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

(Ἡρόφιλος; Hēróphilos) [1] From Chalcedon, Greek physician and medical author, approx. 330/20-260/50 BC [German version] A. Life Greek physician from Chalcedon, about 330/320 to 260/250 BC [5. 43-50]. Apart from his training with Praxagoras, with a Hippocratic orientation, he spent the majority of his active career under Ptolemy I and II in Alexandria. However, he does not appear to have worked in the  Mouseion, nor was he a court physician [5. 26f.]. Touwaide, Alain (Madrid) [German version] B. Work Of the eleven works attributed to H. six are almost certainly genuine: …

[German version] I. Etymology The Greek term for pharmacology (ὁ περὶ φαρμάκων λόγος/ ho perì pharmákōn lógos, Pedanius Dioscorides, De materia medica praef. 5) means 'science of remedies'. Originally, the term φάρμακον/ phármakon, whose etymology is not known, did not specifically refer to a medical drug, but to any substance introduced into the body with the ability of changing the body's structure or function. The Latin term medicamentum points to the aspect of assistance and support, as does βοήθημα/ boḗthēma. Specific medications were named after their principal proper…

[German version] [1] C.P. Africanus Senator Senator. In probably 67 he became a suffect consul. In 70 he was expelled from the Senate for being found guilty of informing on the Scribonii brothers under Nero [1] (Tac. Hist. 4,41,3). But he must have been readmitted soon after, because in 77/8 he served as proconsul of Africa; there are numerous testimonies to his activities there. PIR2 P 14. Eck, Werner (Cologne) Bibliography Thomasson, Fasti Africani, 44. [German version] [2] P. Antiochus Pharmacologist in Rome, 1st cent. Pharmacologist, active in Rome, who had great therapeutic…

[German version] [1] Pedanius Dioscorides Author on medicines, 1st cent. AD (Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης; Pedánios Dioskourídēs). [German version] I. Life The author of the treatise Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς/ Perì hýlēs iatrikês ( De materia medica, 'On Materia Medica') hailed from Anazarbus (Cilicia) and dates to the 1st. cent. AD: in his preface (§ 4), he refers to a certain Laikanios Bassos, whom he describes as krátistos (‘the highest’), now assumed to be C. Laecanius Bassus, senator and consul of AD 64. Pliny makes no reference to this work in his Naturalis historia (completed in AD 77 acc…

I. The Ancient Orient [German version] A. Sources Indirect: The Akkadian collection of Ḫammurapi’s laws (18th cent. BC) mentions the treatment of oxen (Cattle) and donkeys [1. 70, § 224 f.]. Direct: we know of ten remedies in Ugaritic, and six confirmed as such in Accadian; they confine themselves to the treatment of diseases in horses [2]. Böck, Barbara (Madrid) [German version] B. Specialists As far as can be ascertained from the sources, a distinction was made between veterinarians for bovines and for equines [1. 70, § 224, 18; 4]. The profession of donke…

(Ζεῦξις/ Zeûxis). [German version] [1] Greek painter and sculptor, c. 435/25-390 BC Greek painter and sculptor, active between c. 435/25 and 390 BC. He was one of the pioneers of the great era of Greek painting which would retain its high standards for over a century. 'Heraclea', which Plin. HN 35,61 gives as his place of origin, seems more likely to be the Sicilian Heraclea [9] Minoa ([1. 382]; but [2]: Heraclea [7] Pontica?) than Heraclea [10] in Lucania [3. 60], since Z. was the pupil of an otherwise unknown ma…

[German version] [1] Quinctius S. Sammonicus Author of a collection of recipes (also Quintus Serenius). Author of the Liber Medicinalis, a collection of therapeutic recipes which can be neither dated nor identified; Q. has at times been identified with S. [2] Sammonicus or with his son (Septimius [II 6] S. Sammonicus; both died at the beginning of the 3rd cent. AD). The collection (dating between the 2nd and 4th cents. AD) cannot be chronologically ordered with any accuracy. It is written in hexameters and contain…

(Ἡρόδοτος; Heródotos). [German version] [1] The historian Herodotus, approx. 485-424 BC The historian Herodotus. Meister, Klaus (Berlin) [German version] A. Life Sources on the life of H., the ‘father of history’ (Cic. Leg. 1,1,5), c. 485-424 BC (fundamental for all of the following: [1]) are, apart from the information he provided himself in particular, the Suda s.v. H. or s.v. Panyassis. H. came from Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum) in the south-west of Asia Minor. The names of his father, Lyxes, and his uncle, Panyassis, a famou…

(Ξενοκράτης/ Xenokrátēs). [German version] [1] X. of Acragas, mentioned by Pindar, c. 500 BC Brother of the tyrant Theron of Acragas. Pind. Pyth. 6 refers to X.' victory in chariot-racing at the Pythian Games (Pythia [2]) in 490 BC, and Pind. Isthm. 2 to his charioteering victory at the Isthmian Games (Isthmia) in c. 470 BC. The latter ode was written after X.' death. Meister, Klaus (Berlin) Bibliography H. Berve, Die Tyrannis bei den Griechen, 1967, 133; 135. [German version] [2] X. of Chalcedon Academic philosopher, 4th cent. BC Academic philosopher (Academy), 4th cent. BC. Stanzel, Ka…

Italic nomen gentile. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] A young friend of M. Porcius [I 7] Cato; in 46 BC he wanted to follow Cato into death, but allowed himself to be dissuaded by philosophical arguments (Plut. Cato Minor 65,10 f.; 66,6-8; 73,7). He then joined cause with M. Iunius [I 10] Brutus, who, because of S.' attitude towards tyrannicide, did not dare let him in on the plot against Caesar. S. was killed in 42 as a scout at Philippi (Plut. Brutus 51,6). Fündling, Jörg (Bonn) [German version] [I 2] S., L. Roman equestrian and leading follower of Catilina (Cic. Cat. 3,6…

Widespread Italic nomen gentile. I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] V., L. Roman equestrian from Picenum, c. 106-59 BC. In 89 BC, V. probably served on the staff of Cn. Pompeius [I 8] Strabo (ILS 8888; [1. 161 f.]) and subsequently enriched himself as a favourite of L. Cornelius [I 90] Sulla (Sall. Hist. 1,55,17). He later joined the conspiracy of Catilina (Q. Tullius Cic. commentariolum petitionis 10), but betrayed it to Cicero in 63 BC (Cass. Dio. 37,41; Oros. 6,6,7). In 62, it seems that opponents o…

[German version] I. Greek (Γρηγόριος; Grēgórios) [German version] [I 1] Thaumaturgus Lawyer and theologian, 3rd cent. AD G. was born between AD 210 and 213, as the son of a wealthy pagan family in Neocaesarea/ Pontus (modern Niksar), probably under the name of Theodorus. In 232/3 (or 239), after a thorough elementary education G. actually wanted to study law in  Berytus/Beirut but before this in  Caesarea [2] (Palestine) got to know  Origen who taught there and then studied under his supervision the ‘Christian s…