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Adamantius

(110 words)

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

Demosthenes

(3,503 words)

Author(s): Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) | Engels, Johannes (Cologne) | Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Selzer, Christoph (Frankfurt/Main) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Δημοσθένης; Dēmosthénēs). [German version] [1] Athenian commander during the Peloponnesian War Prominent Athenian commander during the Peloponnesian War. Appointed strategos for the first time in 427/6 BC, he entered Aetolia with Western Greek allies so as to be able to attack Boeotia from the west. Through tactical errors D. suffered a severe defeat and fear prevented him from returning to Athens (Thuc. 3,94-98). However, in the Aetolian and Spartan assault on the Athenian stronghold of Naupactus in 426, D., wit…

Vulva

(163 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Archagathus

(345 words)

Author(s): Meister, Klaus (Berlin) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Ἀρχάγαθος; Archágathos). [German version] [1] Son of Agathocles [2] (end of the 4th cent. BC) Before his return to Sicily in 308/7 BC  Agathocles [2] gave the command of the African troops to his eldest son A. despite his poor military ability. Since the latter fragmented the invasion army, the Carthaginians soon achieved significant successes and encircled A. in Tunes (Diod. Sic. 20,57-61). Even Agathocles could not reverse the situation in Africa after his return and fled to Sicily while abandoning the army. Therefore, embittered soldiers killed A. (Diod. Sic. 20,68). Meister, Klau…

Archiatros

(357 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Antiochis

(559 words)

Author(s): Lohmann, Hans (Bochum) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Gerber, Jörg (Bochum)
(Ἀντιοχίς; Antiochís). [German version] [1] Tenth Attic phyle Tenth Attic phyle following the reform of the phyles by  Cleisthenes (IG II2 1700 ff.); its eponymous hero was  Antiochus, a son of Heracles. In the 4th cent. BC, A. encompassed one asty deme, six mesogeia demes, and also six paralia ones; with 28 bouleutai, they were stronger represented than either of the other two trittyes. In 308/7 BC, three demes changed over into the Macedonian phyles of Antigonis or Demetrias ( Atene,  Colonae,  Thorae), but returned to A. after the abolishment…

Pneumatists

(494 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Mustio

(169 words)

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

Thessalus

(1,026 words)

Author(s): Binder, Carsten (Kiel) | Kinzl, Konrad (Peterborough) | Zimmermann, Bernhard (Freiburg) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Θεσσαλός/ Thessalós). [German version] [1] Eponym of the Greek territory of Thessaly Eponym of the Greek territory of Thessaly (Thessalians, Thessalia; Plin. HN 4,28), son of Haemon [1] (Rhianus FGrH 265 F 30), of the Heraclid Aeatus (Charax FGrH 103 F 6) or of Iason [1] and Medea (Diod. Sic. 4,54 f.). Binder, Carsten (Kiel) [German version] [2] Of Athens, son of Peisistratus [4] Athenian, son of Peisistratus [4]. Not named in Herodotus, T. first appears in Thucydides (1,20,2; 6,55,1) as a childless full brother of Hippias [1] and Hipparchus [1] from t…

Dogmatists

(632 words)

Author(s): Frede, Michael (Oxford) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] [1] Philosophers Originally a sceptical expression to designate those who adopt as their own a view ( dógma; cf. S. Emp. P.H. 1,13) ─ especially a philosophical or scientific view ─ which, in sceptical thinking, cannot be justified let alone proven (S. Emp. P.H. 1,3). Also applied by the Pyrrhonians in an extended sense to those Academicians who adopted views such as that nothing can be known (cf. the ἰδίως/ idíōs in S. Emp., ibid.). Because of the close link between empiricism and Scepticism in medicine, the term ‘Dogmatists’ was often also applied…

Onasander

(561 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Schneider, Helmuth (Kassel)
(Ονάσανδρος; Onásandros). [German version] [1] Physician on Cos, c. 250 BC Public physician of Cos in c. 250 BC. As a resident of Cos without citizens' rights, he apprenticed with a public physician ( archiatrós ) in Halasarna, became his assistant and followed him to Cos when he was chosen public doctor there. There he opened his own practice but continued to treat his old patients from Halasarna, at times for nothing. The inscription documenting his career is one of the most informative ones about physicians to survive from antiquity. Nutton, Vivian (London) Bibliography  R. Herzog, Dec…

Stephanus

(2,678 words)

Author(s): Walter, Uwe (Cologne) | Hidber, Thomas (Berne) | Neudecker, Richard (Rome) | Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Et al.
(Στέφανος; Stéphanos). [German version] [1] Athenian politician, 4th cent. BC Athenian, son of Antidorides from the deme Eroiadai (Syll.3 205 = IG II/III2 213 = Tod 168: request to renew friendship and alliance with Mytilene in the spring of 346 BC), as prosecutor and politician aligned with Callistratus [2]. The allegation by Apollodorus [1] that S. had attempted to pass off the children of (his children by?) his common-law spouse, Neaera [6], a former hetaera from Corinth, as his own children from a legitimate marr…

