king's personal physician. The term first appeared in connection with the Seleucids (IDelos 1547, cf. TAM V 1,689). A similar title, wr sinw, ‘supreme physician’, is documented in pre-Ptolemaic Egyptian texts; it is missing from early Ptolemaic papyri purely by accident. Dating to 50 BC, documentations are extant from Egypt (Athenagoras, SB 5216) and Pontus (IDelos 1573) [2. 218-226]. A physician known at t…

[German version] (πνευματικοί/ pneumatikoí, Latin pneumatici). Greek medical sect, founded by Athenaeus [6] of Attaleia under the influence of Stoicism. Galen (De causis contentivis 2) makes Athenaeus a pupil of Posidonius [2], which might indicate a date in the latter half of the 1st cent. BC. However, Cornelius Celsus [7] who wrote in Rome in the mid-1st cent. AD, seems not to have been aware of this sect at all, and its most famous representatives - Agathinus, Herodotus [3], Antyllus [2] and Archi…

[German version] (also Muscio) Translator and adapter into Latin of two gynaecological treatises by  Soranus of Ephesus.One of these, now lost in Greek, was a shorter manual of questions and answers; the second the celebrated Gynaikeîa (‘Gynaecology). Some MSS of M.'s compendium end with an appendix listing vaginal pessaries. Although not a faithful translation of Soranus, M.'s adaptation does offer help in the constitution of the Greek text, and it was the most popular treatise on gynaecology to survive from Antiquity into the …

[German version] (Ἀρχιγένης; Archigénēs) of Apamea. Physician, student of  Agathinus, lived under Trajan (AD 98-117) and died at the age of 63 (Suda s. v. Archigenes). He was an eclecticist and had close ties to the Hippocratic view that disease is caused by the dyscrasia of hot, cold, moist and dry. A. was predominantly influenced by the Pneumatists and wrote extensively about the study of the pulse. Galen (8,625-635) criticized his list of eight different pulse qualities as too tenuous. Some of t…

[German version] (Ἀγαθῖνος; Agathînos) of Sparta (Ps.-Gal. 19,353). Greek doctor of the first cent., student of Athenaeus of Attaleia, teacher of Archigenes and the Pneumatist  Herodotus. Even though he was mostly counted among the Pneumatists, some believed that he had founded his own, the Episynthetic or Eclectic School. The handed-down fragments of his writings allow connections to the Empiricists and Methodists to be recognized. He wrote about medicines (a fragment about stinking hellebore is i…

[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)

[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…

Nutton, Vivian (London) [German version] I. Medicine (CT) In the 5th cent. AD, the originally Galenic notion (Galenism) that melancholy was a temperament ruled by black bile, one of the four main humours, irreversibly merged with the older notion of a specific illness by that name. In that way, black bile had come to be seen as the most dangerous bodily fluid, and melancholics seemed more than ever afflicted with all kinds of diseases. Isidorus [9] Etymologiae X 176, derived the term malus from an excess of black bile, which caused melancholics to avoid human company and mad…

(Ἀρσένιος). [English version] [1] Heiliger Heiliger, aus Adelsfamilie, geb. 354 n.Chr. in Rom, 445 gest. in Troia bei Memphis in Ägypten. Kaiser Theodosius I. lud ihn nach Konstantinopel ein, um seine Kinder Arcadius und Honorius zu erziehen. Nach vielen Jahren im Kaiserpalast zog sich A. nach Ägypten zurück und lebte als Eremit. Eine biographische Legende findet sich bei Simeon Metaphrastes. Die Authentizität der Belehrungen für Mönche und der Apophthegmata, die ihm zugeschrieben wurden, ist recht zweifelhaft. Montanari, Franco (Pisa) Bibliography A. Jülicher, RE 2, 1273 ODB I …