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Mental illness

(976 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] A. Near Eastern Mental illnesses (MI) are described in both Jewish and Babylonian texts. Sometimes physical signs are indicated, as in epilepsy, sometimes behaviours are described as in 1 Sam 16:14-16; 21:13-15, but all MI are ascribed to the intervention of God, or, in texts from 500 BC onwards, of a variety of demons [1]. Treatment might be limited to confinement (Jer 29:26-8) or exorcism, including music, but the Jewish ‘Therapeutae’ took an approach that involved the entire lifes…

Iulianus

(4,648 words)

Author(s): Giaro, Tomasz (Frankfurt/Main) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Franke, Thomas (Bochum) | Johnston, Sarah Iles (Princeton) | Montanari, Franco (Pisa) | Et al.
Epithet of many gentilicia [1]. Famous persons: the jurist Salvius I. [1]; the doctor I. [2]; the emperor I. [11], called ‘Apostata’; the bishops I. [16] of Aeclanum and I. [21] of Toledo. [German version] [1] L. Octavius Cornelius P. Salvius I. Aemilianus Roman jurist, 2nd cent. AD Jurist, born about AD 100 in North Africa, died about AD 170; he was a student of  Iavolenus [2] Priscus (Dig. 40,2,5) and the last head of the Sabinian law school (Dig. 1,2,2,53). I., whose succession of offices is preserved in the inscription from Pupput, provi…

Andreas

(442 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum)
(Ἀνδρέας; Andréas). [German version] [1] Personal physician of Ptolemaeus Philopator Originally from Carystus. Personal physician of Ptolemaeus Philopator, was murdered before the battle of Raphia in the year 215 BC (Pol. 5,81). The son of Chrysareus, he was a Herophilean ( Herophilus), who wrote about medicaments (this was especially so in his writing Narthex), midwifery, poisons, doxography and the history of medicine. He commented on Hippocrates, even if he did not write any actual commentaries. Eratosthenes (EM s. v. Bibliaegisthus) accused h…

Evenor

(217 words)

Author(s): Neudecker, Richard (Rome) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] [1] Athenian sculptor, c. 490-470 BC (Eύήνωρ; Euḗnōr). Athenian sculptor. Three bases on the Acropolis bear his signature, dating from around 490-470 BC. One of these is linked, not without controversy, to the so-called Angelitus' Athena (Athens, AM Inv. no. 140). Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography A. E. Raubitschek, Dedications from the Athenian Akropolis, 1949, no. 14, 22, 23. B. S. Ridgway, The Severe Style in Greek Sculpture, 1970, 29-30, fig. 39. [German version] [2] Greek physician Greek physician from Argos in Acarnania; he lived in Athens, a…

Transmission of disease

(307 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] Latin contagio, ‘infection’, refers to the transmission of disease (TD) from person to person, directly or through an intermediary. TD is associated with the idea of pollution: Judaism, for instance, holds that people suffering from certain diseases (such as leprosy) or menstruating women must be avoided (Purification). The stated reasons were either hygienic or religious. Similar precepts are known from ancient Babylon and Greece as well. The observation that those in close contac…

Aelius Promotus

(91 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] A., of Alexandria, worked during the first half of the second cent. as doctor and writer. He wrote about medicines and sympathetic remedies [1; 2]. The manuscripts also count among the writings of A. a treatise about toxicology [3], the core of which originated in A.'s time and which was apparently one of the main sources for  Aetius [3] of Amida, even if it shows signs of revisions in the meantime. Nutton, Vivian (London) Bibliography 1 E. Rohde, KS vol.1, 1901, 380-410 2 M. Wellmann, in: SBAW 1908, 772-777 3 S. Ihm, 1995.

Nicias

(1,775 words)

Author(s): Stein-Hölkeskamp, Elke (Cologne) | Hoesch, Nicola (Munich) | Albiani, Maria Grazia (Bologna) | Bäbler, Balbina (Göttingen) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Et al.
(Νικίας; Nikías). [German version] [1] Important commander in the Peloponnesian War, c.470-413 BC Son of Niceratus of Athens, born c.470 BC, died 413; one of the most important commanders in the Peloponnesian War. After the death of Pericles, N. competed with Cleon [1] for influence in the popular assembly and the assignment of military commands. His policy was directed towards ending the aggressive Athenian politics of expansion and towards reconciliation with Sparta. From 427, N. was regularly elected stratēgós . He led expeditions against Minoa [4…

Artemidorus

(1,271 words)

Author(s): Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) | Di Marco, Massimo (Fondi Latina) | Brodersen, Kai (Mannheim) | Montanari, Franco (Pisa) | Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Et al.
(Ἀρτεμίδωρος; Artemídōros). [German version] [1] Indo-Greek King in 1st cent. BC. Coins are the only evidence of his existence, middle Indian Artemitora. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography Bopearachchi, 110, 316-318. [German version] [2] Elegiac poet Writer of elegies Περὶ Ἔρωτος in which, among others, the katasterismós of the dolphin was narrated. He had helped Poseidon win Amphitrite as his wife (Ps.-Eratosth. Catasterismus 31 S. 158 Robert, cf. schol. ad Germanicus, Aratea, S. 92,2ff. Breysig = SH 214). Even if this is only a hy…

Erasistratus

(1,039 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Ερασίστρατος; Erasístratos) [German version] A. Life Physician, born in the 4th-3rd cent. BC at Iulis on Ceos; the son of Cleombrotus, physician to Seleucus I, and Cretoxene; brother and nephew to other physicians (fr. 1-8 Garofalo). Information on his education is contradictory, but, if we ignore Eusebius when he tells us that E. attained the zenith of his career in 258 BC, a link with Theophrastus and the Peripatos appears possible [7]. The professional practice of his father and E.'s own associati…

Heraclides

(4,218 words)