Cosmas

(834 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Brodersen, Kai (Mannheim) | Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) | Albiani, Maria Grazia (Bologna)
(Κοσμᾶς; Kosmâs). [German version] [1] C. and Damianus Doctor's saints and patrons of healing Doctor saints and patrons of healing. The Greek Synaxarion (ed. by H. Delehaye) contains three different pairs of saints with these names: 1) the sons of Theodata, who were born in Asia Minor and buried in Pelusium, whose feast day is 1 November; 2) the Roman martyrs stoned during the rule of  Carinus (283-285), whose feast day is 1 July; 3) the Arab martyrs killed with their three brothers under the emperor Diocleti…

Lysias

(2,221 words)

Author(s): Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Beck, Hans (Cologne) | Mehl, Andreas (Halle/Saale) | Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) | Neudecker, Richard (Rome) | Et al.
(Λυσίας; Lysías). [German version] [1] Attic logographos, 5th/4th cent. BC Attic logographos , 459/8 or c. 445 to c. 380 BC Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) [German version] A. Life The main biographical facts can be gathered from L.'s speeches (esp. or. 12), from which the later vitae (Dion. Hal. de Lysia; Ps.-Plut. Mor. 835c ff.) and Byzantine learning (Phot. Bibl. 262; Suda s.v. L.) drew partly. Born probably around 445, L. left Athens at the age of 15 and together with his older brother Polemarchus settled in the Panhellenic colony o…

Eudemus

(1,447 words)

Author(s): Neudecker, Richard (Rome) | Gottschalk, Hans (Leeds) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Di Marco, Massimo (Fondi Latina) | Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald)
(Εὔδημος; Eúdemos). [German version] [1] Sculptor in Miletus, 1st half of the 6th cent. BC Sculptor in Miletus. He signed a male seated statue of the 1st half of the 6th cent. BC, one of the earliest  Branchidae of Didyma. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography Fuchs/Floren, 373-375 Loewy, No. 3 K. Tuchelt, Die archaischen Skulpturen von Didyma, 1970, 77-78, 121. [German version] [2] of Cyprus Friend of Aristotle A friend of  Aristotle of about the same age, participated, as a follower of Dion [I 1], in the overthrow of Dionysius II and was killed in the fight…

Lysimachus

(2,226 words)

Author(s): Stein-Hölkeskamp, Elke (Cologne) | Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Damschen, Gregor (Halle/Saale) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Et al.
(Λυσίμαχος; Lysímachos). [German version] [1] Athenian, 5th cent. BC Athenian, son of Aristides [1], born around 480 BC, is a dialogue partner in Plato's Láchēs (178ff.), where he is represented as the prototype of the unsuccessful son of a celebrated father. A decree mentioned by Demosthenes (20,115; cf. Plut. Aristides 27), according to which L. is said to have been granted support from the state because he was penniless after the death of his father, is probably a construction from the 4th cent. Stein-Hölkeskamp, Elke (Cologne) Bibliography Davies 1695 III-IV. [German version] [2] G…

Archigenes

(340 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Epaenetus

(233 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Binder, Gerhard (Bochum)
(Επαίνετος; Epaínetos) [German version] [1] Medicinal plant expert Medicinal plant expert and author of toxicological works, who lived between the 1st cent. BC and the 3rd cent. AD. His views on the dangerous characteristics of wolfbane, hemlock, opium, mandrake, henbane, poisonous mushrooms, black chamaeleon (a plant whose leaves can change colour), of bull's blood, of litharge and of lumpsucker as well as his remedies against these poisons are reported in detail in Ps.-Aelius Promotus' De venenis (ed. princeps, S. Ihm, 1995).  Medicine;  Toxicology Nutton, Vivian (London) …

Agathinus

(219 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[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…

Andromachus

(676 words)

Author(s): Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Ἀνδρόμαχος; Andrómachos). [German version] [1] Possessor of a dorea (middle of the 3rd cent. BC) Documented between 253 and 249 BC in Egypt as possessor of a δωρεά ( dōreá) of 10,000 arourai. ‘Father’ of  Ptolemaeus Andromachou (?) [1]. Ameling, Walter (Jena) [German version] [2] Strategos of Syria and Phoenicia (end of 3rd cent. BC) Aspendian, commanded the phalanx in 217 BC at Raphia, later strategos of Syria and Phoenicia. PP 2, 2150. Ameling, Walter (Jena) [German version] [3] Ptolemaean official (1st half of 2nd cent. BC) Son of  Eirene, grandson of  Ptolemaeus Agesarchou; c. 197/8…

Andronicus

(836 words)

