(Βῶλος; Bôlos) of Mendes (in the Nile Delta). Greek writer c. 200 BC. His essential themes were occult powers, sympathy and antipathy between people, animals, plants, stones and metals (Fr.: 68 B 300 and 78 DK). He gave important impetus to the spread of the theory of sympathy [1], later also to the development of Alchemy [5].
Many of B.'s writings circulated under the name of Democritus [1], and it is a matter for discussion whether the extensive pseudo-Democritean literature [6] pursuing similar lines of thought may be substantially …