Author(s): Högemann, Peter (Tübingen) | Meister, Klaus (Berlin) | Engels, Johannes (Cologne) | Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) | Günther, Linda-Marie (Munich) | Et al.
(Ἡρακλείδης; Hērakleídēs). Famous persons: the politician and writer H. [19] Lembus, the philosopher H. [16] Ponticus the Younger, the doctor H. [27] of Tarentum. I. Political figures [German version] [1] Spokesman on behalf of Athens at the Persian court, end of 5th cent. BC H. of Clazomenae (cf. Pl. Ion 541d) was in the service of the Persians and probably called basileús for that reason. Thus, he was able to perform valuable services for Athens at the Persian court in 423 BC for which he received Attic citizenship soon after moving there (after 400, Syll.3 118). To move the Athenians …

Asclepiades

(2,568 words)

Author(s): Degani, Enzo (Bologna) | Döring, Klaus (Bamberg) | Pressler, Frank (Heidelberg) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Montanari, Franco (Pisa)
(Ἀσκληπιάδης; Asklēpiádēs) [German version] [1] of Samos Epigrammatic poet Epigrammatic poet of the ‘Garland’ of Meleager, who addresses him in the preface by the dark pseudonym Σικελίδης (Anth. Pal. 4,1,46; cf. Hedylus, GA I 1, 101 6, 4; Theoc. 7,40); an outstanding representative of the Ionian-Alexandrianschool, he lived around the turn of the 4th/3rd cent. BC. A. was highly praised by Theocritus (7,39-41), but attacked by Callimachus (schol. Flor. Callim. Fr.1,1). From the latter he differed, among other things, through a diametrically opposed appraisal of the Lyde of Antimach…

Ionicus

(90 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] of Sardis. Teacher and physician, who worked around AD 390. The son of a physician and a pupil of Zeno of Cyprus, he was well respected, particularly regarding his services to practical therapy, pharmacology, the art of bandaging, and surgery. In addition, he was a philosopher with particular gifts in medical prognostication as well as in fortunetelling (Eunapius, Vitae Philosophorum 499). Furthermore, he is reported to have distinguished himself as a well-known orator and poet, even though none of his works have survived. Nutton, Vivian (London)

Epilepsy

(357 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] From 1050 BC onwards we find careful descriptions of epilepsy and its various manifestations in Babylonian texts [1]. There, epilepsy is linked to gods, spirits, or demons. The belief in a religious cause of epilepsy and the corresponding treatment of it through religious, magical, and folk-medicinal methods can be traced throughout all of antiquity and across cultural borders. In c. 400 BC, the Hippocratic author of De morbo sacro propagated a purely somatic interpretation of epilepsy , wherein he suspected that changes in the balance of bodily fluids we…

Arsenius

(207 words)

Author(s): Montanari, Franco (Pisa) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Ἀρσένιος; Arsénios). [German version] [1] Saint Saint, from a noble family, born AD 354 in Rome, died 445 in Troy near Memphis in Egypt. Emperor  Theodosius I invited him to Constantinople to bring up his children  Arcadius and  Honorius. After many years in the imperial palace A. returned to Egypt and lived as a hermit. A biographic legend is to be found in Simeon Metaphrastes. The teachings for monks and apophthegmata ascribed to him are of very doubtful authenticity. Montanari, Franco (Pisa) Bibliography A. Jülicher, RE 2, 1273 ODB I 187-188. [German version] [2] Fictitious author …

Satyrus

(1,465 words)

Author(s): von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) | Knell, Heiner (Darmstadt) | Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) | Blume, Horst-Dieter (Münster) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Et al.
(Σάτυρος/ Sátyros). [German version] [1] S. I King of the regnum Bosporanum from 433/2 to 389/8 BC. Son of Spartocus I. S.' co-regent may have been (until 393/2) his brother Seleucus [1]. S. directed his attention at the Asiatic coast of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Bosporus [2]). He restored the Sindian King Hecataeus following a revolt, and allied with him through a dynastic marriage. S.'s divorced wife then sent the King of the Ixomates against him (Polyaenus, Strat. 8,55). S. died during the siege of Theodosia. von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) Bibliography V. F. Gajdukevič, Da…

Venereal diseases

(398 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] In the absence of unambiguous diagnostic evidence it is difficult to reconstruct the ancient history of VD. Less harmful infections such as herpes genitalis (Hippocr. De mulierum affectibus 1,90 = 8,214-8 L.) and chlamydia [2. 220] are well attested, the two major VD of modern times, gonorrhoea and syphilis, can be detected in surviving material only with difficulty. Gonorrhoea, a Greek word coinage presumably from the Hellenistic period, describes any form of excessive production of fluid in a man. It…

Philaretus

(367 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum)
(Φιλάρετος; Philáretos). [German version] [1] Greek writer on medicine Greek writer on medicine. A text which bears P.’s name and ultimately goes back to Galen’s theories about the pulse, is a Byzantine revision (from the 9th cent.?) of the text De pulsibus ad Antonium (= Gal. 19,629-642 K.) which was influenced by pneumat (Pneumatists). Whether or not P. was the author of the original text or the revised version, is a matter of controversy. A connection with Philagrius cannot be ruled out as his name is occasionally misrepresented in P.…

Artorius, M.

(136 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] Doctor, and follower of Asclepiades of Bithynia (Caelius Aurelianus Morb. acut. 3,113), was in Philippi with Octavian where a dream saved the life of the future emperor (Plut. Antonius 22; Brutus 47; Val. Max. 1,7,2; Vell. Pat. 2,70,1). He was honoured by the Athenians (IG II/III2 4116), probably on the occasion of a journey to Delos (IDélos 4116), and died around 27 BC in a shipwreck (Hieron. Chron. Olymp. 127). A. believed that rabies first attacked the brain and that it spread to the stomach and caused hiccups, unquenchab…

Philippus

(7,662 words)

Author(s): Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) | Beck, Hans (Cologne) | Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Mehl, Andreas (Halle/Saale) | Et al.
[German version] I Greek (Φίλιππος/ Phílippos). Macedonian kings P. [3-7], including P. [4] II, P. [7] V; the apostle and evangelist P. [28]; philosophers and poets P. [29-32]. [German version] [I 1] Spartan naval leader in 411 BC Spartiate, commander at Miletus in 412 BC (Thuc. 8,28,5), sent in 411 with two triremes to Aspendus to move, with the support of Tissaphernes, the Phoenician fleet to fight Athens (Thuc. 8,87), but soon told the naúarchos Mindarus that his mission would be unsuccessful (Thuc. 8,99; [1. 244]). Peloponnesian War Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) Bibliography 1 B. …