Author(s): Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) | Mehl, Andreas (Halle/Saale) | Günther, Linda-Marie (Munich) | Gottschalk, Hans (Leeds) | Degani, Enzo (Bologna) | Et al.
(Ἀνδρόνικος; Andrónikos). [German version] [1] from Olynthus Macedonian officer (2nd half of the 4th cent. BC) Participated in all campaigns of  Alexander [II 4]. 315 BC officer of  Antigonus [1] at Tyre, then advisor of  Demetrius [2], whom he advised 312 to decline the battle at Gaza. In the battle he commanded the cavalry at the right flank and escaped after the defeat to Tyre, where he took over command and was able to hold the city for a time. At the end, delivered by the garrison to  Ptolemaeus [1], by whom he was honoured as a friend. Diod. Sic. 19. Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) Bibliograph…

Callimorphus

(80 words)

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

Callimachus

(3,899 words)

Author(s): Stein-Hölkeskamp, Elke (Cologne) | Neudecker, Richard (Rome) | Lehnus, Luigi (Milan) | Fornaro, Sotera (Sassari) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Et al.
(Καλλίμαχος; Kallímachos). [German version] [1] Athenian, 490 BC archon and supreme commander at Marathon Athenian, árchōn polémarchos ( Archontes) in 490 BC, supreme commander at  Marathon (490 BC). It is disputed if C. was appointed polémarchos by lot (Hdt. 6,109). Aristotle's claim (Ath. Pol. 22,5) that the archontes were first selected by lot in 487/86 appears preferable. But perhaps areas of responsibility were already distributed among them by lot after 509/8. C. only nominally held supreme command, but he was a voting mem…

Penis

(165 words)

Author(s): 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…

Dionysius

(11,175 words)

Author(s): Meister, Klaus (Berlin) | Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) | Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Et al.
(Διονύσιος; Dionýsios). Famous personalities: D. [1], the tyrant of Syracuse; the historian D. [18] of Halicarnassus. Dionysios (month),  Months, names of the. The chronicle of Ps.-D. by Tell Maḥre see D. [23]. I. Politically active personalities [German version] [1] D. I. Notorious tyrant in Syracuse c. 400 BC of Syracuse, son of Hermocritus, born in c. 430 BC, died in 367 BC. Founder of the ‘greatest and longest tyrannical rule in history’ (Diod. Sic. 13,96,4; appearance: Timaeus FGrH 566 F 29). Possessing a sophist education (Cic. Tusc. 5,63), D. had enormous ambitions a…

Iatraleiptes

(106 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] Masseur, a profession that seems to have become fashionable in the 1st cent. AD (e.g. CIL 6,9476) but the linking of medicine and gymnastics extends as far back as Herodicus [1] of Selymbria (5th cent. BC). Trimalchio was treated by three aliptae (Petron. Sat. 28). Pliny considers this entire branch of medicine a form of quackery (HN 29,4-5). Vespasian however guaranteed all who practiced this art various privileges (FIRA 1,77) and Pliny the Younger managed to persuade Trajan to confer Roman (and Alexandrian) citizenship to his Egyptian iatraleiptes Harpocrates, w…

Pelops

(1,023 words)

Author(s): Stenger, Jan (Kiel) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Πέλοψ; Pélops). [German version] [1] Son of Tantalus Son of Tantalus (Cypria fragment 13 EpGF; in Hyg. Fab. 82 from his liaison with Dione), husband of Hippodamia [1], father of Atreus, Thyestes, Pittheus and other children (Pind. O. 1,88f. with schol.). P.'s original homeland was Asia Minor (cf. Pind. Ol. 1,24; Hdt. 7,8).  P.'s father Tantalus chops him into pieces, cooks him and serves him up to the gods. Demeter is the only one who fails to notice the horrendous deed and eats part of his shoulder (A…

Alcamenes

(438 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Neudecker, Richard (Rome)
(Ἀλκαμένης; Alkaménēs). [German version] [1] of Abydus Greek physician Greek physician of the 5th and 4th cents. BC. According to Aristotle or his student Meno, A. blamed illnesses on the residue of undigested food: presumably, it rises to the head where it accumulates only to be distributed throughout the body as a harmful substance (Anon. Londiniensis 7,42). A. assumed a position contrary to the opinions of Euryphon of Cnidus, who ascertained that the head is less involved in the origin of illnesses. It is not certain whether A. was his student.  Anonymus Londiniensis Nutton, Vivian (…

Metrodorus

(1,340 words)

Author(s): Bodnár, István (Budapest) | von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) | Dorandi, Tiziano (Paris) | Günther, Linda-Marie (Munich) | Hidber, Thomas (Berne) | Et al.
(Μητρόδωρος/ Metródōros). [German version] [1] M. of Chios Democritan philosopher, 5th/4th cent. BC Democritan philosopher ( Democritus [1]) of the 5th-4th cent. BC who recognised Fullness and Emptiness, Being and Non-Being as the first principles. This orthodoxy, however, does not go beyond the fundamental theoretical views of Atomism: M. is said to have had his own views in other matters (70 A 3 DK). M. propounds the uncreatedness of the universe (τὸ πᾶν) in the Eleatic manner ( Eleatic School) because a c…