Gaius

(1,171 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Giaro, Tomasz (Frankfurt/Main) | Fröhlich, Roland (Tübingen)
[II] Widespread Roman praenomen (probably connected with the Latin family name Gavius, but not related to gaudere), abbreviated as C., more rarely G.; in late Greek inscriptions also Γα ( Ga). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] Physician of the school of Herophilus Physician of the school of Herophilus, probably 1st cent. BC or AD, wrote about hydrophobia (Caelius Aurelianus morb. ac. 3,113-4). He explained that this disease affected the brain as well as the meninges, because the nerves surrounding the stomach and responsi…

Hicesius

(109 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] Greek physician, head of an Erasistratean school in Smyrna, early 1st cent. BC (Str. 12,8,20); he wrote on  dietetics (Plin. HN 14,130; 20,35; 27,31), embryology (Tert. De anima 25) and toothache (Plin. HN 12,40). He was the inventor of a famous black plaster that ‘helped with all types of wounds’ (Gal. 13,787). Galen, who recorded four different recipes for this medication (13,780; 787; 810; 812) and cites the four authors ( Andromachus [5] the Younger,  Heras,  Heraclides [27] a…

Ne(i)leus

(207 words)

Author(s): Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] [1] Founder of Miletos (Νειλεύς/ Neileús; Νηλεύς/ Nēleús; Νείλεως/ Neíleōs). Mythical founder of the city of Miletus [2]; from Pylos; son of the Attic king Codrus, brother of Medon [5]; since he is second to his brother in the succession, he leaves Attica with a group of Athenians und Ionians from Pylos, settles the Ionian cities in Asia Minor, founds Miletus and the Milesian dynasty of rulers. His son Aepytus founds Priene (Hellanicus FGrH 125 F 10; Hdt. 9,97; Callim. Iambi fr. 191,76; Str. 14,1,3; Paus. 7,2,1ff). Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) [German version] [2] Greek surgeon a…

Acumenus [of Athens]

(72 words)

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

Straton

(1,134 words)

Author(s): Bäbler, Balbina (Göttingen) | Wildberg, Christian (Princeton) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) | Et al.
(Στράτων; Strátōn). [German version] [1] Attic comedy writer, 4th cent. BC Attic comedy writer of the 4th cent. BC, according to the Suda belonging to the Middle Comedy [1. test. 1], but on the basis of fr. 1,43 (mentioning Philitas [1] of Cos) certainly to the New Comedy [2.62 f.]. At the Dionysia of 302, S. attained the fourth place [1. test. 2]. Of the comedy Phoinikídes (fr. 1 PCG) a rhesis survives on papyrus (fr. 1,4-8; 11; 13-15; 17-21; 23-25; 34-50; cf. [3]) and in a divergent version in Athenaeus (fr. 1,1-47; cf. [1.621 f.]); the spe…

Dioscorides

(1,511 words)

Author(s): Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) | Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Degani, Enzo (Bologna) | Bäbler, Balbina (Göttingen) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Et al.
(Διοσκουρίδης; Dioskourídēs). [German version] [1] Son of Polemaeus, naval commander in 314-313 BC Son of Polemaeus, nephew of  Antigonus [1] Monophthalmus. Led the fleet to a few victories as naval commander in 314-13 BC. Nothing further is known about his life. Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) Bibliography R. A. Billows, Antigonus the One-Eyed, 1990, 381f. [German version] [2] Polyhistor of the 4th and 3rd cents. BC Polyhistor of the 4th and 3rd cents. BC, pupil of Isocrates (Ath. 1,18,11 A). Of his works, the following titles are known (cf. FGrH 3 B 594): 1. Apomnēmoneúmata (‘Memorabil…

Antonius

(5,913 words)

Author(s): Degani, Enzo (Bologna) | Fusillo, Massimo (L'Aquila) | Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) | Berschin, Walter (Heidelberg) | Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Et al.
[German version] A. Greek (Ἀντώνιος; Antṓnios). [German version] [1] Thallus Epigrammatic poet, 2nd half of the 1st cent. BC Epigrammatic poet from Miletus (according to [2] he had received Roman citizenship, through the patronage of Antonia Minor) lived in the 2nd half of the 1st cent. BC (in Anth. Pal. 6,235 the birth of a Καῖσαρ [ Kaîsar] is celebrated, who is to be equated with either C. Julius Caesar, the grandson of Augustus, or with Germanicus). His five epigrams, which derive from the ‘Garland’ of Philippus, are certainly conventional in their…

Phylotimus

(248 words)

Author(s): 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…

Stertinius

(262 words)

Author(s): Schmitt, Tassilo (Bielefeld) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
Three bearers  of the Italic gens name S. are known from the late Republic. [German version] [1] S., L. Held a pro-consular imperium over Hispania Ulterior By popular vote a pro-consular imperium over Hispania Ulterior was transferred to him for 199 BC (Liv. 31,50,10-11 and [1]), and he returned in 196 with such great booty that he was able to have three arches built in Rome (Liv. 33,27,3-4); In 196 he was a member of a commission to re-organize Greece (Pol. 18,48,2 and [2]). Schmitt, Tassilo (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] S., C. Praetor of Sardinia in 188 BC Praetor of Sardinia in 188 BC …

Glycon

(378 words)

Author(s): Robbins, Emmet (Toronto) | Bowie, Ewen (Oxford) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Neudecker, Richard (Rome)
(Γλύκων; Glýkōn). [German version] [1] Poet Named by Heph. 10,2 Consbruch as the inventor of Glyconic verse ( Metre). His existence is disputed and the three verses ascribed to him (= 1029 PMG) are generally viewed as alexandrine in terms of metre: G. could hardly have lived before Sappho (late 7th cent. BC), who used this meter. Choeroboscus names G. (in his Comm. on St. In Heph. Consbruch) as a comedic poet, but probably mistook him for Leucon (PCG V 612). Anth. Pal. 10,124, a two-liner on the futil…

Humoral theory

(722 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Eustochius

(53 words)

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

Hippocratic Oath

(704 words)

Author(s): 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…

Leprosy

(396 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Dietetics

(1,163 words)

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

Anonymus de herbis

(74 words)

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

Olympus

(2,377 words)

Author(s): Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) | Meyer, Ernst (Zürich) | Scherf, Johannes (Tübingen) | Lohmann, Hans (Bochum) | Lafond, Yves (Bochum) | Et al.
(Ὄλυμπος/Ólympos). Geography: [1-13]. People: [14-15]. [German version] [1] Home of the ›Olympian‹ gods, highest mountain in Greece (Latin Olympus) (Latin Olympus). Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) Meyer, Ernst (Zürich) [German version] I. Geography The highest mountain in Greece, regarded as the home of the 'Olympian' gods (twelve (Olympian) gods). Its altitude, overlooking all of its surroundings, creates a powerful impression, as do its massive size and density and its dramatic ascent, especially at the east and west, which …

Largius Designatianus

(98 words)

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

Heraclitus I (Gk)

(1,845 words)

Author(s): Betegh, Gábor (Budapest) | Robbins, Emmet (Toronto) | Albiani, Maria Grazia (Bologna) | Bäbler, Balbina (Göttingen) | Fornaro, Sotera (Sassari) | Et al.
(Ἡράκλειτος; Hērákleitos). [German version] [1] H. of Ephesus Ionian philosopher, c. 500 BC Son of Bloson, outstanding personality within Ionian philosophy. Betegh, Gábor (Budapest) [German version] A. The person H.'s main period of activity is estimated to have been about 503-500 BC (Diog. Laert. 9,1). He belonged to a leading family in the public life of Ephesus. The doxographic tradition records several anecdotes of H.'s arrogance and contempt for his fellow citizens and humanity in general, which are mostly based on fragments of H. Betegh, Gábor (Budapest) [German version] B. La…

Claudius

(10,704 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Will, Wolfgang (Bonn) | Kierdorf, Wilhelm (Cologne) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Birley, A. R. (Düsseldorf) | Et al.
Name of a Roman lineage (Sabine Clausus, with the vernacular variant of   Clodius , esp. in the 1st cent. BC). The Claudii supposedly immigrated to Rome from the Sabine city of Regillum at the beginning of the republic in 504 BC under their ancestor Att(i)us Clausus ( Appius) and were immediately accepted into the circle of patrician families (Liv. 2,16,4-6), which explains why the early members received the invented epithets of Inregillensis C. [I 5-6] and Sabinus C. [I 31-32], [1. 155f.]. The praenomen Appius came to signify the family. Named after them was the Tribus Claudi…

Iacobus Psychrestus

(108 words)

Author(s): 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…

Galenism

(389 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Salpe

(75 words)

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

Leonides

(479 words)

Author(s): Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Albiani, Maria Grazia (Bologna)
(Λεωνίδης; Leōnídēs). Cf. also Leonidas. [German version] [1] General Ptolemy I, c. 300 BC General of Ptolemy I, stratēgós in Cilicia in 310/309 BC (Diod. Sic. 20,19,4). L. probably consecrated a helmet at Delos in 309/308 (IG XI 2, 161 B 77), and in 308 he was appointed by Ptolemy as commander of his Greek possessions. In 307/306, L. fulfilled the function of stratēgós in Sicyon and Corinth; after 301, together with Philocles (?), he commanded Ptolemaic mercenaries in Pamphylia (SEG 17, 639; Aspendus). It is unclear whether he can be identified with Berve, vol. 2, no. 470. Ameling, Walter (…

Marcellinus

(1,752 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Damschen, Gregor (Halle/Saale) | Baumbach, Manuel (Zürich) | Wermelinger, Otto (Fribourg) | Bleckmann, Bruno (Strasbourg) | Et al.
[German version] I. Greek (Μαρκελλῖνος; Markellînos). [German version] [I 1] Greek author of a treatise on pulses, 2nd cent. AD?, [1] Greek author of a treatise on pulses. His reference to followers of Archigenes suggests the late 1st or 2nd cent. AD as the earliest date of its composition. A more precise dating would be possible if he were the author of a recipe quoted by Galen (De compositione medicamentorum secundum locos 7,5 = 13,90 K.) from Andromachus [5] the Younger, but the identification is uncertain. M.'s …

Apollophanes

(252 words)

Author(s): Hidber, Thomas (Berne) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki)
[German version] [1] Attic poet of the Old Comedy Attic poet of the Old Comedy, who according to the witness of Suda wrote five pieces (Δαλίς, Δανάη, Ἰφιγέπων, Κένταυροι, Κρῆτες; Dalís, Danáē, Iphigépōn, Kéntauroi, Krêtes; 1. test. 1), all of which are lost, except for a few remnants. On the inscription list of the Lenaean victors A. figures between Nicophon and Amipsias [1. test. 3]. Hidber, Thomas (Berne) Bibliography 1 PCG II, 1991, 518-523. [German version] [2] Personal physician of Antiochos III Son of A. of Seleucia, personal physician ( archiatros) and tropheus of Antiochus III;…

Iustus

(481 words)

Author(s): Bringmann, Klaus (Frankfurt/Main) | Johne, Klaus-Peter (Berlin) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] [1] Imperator Caesar C.P. Niger Iustus Augustus, Roman emperor 193-194 AD, see Pescennius see  Pescennius Bringmann, Klaus (Frankfurt/Main) [German version] [2] I. of Tiberias Jew. historian, 1st cent. AD Jewish historian of the 1st cent. AD, wrote a ‘Jewish War’ (66-70/74), in which he dealt critically with the work of the same name by  Josephus [4] Flavius (this made Josephus write a retort in his autobiography: Vita 65), and a chronological-genealogical work on Jewish kings from Moses to  Iulius [II 5] Agrippa II. This work, which appears to…

Iatrosophistes

(216 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Phanostrate

(79 words)

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

Melancholy

(534 words)

Author(s): 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…

Phlebotomy

(371 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Themison

(339 words)