Anatomy

(1,960 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] A. Egypt and ancient Orient Anatomy in the sense of a systematically gained body of knowledge on the basis of dissections appears to have been a Greek invention. We do know that Babylonian (and later also Etruscan) hepatoscopy entailed the removal of an animal liver, but aside from the relatively differentiated terminology for this organ and the assignment of certain emotions to the main organs, Babylonian texts are silent about the topic of anatomy [17]. The beginnings of anatomical r…

Mantias

(261 words)

Author(s): Engels, Johannes (Cologne) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Μαντίας; Mantías). [German version] [1] Athenian strategos, 360/359 BC Son of Mantitheus of Thoricus In 377/76 BC tamias of the shipyards (IG II2 1622,435f). In 360/359 BC Athenian strategos of a naval division and auxiliary troops sent to assist the Macedonian claimant Argaeus against Philip II. By delaying in Methone, he was co-responsible for Argaeus's defeat (Diod. Sic. 16,2,6 and 16,3,5; in c. 358/7). Details about his family are distorted by diabolḗ (‘slander, calumny’) in Demosthenes (Or. 39 and 40). For his trierarchies cf. IG II2 1604,10 and 46 as well as 1609,61f. Engels, Joh…

Timotheus

(2,915 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Robbins, Emmet (Toronto) | Zimmermann, Bernhard (Freiburg) | Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) | Neudecker, Richard (Rome) | Et al.
(Τιμόθεος; Timótheos). [German version] [1] T. of Metapontum Greek physician, c. 400 BC Greek physician, fl. c. 400 BC. According to the Anonymus Londiniensis (8,8), T. believed that disease was the result of the blockage of passages through which residues would have been excreted. Residues that have risen up from the entire body are forced to remain in the head until they are transformed into a saline, acrid fluid. They then break out and cause a wide variety of disease, whose character is determined by the place or places to which they flow.. Humoral theory Nutton, Vivian (London) …

Aristoxenus

(833 words)

Author(s): Zaminer, Frieder (Berlin) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Ἀριστόξενος; Aristóxenos). [German version] [1] Musician, Musical theoretician, philosopher, biographer, from Tarentum from Tarentum, musician, musical theorist, philosopher, biographer, known as μουσικός. According to Suda son of Mnesias or of the musician Spintharus, pupil of his father, of a certain Lamprus of Erythrae, of the Pythagorean Xenophilus and finally of Aristotle. In Mantinea A. turned to philosophy. Claims to have heard in Corinth the story of Damon and Phintias from the tyrant Dionysius II …

Antidotarium

(264 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] The term originally designated treatises about antidotes, for instance Gal. de antidotis, 14,1-209 (trans. and comment. by [1, cf. 6]) and Philomenus (ed. by [2]), but, in medieval Latin, it referred to all writings about composite medications. It is unclear when exactly the shift in meaning occurred, since most collections of medications in late antiquity show neither titles not authors. The earliest documentation of the title is found in a MS from the 11th cent., which, however,…

Hospital

(590 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[English version] In Late Antiquity, a hospital was a place within an environment of religious character, where one cared for people in need including old and sick ones. In the early MA, along the great routes of pilgrimage, chains of small inns developed. Many Benedictine monasteries had their own hospital wards, which may also have catered for the needs of a large part of the public. As of the 11th cent., hospitals were constructed in cities, again under the influence of eastern Mediterranean cu…

Abas

(302 words)

Author(s): Schachter, Albert (Montreal) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Ἄβας). [German version] [1] Figure from Myth of the Peloponnese and central Greece Myth of the Peloponnese and central Greece: a) Argus. Son of Lynceus and Hypermestra. By Aglaea, daughter of Mantineus, father of the twins Acrisius and Proetus (Apollod. 2,24; Hes. fr. 129 M-W; cf. Paus. 2,16,2; 10,35,1) and Idomene, mother of Bias and Melampus by Amythaon (Apollod. 2,24). Lynceus gave A. the shield, consecrated by Danaus to Hera, and for whose festival he had established the agon ἄσπις ἐν Ἄργει (Hyg. Fab. 1…

Menecrates

(1,116 words)

Author(s): Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) | Zimmermann, Bernhard (Freiburg) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Meister, Klaus (Berlin) | Mehl, Andreas (Halle/Saale) | Et al.
(Μενεκράτης; Menekrátes). [German version] [1] Attic comic poet, 5th cent. BC Attic comic poet of the 5th cent. BC. Two titles of his plays have survived, Ἑρμιονεύς/ Hermioneús (or Ἑρμιόνη/ Hermiónē?) and Μανέκτωρ/ Manéktōr (probably ‘Manes as Hector) [1. test. 1], as well as an anapaestic tetrameter (fr. 1) from the latter. It is uncertain whether Menecrates was once victorious at the Dionysia [1. test. *2]. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG VII, 1989, 1-2. [German version] [2] Tragic poet, 5th cent. BC Greek tragic poet, victor at the Great Dionysia in…