Author(s): Beck, Hans (Cologne) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Θεμίσων; Themísōn). [German version] [1] Tyrant from Eretria [1], 4th cent. BC Tyrant of Eretria [1], who occupied Oropus in 366 BC with some of the town’s exiles. The people controlling the operation were based in Thebes, and assistance also came from there in order to fend off an Athenian counter-attack. After an arbitration tribunal the pólis went to the Thebans, who maintained T.’s regime (Diod. Sic. 15,76,1; Dem. Or. 18,99; Xen. Hell. 7,4,1). Beck, Hans (Cologne) Bibliography J. Buckler, The Theban Hegemony, 1980, 193 f. [German version] [2] Th. from Laodicea Greek doctor, …

Acesidas

(59 words)

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

Menodotus

(550 words)

Author(s): Meister, Klaus (Berlin) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Neudecker, Richard (Rome)
(Μηνόδοτος; Mēnódōtos). [German version] [1] M. of Perinthus Historian, c. 200 BC In about 200 BC, he wrote a ‘Greek History ( Hellenikaì Pragmateîai) in 15 books, probably a continuation of the work of Psaon of Plataeae (FGrH 78) and dealing with events after 218/17 (Diod. Sic. 26,4). He may be identical (see [1]) with M. of Samos (which was considered a colony of Perinthus). The latter was the author of a periegesis ( periēgētḗs ) on ‘Notabilia of Samos ( Tôn katà tḕn Sámon endóxōn anagraphḗ), from which Athenaeus (15, 671-699) relates an extensive passage on the pre-Hellenic h…

Marinus

(2,215 words)

Author(s): Gärtner, Hans Armin (Heidelberg) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Rist, Josef (Würzburg) | Saffrey, Henri D. (Paris) | Leppin, Hartmut (Hannover) | Et al.
[German version] I. Greek (Μαρῖνος; Marînos). [German version] [I 1] M. of Tyre Greek geographer, 2nd cent. AD Greek geographer, known only through his immediate successor Claudius Ptolemaeus, who mentions M. as a source in his ‘Introduction to the Representation of the Earth (γεωγραφικὴ ὑφήγησις/ geōgraphikḗ hyphḗgēsis, = ‘G.). Arabic texts which mention M. all trace back to the ‘G. [8. 189]. Place names used by M. allow his work to be dated to between AD 107 and 114/5; cities are mentioned with the name of Trajan refering to his Dacian Wars (ended AD 107…

Pheidippus

(287 words)

Author(s): Frey, Alexandra (Basle) | Walter, Uwe (Cologne) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Φείδιππος; Pheídippos). [German version] [1] Son of Thessalus, naval commander at Troy Son of Thessalus, brother of Antiphus, consequently grandson of  Heracles [1] and Chalciope [3] (Hyg. Fab. 97,14). One of Helen [1]'s suitors (Hyg. Fab. 81). He and his brother command 30 ships at Troy (Hom. Il. 2,676-680). On the voyage home he is blown off course to Thesprotia, where he also dies. In Odysseus's tall stories  (Hom. Od. 14,316; 19,287) the king Pheidon of the Thesproti appears twice. The latter's name is…

Zoilus

(701 words)

Author(s): Matthaios, Stephanos (Cologne) | Neudecker, Richard (Rome) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Ζωίλος/ Zōílos). [German version] [1] Greek Sophist from Amphipolis, 4th cent. BC Greek Sophist from Amphipolis, 4th cent. BC; active in the area of historiography [1], rhetoric [3] and philology; pupil of Polycrates [3], teacher of Anaximenes [2] from Lampsacus and Demosthenes [2]. However, Z. owes his fame to his criticism of Homerus [1] in his work Κατὰ τῆς Ὁμήρου ποιήσεως/ Katà tês Homērou poiḗseōs ('Against Homer's verse'; 9 books; fragments in [2]) which earned him the epithet Ὁμηρομάστιξ ( Homēromástix, 'Scourge of Homer'). Motivated by the Cynic approach, Z. endeav…

Cydias

(426 words)

Author(s): Robbins, Emmet (Toronto) | Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Hoesch, Nicola (Munich) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Κυδίας; Kydías). [German version] [1] Erotic poet Erotic poet, quotes from Pl. Chrm. 155d, mentioned by Plut. Mor. 931e. He was obviously popular in Athens as he is depicted as a komast on a red-figured dish (Munich 2614) and on a psykter (London, BM E767) from c. 500 BC [1. 12-13]. He may perhaps be identical with Cydidas of Hermione referred to by Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 967 [2. 215]. Possibly (rather improbable) he is the dithyramb poet Cedeides/Ceceides mentioned by Aristoph. Nub. 985 (with schol.) [3]. Robbins, Emmet (Toronto) Bibliography 1 K. Friis Johansen, Eine Dithyrambos-A…

Aegimius

(325 words)

Author(s): Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) | Selzer, Christoph (Frankfurt/Main) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Αἰγιμιός; Aigimiós). [German version] [1] Mythical progenitor of the Dorians in the Oete mountains Son (or father) of Dorus, father of Dyman and Pamphilus (Hes. fr. 10a 7). Progenitor of the Dorians in the Oete mountains (Pind. Pyth. 1,64;5,72; Str. 9,427 after Ephoros, FGrH 115 F 15). He adopted Hercules' son Hyllus after the death of his father, in addition to his own sons, to show his appreciation of Hercules' help. The three Dorian phyles were given the names Hylleis, Pamphiloi, Dymanes, after them. Othe…

Chrysippus

(3,163 words)

Author(s): Scheer, Tanja (Rome) | Inwood, Brad (Toronto) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) | Montanari, Franco (Pisa)
(Χρύσιππος; Chrýsippos). [German version] [1] Favourite son of Pelops Favourite son of  Pelops from his first marriage with the nymph Axioche (schol. Pind. Ol. 1,89, schol. Eur. Or. 4) or Danais (Plut. Mor. 313E). Two tales are associated with him: Zeus (Praxilla 3,6 Edmonds = Ath. 13 p. 603a) or  Laeus, C.'s teacher in chariot driving (thus presumably in the ‘C.’ of Euripides, TGF fr. 839-844, possibly already in the Laios of Aeschylus), became infatuated with the extraordinarily beautiful youth and abducted him either from his father's house or the Nemean games …

Africanus

(177 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Leppin, Hartmut (Hannover)
Originally the epithet of a victor, first assumed by P. Cornelius Scipio A. (Maior) after the victory over Carthage in 201 BC (Liv. 30,45,6), then assumed by his adoptive son P. Cornelius Scipio A. (Minor), cos. 147; later as surname also in other families [1]. In the imperial era surname of the emperors Gordian I and II, Justinian I and Flavius Mauricius. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] Greek doctor 2nd or 1st cent. BC Greek doctor of the 2nd or 1st cent. BC, who dedicated a few of his prescriptions to a king Antigonus [1]. Not to be confused with a…

Erotianus

(328 words)

Author(s): 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…

Acesias

(50 words)

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

Philistion

(546 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Furley, William D. (Heidelberg)
(Φιλιστίων; Philistíōn). [German version] [1] P. of Locri Greek physician, 4th cent. BC Physician from Locri in Italy, active around 364 BC. He is said by Plato's 2nd letter to have been the personal physician of Dionysius [2] II at Syracuse in that year. However, a fragment of the comic poet Epicrates [4] (Ath. 2,59c) has been plausibly interpreted to mean that he arrived at Athens soon after this. He wrote about dietetics, pharmacology and surgery. The Anonymus Londiniensis (20,25ff. = fragment 4 Wellmann)…

Praxagoras

(541 words)

Author(s): 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…

Dexippus

(719 words)

Author(s): Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) | Birley, A. R. (Düsseldorf) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Chase, Michael (Victoria, BC)
(Δέξιππος; Déxippos). [German version] [1] Spartan, mercenary leader c. 400 BC Lacedaemonian, 406 BC mercenary leader of Acragas in the war against Carthage in which he played an obscure role. The Syracusans appointed him as the commander in Gela where he refused to support Dionysius I and was then sent back to his homeland (Diod. Sic. 13,85,3f.; 87,4f.; 88,7f.; 93; 96,1). D. is perhaps identical with a perioecus who drew attention to himself in the army of Cyrus the Younger through his wicked machinations and was finally executed by Nicander (Xen. An. 5,1,15; 6,1,32; 6,5ff.). Meier, Misc…

Glaucon

(411 words)

Author(s): Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) | Döring, Klaus (Bamberg) | Engels, Johannes (Cologne) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Pressler, Frank (Heidelberg) | Et al.
(Γλαύκων; Glaúkōn). [German version] [1] Athen. strategós about 440 BC Son of Leagoras, Athenian   stratēgós at Samos in 441-440 BC (Androtion FGrH 324 F 38 with comm.); in 439-438 and 435-434 stratēgós, in 433-432 commander of the fleet sent to Corcyra (Thuc. 1,51; Syll.3 72). Often mentioned on Attic   kalos-inscriptions in 480-450 BC. Traill, PAA 277035. Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] Son of Critias, father of Plato's mother Perictione Son of  Critias, father of Charmides and of Plato's mother Perictione (Pl. Prt. 315a; Charm. 154ab; Symp. 222b; T…

Olympias

(742 words)

Author(s): Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Leppin, Hartmut (Hannover) | Brändle, Rudolf (Basle) | Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim)
(Ὀλυμπιάς; Olympiás). [German version] [1] Daughter of Neoptolemus Daughter of Neoptolemus [2], born in about 375 BC. She was not given the name O. until after the Olympic victory of Philippus II in 356 BC (cf. Plut. Mor. 401b). She married Philip in 357 as his fifth wife (Ath. 13,557b) and bore him Alexander [4] the Great (356) and Cleopatra [II 3]. The birth of a successor elevated O.'s status, but there is no evidence of any political influence. After Philip's marriage to Cleopatra [II 2] she fled to…

Euthydemus

(540 words)

Author(s): Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) | Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) | Cassin, Barbara (Paris) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Εὐθύδημος; Euthýdemos). [German version] [1] Athenian strategos 418/7 BC Athenian strategos of 418/17 BC. He took part in the Sicilian campaign, during which in 414/13 both he and Menander became commanders to serve alongside Nicias. They were defeated before  Demosthenes [1] even arrived. They failed in their attempt to force their departure out of Syracuse's great harbour (Thuc. 7,16,1; 69,4; Diod. Sic. 13,13,2-4; Plut. Nicias 20). Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) Bibliography D. Kagan, The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition, 1981. [German version] [2] E. I. Greek ki…

Alcon

(290 words)

Author(s): Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Ἄλκων; Álkōn). [German version] [1] Figure of Greek myth: son of Erechtheus Son of Erechtheus, who fled to Chalcis. Father of Chalciope (Proxenus FGrH 425 F 2), or son of the Euboean hero Abas (Ephorus F 33). He sends his son Phalerus, who in Phalerum is venerated as a hero, along on an Argonaut journey (Apoll. Rhod. 1,95; Hyg. Fab. 14); according to Orph. Arg. 144 Phaleros comes instead from Mysia and founds the Thessalian city of Gyrton. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Figure of Greek myth: son of Hippocoon of Amyklai Son of Hippocoon of Amyclae (Apollod. 3,124), kille…

Dietetics

(386 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[English version] Classical ideas of dietetics, based on the Hippocratic and Galenic notions of a balance between the four humours, continued to play an important role in medicine  into the 20th cent. (Humoral Theory). In Arabic medicine, all substances taken into the body had properties that could affect its health, for good or ill, and hence it was the doctor's duty to prescribe diets for health, as well as for disease, and equally that of his patient  to understand the rules for a healthy lifes…

Ophthalmology

(1,093 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] A. Egypt The eye-doctors of Egypt were already famous when in about 540 BC the Persian king Cyrus [1] asked the Pharaoh Amasis for one to cure him (Hdt. 3,1; cf. 2,84). Diseases of the eyes were quite common in Egypt. Three of the seven early medical papyri are devoted to such diseases. P. Ebers alone contains more than 100 recipes for blindness. Some of these prescriptions involve Dreckapotheke, while others, for example, use liver - rich in vitamin A and a valuable remedy for xerophthalmia. Eye surgery seem to have been rarely performed and Egy…