Epidemic diseases

(1,056 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] I. Prehistory and early history Epidemic diseases (ED), or in the broadest sense, diseases that attack a large number of living beings simultaneously have been documented archaeologically since the middle of the Bronze Age, that is, since c. 2800 BC. Their appearance has been linked to population growth and the resulting ease with which disease can spread from animals to humans and from person to person [9. 251]. In Egypt, smallpox appears to have been known since c. 1250 BC, although papyri with medicinal content do not refer to this or any other compara…

Anonymus Londiniensis

(480 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] The papyrus inventory no. 137 of the British Library in London is the most important surviving medical papyrus. It was written towards the turn of the 1st to the 2nd cent. and is divided into three parts: columns 1-4,17 contain a list of definitions that concern the páthē of body and soul (cf. the discussion in Gal. Meth. med. 1); columns 4,21-20,50, present different views about the causes of diseases; columns 21,1-39,32 deal with physiology. The text as well as many internal characteristics indicate that these chapters, thou…

Diphilus

(1,242 words)

Author(s): Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) | Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) | Di Marco, Massimo (Fondi Latina) | Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Δίφιλος; Díphilos). [German version] [1] Athenian operator of a silver mine c. 330 BC Athenian operator of a silver mine. In 330 BC, he was charged by Lycurgus with illegally mining the mesokrineís (pillars), which served both as markers to separate the various leases within the mine but also as safety props, and sentenced to death. His assets of 160 talents were confiscated and distributed amongst the citizens (Ps.-Plut. Mor. 843D).  Mining Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) Bibliography J. Engels, Studien zur polit. Biographie des Hypereides, 21993, 224-237 M. H. Hansen, Demography…

Pleistonicus

(351 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] (Πλειστόνικος; Pleistónikos). Doctor fl. c. 270 BC; he was a pupil of Praxagoras of Cos (Celsus, De medicina, proem. 20) and one of the 'classics' of Greek medicine in the so-called Dogmatic tradition (Dogmatists [2]; Gal. Methodus medendi 2,5; Gal. De examinando medico 5,2). It is difficult to assess his individuality, as, according to tradition- i.e. fundamentally in Galen - his views are transmitted as being in agreement with those of Praxagoras or other Dogmatists. Like his master…

Zopyrus

(988 words)

Author(s): Wiesehöfer, Josef (Kiel) | Baumbach, Manuel (Zürich) | Heinze, Theodor (Geneva) | Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Meister, Klaus (Berlin) | Et al.
(Ζώπυρος; Zṓpyros). [German version] [1] Persian, took part in the capture of Babylon Prominent Persian, son of Megabyzus [1], who according to Hdt. 3,153ff. had the gates of rebelling Babylon opened to Darius [1] I by using a ruse (self-mutilation and pretending to be a victim of the Great King). For this deceptive manoeuvre (Polyaenus, Strat. 7,13; referring to King Cyrus: Frontin. Str. 3,3,4) Z. allegedly received from Darius the satrapy of Babylonia for life and tribute-free, but he was killed when the B…

Glaucias

(360 words)

Author(s): Neudecker, Richard (Rome) | Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Γλαυκίας; Glaukías). [German version] [1] Bronze sculptor from Aegina Bronze sculptor from Aegina. According to Pausanias, he created statues of the boxers Glaucus, Philo and Theagenes in Olympia, whose victories or honours occurred in the 1st quarter of the 5th cent. BC. According to the description, they were depicted in motion, some of them at shadow-boxing; small bronze statues give at least an idea of this. He created a monument for Gelon of Syracuse after his chariot victory in 488 BC; parts of the base with inscriptions are preserved. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography Overb…

Philo

(5,673 words)

Author(s): Walter, Uwe (Cologne) | Döring, Klaus (Bamberg) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Knell, Heiner (Darmstadt) | Folkerts, Menso (Munich) | Et al.
[German version] I Greek (Φίλων/ Phíl ōn). [German version] [I 1] Athenian politician Athenian from Acharnae who was exiled by the Oligarchic regime in 404 BC (Triakonta). During the civil war, he lived as a metoikos (resident without Attic citizenship) in Oropos awaiting the outcome of events. Following his return, when he applied to join the boulḗ he was accused of cowardice and other misdemeanours at a dokimasia investigation (Dokimasia) (Lys. 31; possibly 398 BC). Walter, Uwe (Cologne) Bibliography Blass, vol.1, 480f.  Th.Lenschau, A. Raubitschek, s.v. P. (2), RE 19, 2526f. …

Sabinus

(1,149 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Albiani, Maria Grazia (Bologna) | Fündling, Jörg (Bonn) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Et al.
[German version] A. Greek (Σαβῖνος; Sabînos) [German version] [1] Hippocratic physician and commentator on Hippocrates, 1st-2nd cent. AD Hippocratic physician and commentator on Hippocrates, who was active in the 1st to 2nd cent. AD. He was the teacher of Metrodorus [8] and Stratonicus, who in turn was the teacher of Galen; the latter regarded S. as a more careful and concise interpreter of Hippocrates [6] than his predecessors had been (CMG 5,10,2,1, p. 17, 329-330; 5,10,2,2, p. 510). S.' weakness lay mainly in …