Statilius

(1,578 words)

Author(s): Fündling, Jörg (Bonn) | Schmitt, Tassilo (Bielefeld) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Touwaide, Alain (Madrid) | Et al.
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…

Medicine, Historiography of

(2,043 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
Nutton, Vivian (London) [German version] A. Arabic Medical Historiography (CT) The historiography of ancient medicine goes back at least to Late Antiquity, when a 'History of the Physicians' is said to have been written by John Philoponus (6th cent.). Material from this work was drawn upon by Ishaq ibn Hunayn (d. 910/911), for his own 'History' ( Ta'rikh al-atibba), which is largely concerned with chronology [11]. Ishaq's example was followed by a variety of writers in Arabic, some, like the bookseller Ibn an-Nadim (fl. 987), producing largely lists of…

Cleanthes

(515 words)

Author(s): Hoesch, Nicola (Munich) | Inwood, Brad (Toronto) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Κλεάνθης; Kleánthēs). [German version] [1] Painter from Corinth One of the earliest painters from Corinth, mentioned in Plin. HN 35,15f.; his name stands for the origin of the genera ( prima pictura). C. was considered the inventor of line art, creating his work from outlines and filling them in. Stylistic comparisons with vase painting of the early 7th cent. date his work to the same period. Also only known from the literature (Str. 8,343; Athen. 8,346 BC) are his tableaus in a sanctuary near Olympia: the fall of Troy, the birth of Athena, also Poseidon handing Zeus a tuna. Hoesch, Nicola (…

Theodotus

(1,303 words)

Author(s): Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Günther, Linda-Marie (Munich) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Bowie, Ewen (Oxford) | Et al.
(Θεόδοτος; Theódotos). [German version] [1] Greek architect, c.370 BC Mentioned several times in the construction records for the temple of Asclepius at Epidaurus as its architect; his origins are as unknown as his subsequent whereabouts. T.’ salary during the project amounted to 365 drachmae per year, together with further payments of unknown object. It is uncertain whether he is the same person as the sculptor T. named in IG IV2 102 (B 1 line 97) as having, for 2,340 drachmae, fashioned the acroteria for the pediment; it is possible that the name T. has been in…

Ninyas

(175 words)

Author(s): Frahm, Eckart (Heidelberg) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Νινύας; Ninýas). [German version] [1] Son of Ninus [1] In Graeco-Roman sources, son of the Assyrian King Ninus [1] and Semiramis, whom he succeeded on the throne. According to the report of Diod. (2,20f.), based on Ctesias, he was of an effeminate nature like Sardanapallus (Assurbanipal), and took no part in military campaigns. N., whose name derives from the toponym Nini(w)e (Niniveh; Ninus [2]), is largely a legendary figure; he is not mentioned in the cuneiform sources. Frahm, Eckart (Heidelberg) Bibliography 1 E.F. Weidner, s.v. N., RE 17, 643f. 2 G. Pettinato, Semiramis, 1988,…

Craterus

(667 words)

Author(s): Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) | Meister, Klaus (Berlin) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Κράτερος, Κρατερός; Kráteros, Kraterós). [German version] [1] Son of Alexander of Orestis, commander under Alexander the Great Son of Alexander of Orestis. Under Alexander [4], he commanded a   táxis of the   pezétairoi at the  Granicus (334 BC), and near  Issus (333) and  Gaugamela (331), he commanded the entire regiment. C. held a leading command against the  Uxii and the Ariobarzanes [2], as he also did in the wars in  Hyrcania and Areia [1] after Darius' death [3]. He played an important role in the …

Medical ethics

(1,348 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] A. Introduction Medical ethics can be defined as the attitude of those schooled in the art of healing towards those whom they want to heal. How this appears in detail, depends on the healer's social group and standing and also the society in which he or she works. Furthermore, healers and those seeking healing may well have completely divergent views on medical ethics. It is possible to regulate for any desired attitude in the sense of the earlier definition by laws or professional …

Numisianus

(198 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] (Νουμισιανός; Noumisianós), anatomist and teacher of medicine in the 2nd cent. AD. A pupil of Quintus, he wrote many works on anatomy in Greek, but these were hoarded by his son Heracleianus and were eventully destroyed by fire (Galen, Administrationes anatomicae 14,1). Although Galen praises his promotion of anatomy, he attributes no discovery to him. Like other Alexandrians, N. commented upon Hippocrates (Galen, In Hippocratis Epidemiarum librum II, commentum 4: CMG V 10,1, 345-3…

Lucius [I]

(732 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Inwood, Brad (Toronto) | Baltes, Matthias (Münster) | Lakmann, Marie-Luise (Münster) | Fusillo, Massimo (L'Aquila) | Et al.
(Λούκιος; Loúkios) [German version] [1] L. Kathegetes Author of pharmacological texts, 1st cent. AD Author of pharmacological texts, active in the middle to the end of the 1st cent. AD. Galen (De compositione medicamentum secundum genera 13,295 K.), quoting from Andromachus [5] the Younger, records a remedy against diarrhoea by L. of Tarsus, a city with a long pharmacological tradition (cf. also 13,292 K., where the name of the city is not mentioned). He is almost certainly to be identified with the more fa…

Zeno

(6,572 words)

Author(s): Bodnár, István (Budapest) | Inwood, Brad (Toronto) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Ameling | Meister, Klaus (Berlin) | Et al.
(Ζήνων/ Zḗnōn.) [German version] [1] Z. of Elea Eleatic philosopher, 5th cent. BC (Son of Teleutagoras). Eleatic philosopher of the 5th cent. BC; a pupil and intimate friend of Parmenides who became famous for his paradoxes. According to the Suda (29 A 2 DK), Z. wrote many books; but his Λόγοι ( Lógoi, 'Arguments', 40 according to Proclus, 29 A 15 DK) probably belonged to a single book, the one he read aloud to his closest circles in Athens (cf. Pl. Prm. 127c-d). In the lost dialogue Sophistes, Aristotle (Aristoteles [6]) declares Z. to have been the 'inventor' ( protos heuretes