Philinus

(600 words)

Author(s): Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) | Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Zimmermann, Bernhard (Freiburg) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Meister, Klaus (Berlin) | Et al.
(Φιλῖνος; Philînos). [German version] [1] Athenian politician Athenian. P. proposed absorbing all thetai (thetes) into the hoplites ( hoplítai ) (Antiph. fr. 61 from the speech Katà Philînou). In 420/419 BC, he attempted to prevent a case brought against him for the improper use of public funds by inciting one Philocrates to raise a charge of accidental killing against the accuser immediately before the trial. Once the charge was accepted, P.' accuser was no longer permitted to enter any protected places, including places of justice ( nómima) (Antiph. 6,12; 21; 35f.). Schmitz, Winfrie…

Agnellus [of Ravenna]

(294 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] Iatrosophist and commentator of medical texts around AD 600, Milan. Ambr. G 108 f. contains his commentaries on Galen's De sectis, Ars medica, De pulsibus ad Teuthram and Ad Glauconem, just as they were recorded by Simplicius (not the famous Aristotle commentator!). The first mentioned is in many places in agreement with a commentary which is ascribed to Iohannes Alexandrinus or Gesius, as well as Greek passages of text, which are associated with Iohannes and Archonides (?). As controversial as the question …

Humanism

(10,894 words)

Author(s): Hinz, Berthold (Kassel RWG) | Hinz, Manfred (Passau RWG) | Burmeister, Karl Heinz (Bregenz RWG) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Kreyszig, Walter (Saskatoon/Wien RWG)
Hinz, Berthold (Kassel RWG) I. Renaissance (CT) [German version] A. Definition (CT) Renaissance Humanism (RH) is understood as a literary and philological movement which first established itself with Petrarch in the courts and city oligarchies of Italy (and to a lesser extent in the universities).  Its objective was to imitate and restore Classical Latin (essentially Cicero's for prose and Vergil's for metric texts), in view of a newly arisen, non-clerical, urban bourgeois educated class for both production…

Aetius

(1,578 words)

Author(s): Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) | Runia, David T. (Leiden) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Leppin, Hartmut (Hannover)
(Ἀέτιος; Aétios). [German version] [1] Mythical king of Troezen Son of Anthas, mythical king of Troezen; his successors colonized Halicarnass and Myndus in Caria (Paus. 2,30,8 f.). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Doxographer of 1st cent. AD Doxographer of 1st cent. AD. Although historically elusive, A. played a central role in the doxographic tradition of antiquity, because he wrote the only detailed doxographic manual to have been handed down fairly complete ( Doxography). Large parts of the work can be quite accur…

Alexion

(162 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Montanari, Franco (Pisa)
[German version] [1] Physician and friend of Cicero's Physician and friend of Cicero's (Cic. Att. 15,1-3) who died suddenly in 44 BC from an undefinable illness. Cicero's grief about the loss of the summus medicus did not deter him from inquiring about whom A. had remembered in his testament. Nutton, Vivian (London) [German version] [2] Greek grammarian, 1st cent. AD (Ἀλεξίων; Alexíōn). Greek grammarian of the 2nd half of the 1st cent. AD, called χωλός ( chōlós; the limping one): he authored an epitome of the Symmikta by  Didymus, which was cited by Herennius Philo and used by He…

Flavius

(4,130 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Giaro, Tomasz (Frankfurt/Main) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance)
Roman plebeian gentile name, derived from the individual cognomen Flavus (‘the blond one’) through the suffix of affiliation -ius, abbreviated form Fl. The bearers of the name that was already common in the Republican period were initially politically unimportant; F. [I 5] was the first one to attain to Roman nobility. In the Imperial period the name was spread further in the Roman empire as a result of the granting of citizenship by the Flavian Emperors Vespasian, Titus and Domitian (AD 68-96). In Late Antiquity (4th-6th cents.) F. was initially gentilicium of the family of  Consta…

Charmis

(123 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] (Χάρμις; Chármis) Greek physician from Massilia, who went to Rome c. AD 55. Thanks to his cold-water cures he soon made a name there, and gained many wealthy patients (Plin. HN 29,10). For one treatment he invoiced a patient from the provinces for HS 200,000 (Plin. HN 29, 22), and demanded a similarly exorbitant price of 1,000 Attic drachmas for a single dose of an antidote (Gal. 14,114,127). During his lifetime C. invested HS 20 million in public construction projects in Massilia, and at h…

Lead poisoning

(406 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] Even though the analysis of skeletons has shown that lead played a larger role in the classical period than in prehistoric times, the measured values are lower than expected in view of the considerable rise in lead production between 600 BC and AD 500 and its use in the manufacture of household goods and water pipes [1; 2; 3]. As the symptoms of lead poisoning (LP) are very similar to other diseases, there are hardly any descriptions which can be taken as referring to it unambiguo…

Medicine

(6,211 words)