Humoral Theory

(1,080 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[English version] The doctrine that the human body was made up of four humours, blood, phlegm, bile and black bile, and that health consisted in their being in balance, was accepted as the creation of Hippocrates well before the 2nd cent. AD. Galen's authority, buttressed by his logical and rhetorical skills, ensured that it became for centuries the dominant theory in Western medicine and in its oriental siblings. It was expounded in short (often pseudonymous) tracts like the ps.-Galenic Perì chymôn [16] or the Epistula Yppocratis de quattuor humoribus [1] , as well as in large com…

Arabic medicine

(1,884 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
Nutton, Vivian (London) [German version] A. Origins (CT) By AD 500, Greek medicine had become largely Galenic Galenism. Alternative medical theories no longer flourished, and even pragmatists like Alexander of Tralles did not reject Galenic ideas entirely. In Alexandria, and elsewhere in the Byzantine world that followed Alexandrian traditions, e.g. Ravenna, there was a teaching syllabus of Galen, the so-called 16 books - Summaria Alexandrinorum, and of Hippocrates that was commented upon by lecturers who expected of their audience also a grasp of Aristoteli…

Chrysermus of Alexandria

(135 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] (IDélos 1525). C. lived in about 150-120 BC; administrative official, ‘relative of king Ptolemy’, exegete (i.e. head of the civil service in Alexandria), director of the museum and ἐπὶ τῶν ἰατρῶν, a title that is often understood to mean the person responsible for all Egyptian doctors, which in turn led to the conclusion that there was a state organization of doctors. Kudlien is of the opinion that the title refers to the person responsible for the person in charge of the ‘tax on …

Alexander

(7,586 words)

Author(s): Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) | Günther, Linda-Marie (Munich) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Mehl, Andreas (Halle/Saale) | Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) | Et al.
(Ἀλέξαδρος; Aléxandros). Famous personalities:  Alexander the Great [4] (III.); the Philosopher Alexander [26] of Aphrodisias. I. Myth [German version] [1] see Paris see  Paris. Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) II. Associated Hellenistic ruling families [German version] [2] A. I. Macedonian king, 1st half of the 5th cent. BC Son of  Amyntas [1] and his negotiator with  Darius. As Macedonian king he supported  Xerxes' invasion of Greece, but pretended to be a friend of the Greeks (later called ‘Philhellen’). Herodotus has subtly shown his ambigu…

Heracleianus

(130 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] Physician and anatomist from Alexandria, active c. AD 152, the son of the anatomist and teacher  Numisianus. He compiled an extract of his father's works (Gal. De musculorum dissectione 18 B, 926, 935 K.), demonstrating his own considerable knowledge (Gal. Admin. anat. 16,1). He had a conversation with  Galen, when the latter arrived in Alexandria in c. AD 151, and Galen initially followed his anatomical lectures with benevolence (CMG V,9,1, p. 70). However, when Galen later requested to see the works by H.'s late father, their relatio…

Xenophon

(5,032 words)

Author(s): Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) | Schütrumpf, Eckart E. (Boulder, CO) | Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) | Neudecker, Richard (Rome) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Et al.
(Ξενοφῶν; Xenophôn). [German version] [1] Of Athens, strategos, 5th cent. BC Athenian. Initially commander of the cavalry ( hippárchēs; IG I3 511); then participated in the campaign against Samos in 441/40 BC as stratēgós (Androtion FGrH 324 F 38), was also stratēgós the following years and operated as such in Thrace in 430/429. He was treated with hostility due to his unauthorized acceptance of the capitulation of Potidaea (Thuc. 2,70), but remained in office and fell as stratēgós at Spartolus in the summer of 429 during a campaign against the Chalcidians and Bottians (…

Theon

(2,323 words)

Author(s): Hoesch, Nicola (Munich) | Bäbler, Balbina (Göttingen) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Damschen, Gregor (Halle/Saale) | Folkerts, Menso (Munich) | Et al.
(Θέων; Théōn). [German version] [1] Greek painter from Samos, 300 BC and after T. of Samos was a Greek painter of the Hellenistic Period, who was active around and after 300 BC. His skill as a creator of images and the successful way in which his paintings were composed were praised in handbooks of rhetoric (e.g. Quint. Inst. 12,10,6) as examples to be followed. The viewer's creative imagination and intuitive understanding were meant to be stimulated at the same time by means of the artistic phantasía (Lat. ingenium, 'image creation'; Phantasia), so that the viewer might imagine e…

Empiricists

(726 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] A. History The Empiricists are a Greek school of physicians founded in about 250 BC by Philinus of Cos, a pupil of  Herophilus (Ps.-Galen Introductio; Gal. 14,683). According to Celsus (De med. pr. 10) it was founded somewhat later by Serapion of Alexandria. According to some doxographers the founder was Acron of Acragas (about 430 BC; fr. 5-7 Deichgräber). It is mentioned in the medical doxographies as one of the leading movements in Greek medicine even in the time of Isidorus of S…

Definitiones medicae

(237 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Uliadae

(148 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] (Οὐλιάδαι; Ouliádai). Family connected with medicine and healing cults in Velia [1] in southern Italy. The name derives from 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…

Antyllus

(426 words)

Author(s): Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(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…

Uterus

(339 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Aeficianus

(88 words)

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

Anonymus Parisinus

(350 words)

Author(s): 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…

Theomnestus

(215 words)

Author(s): Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(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…

Pulse

(548 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Apollonius

(7,446 words)

Author(s): Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Fantuzzi, Marco (Florence) | Hunter, Richard (Cambridge) | Pressler, Frank (Heidelberg) | Hidber, Thomas (Berne) | Et al.
(Ἀπολλώνιος; Apollṓnnios). [German version] [1] Dioiketes of Ptolemy II (259-245 BC) Of Caria, possibly Ptolemaic o ikonomos there in 267 BC. Was dioiketes of Ptolemy II from April /May 259 until the end of 245; in 252 escorted Berenice to her wedding to Antiochus II. At a critical transition period A. found himself responsible for the economy of the kingdom of the Ptolemies, adapting the fiscal system to the monetary economy of the Lagids, for which purpose he was entrusted with the management of finances and the co…

Callianax

(110 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Acron [of Acragas]

(131 words)

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