Author(s): Böck, Barbara (Madrid) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] I. Mesopotamia Magic formulae - such as spells, apotropaea, and prophylacterics - and rational elements, i.e. empirically derived treatment methods with plant, mineral, or animal substances, characterize the image of medicine in a Mesopotamia. The treatment of diseases - seen as either caused by demons, or as a punishment sent by the gods, or as the result of being bewitched, as well as the result of natural causes - was the domain of two different experts, the asû, more versed in herbal lore, evident from as early as the mid-3rd millennium BC, and the spe…

Caelius

(1,467 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Will, Wolfgang (Bonn) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Schmitt-Pantel, Pauline (Paris) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
Plebeian family name (in MSS frequently confused with  Coelius), attested from the 2nd cent. BC. (ThlL, Onom. 24-26). I. Republican Age [German version] [I 1] C., C. praetor or propraetor in Gallia Cisalpina in 90 BC praetor or propraetor in Gallia Cisalpina in 90 BC (Liv. per. 73; MRR 2,25). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 2] C., C. see C.  Coelius. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 3] C., M. People's tribune in the 2nd cent. BC People's tribune in the 2nd cent. BC, against whom Cato -- perhaps as censor in 184 BC -- directed a speech (ORF I4 46-48) [1. 86]. Elver…

Dentistry

(659 words)

Author(s): Böck, Barbara (Madrid) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
I. Ancient Orient [German version] A. I. Sources The main source for Mesopotamian dentistry consists in two chapters from the medical manual ‘When the top of a person's head is feverishly hot’ (1st millennium BC; cf.  Medicine I) and there are also isolated texts of prescriptions. The oldest textual evidence is a cuneiform tablet from the ancient Babylonian period ( c. 18th to 16th cents. BC). The majority of the texts is accessible only in cuneiform autographs; for partial translations cf. [1]. Böck, Barbara (Madrid) [German version] B. Dental diseases and treatment Various periodont…

Aretaeus

(401 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] (Ἀρεταῖος; Aretaîos) of Cappadocia. Greek Hippocratic physician who was influenced by Pneumatic theory. [13] therefore assigned him to the middle of the 1st cent. AD. A.'s name was first mentioned in the late 2nd. cent as the author of a text about prophylactics in Ps.-Alex. Aphr. De febribus 1, 92, 97, 105. However, Galen repeats A.'s story of a leper that appeared in Morb. chron. 4,13,20 without any reference to the source in Subfig. emp. 10 = Deichgräber 75-9. Thirty years later…

Galen of Pergamum

(3,449 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Γαλήνος; Galḗnos) [German version] A. Life AD 129 to c. 216, Greek doctor and philosopher. As the son of a prosperous architect named Aelius or Iulius Nicon (not Claudius, as older accounts have it), G. enjoyed a wide education, especially in philosophy. When he was 17, Asclepius appeared to Nicon in a dream which turned G. towards a medical career. After studying with Satyrus, Aiphicianus and Stratonicus in Pergamum, G. went to Smyrna c. 149 to learn from Pelops, a pupil of the Hippocratic Quintus. From there he journeyed to Corinth to find Numisianus, another pupi…

Polybus

(651 words)

Author(s): Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Πόλυβος; Pólybos). [German version] [1] Name of numerous peripheral figures in Greek mythology Name of numerous peripheral figures in Greek mythology, e.g. a Trojan, son of  Antenor [1] (Hom. Il. 11,59), killed by Neoptolemus [1] (Quint. Smyrn. 8,86); an Ithacan, suitor of Penelope, killed by Eumaeus (Hom. Od. 22,243 and 284), also his father (Hom. Od. 1,399); a Phaeacian (Hom. Od. 8,373); a mythical king of Thebes (Hom. Od. 4,126). Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) [German version] [2] Mythical king of Corinth Mythical king of Corinth, husband of Merope [4] or Periboea [4]. They bring …

Theodas

(102 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] (Θεοδᾶς; Theodâs) from Laodicea. Greek physician c. 125 AD; he and Menodotus [2] were pupils of the sceptic Antiochus [20]; he was a leading representative of the School of the Empiricists. He wrote (1.) Chief points (Κεφάλαια), which Galenus and a later (otherwise unknown) Theodosius commented on; (2.) On the parts of medicine (Περὶ τῶν τῆς ἰατρικῆς μερῶν), in which he emphasised the significance of autopsy, historíē ('research') and analogy; (3.) an Introduction to medicine (Εἰσαγώγη). His works were  still being copied in the 3rd cent. in Egypt. Only…

Training (medical)

(600 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] Although most healers in Antiquity learned their trade from their fathers or as autodidacts, some also went to study with a master (e.g. Pap. Lond. 43, 2nd cent. BC), or travelled to medical strongholds to receive training. Remains of these teaching centres are to be found in Babylonia [1] and in Egypt, where the ‘House of Life’ in Sais, rebuilt by Darius c. 510 BC, may have served as such a centre and scriptorium [2]. If, in the Greek world, the Hippocratic tradition (Hippocrates) emphasized the superiority of healers trained at Cos, Cnidus …

Surgery

(1,412 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] A. Egyptian The high prestige widely accorded to Egyptian medical practitioners for their surgical skills (Hdt. 3,129), was well-earned. Skeletal finds show the successful treatment of bone fractures, esp. in the arms, and rare cases of trepanation. However, there is no reliable indication of surgical intervention in body cavities [1; 2]. The great diversity of knives, spoons, saws and needles reflects a highly-developed specialism, rooted in wide-ranging medical practice. Early pap…

Cassius

(5,432 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Giaro, Tomasz (Frankfurt/Main) | Birley, A. R. (Düsseldorf) | Et al.
Name of a plebeian gens (cf. Tac. Ann. 6,15,1), the representatives of whom have been known historically since the middle of the 3rd cent. BC. The most important family, especially in the 1st cent. BC, are the Cassii Longini. A patrician C. (around 500 BC, C. I 19) is rare. I. Republican age [German version] [I 1] C., C. Governor of Asia 89-88 BC Praetor 90 BC (?), in 89-88 governor of the province of Asia whence he, with M'. Aquillius [I 4], induced Nicomedes of Bithynia to attack  Mithridates (MRR 2,34). He then had to retreat from the victorious Mithridat…

Athenaeus

(2,425 words)

Author(s): Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) | Mehl, Andreas (Halle/Saale) | Bowie, Ewen (Oxford) | Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Baatz, Dietwulf (Bad Homburg) | Et al.
(Ἀθηναῖος; Athēnaîos). [German version] [1] Lacedaemonian, contributed in 423 BC to the truce with Athens Lacedaemonian, son of Periclidas, contributed in 423 BC to the truce with Athens (Thuc. 4,119), which he officially announced to  Brasidas a little later together with the Athenian Aristonymus (Thuc. 4,122). Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] Son of Attalus I of Pergamum, member of the 'Royal Council' A. was, as the youngest son of Attalus I of Pergamum, a member of the ‘Royal Council’; he is also documented as an agonothete (Alt. Perg. 8,3,…

Iatromaia

(95 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] (‘birth-helper’, ‘midwife’). Midwifery was usually practiced by women but was not exclusively in their hands. A Parian inscription, for example, records two male birth-helpers (IG 12,5,199) and the preserved treatises on midwifery address a male readership. Iatromaia as an occupational name appears in two Roman inscriptions of the 3rd and 4th cents. AD (CIL 6,9477f.); in one, a Valeria Verecunda is named as the ‘first iatromaia in her region’, an epithet that seems to refer to the quality of her work rather than a position in a collegium.  Midwife Nutton, Vivian (Lon…

Hospital

(2,037 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] A. Definition Hospital in the sense of public institutions for the medical care of exclusively sick people are not encountered before the 4th cent. AD, and even then the majority of terms used (Greek xenṓn, xenodocheîon, ptōcheîon, gerontokomeíon, Latin xenon, xenodochium, ptochium, gerontocomium, valetudinarium; ‘guesthouse’, ‘pilgrims' hostel’, ‘poorhouse’, ‘old people's home’, ‘hospital’) point to a diversity of functions, target groups and services that partly overlap with each other. Private houses for sick members o…

Gesius

(298 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] or Gessios, from Petra (Steph. Byz. s.v. Γέα/ Géa), physician and teacher, end of the 5th/early 6th cent. AD, close friend of Aeneas [3] (Epist. 19; 20) and Procopius of Gaza (Epist. 38; 58; 123; 134). He studied medicine under the Jew Domnos (Suda s.v. Γέσιος/ Gésios) in Alexandria, where he practised as   iatrosophistḗs (teacher of medicine). Although opposed to Christianity, he was baptized at the instigation of the emperor Zeno but retained a cynically negative attitude towards his new religion. He protected th…

Magnus

(1,025 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Groß-Albenhausen, Kirsten (Frankfurt/Main) | Portmann, Werner (Berlin) | Johne, Klaus-Peter (Berlin) | Et al.
Roman cognomen, which originally designated bodily size or birth order (‘the Elder’), as in the Republican period in the case of Sp. Postumius Albinus M. ( cos. 148 BC) and T. Roscius M. (Cic. Rosc. Am. 17) [1. 275; 3. 47]. As an assumption of the epithet of Alexander [4] ‘the Great’ (ὁ μέγας/ ho mégas, in the sense of great historical importance), first taken by Cn. Pompeius ( cos. 70 and 55) in the 1st cent. BC, then inherited by his sons Cn. and Sex. Pompeius and their descendants. Sex. Pompeius used M. also as a praenomen resp. nomen gentile [4. 364f.]. In the Imperial period, more frequen…

Mnesitheus

(118 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] (Μνησίθεος; Mnēsítheos). Athenian doctor, fl. 350 BC. His tomb was seen by Paus. (1,37,4). He was wealthy enough to erect statues and was one of the dedicators of the beautiful ex-voto inscription to Asclepius IG II2 1449. He is frequently associated with Dieuches [1]; he wrote extensively about dietetics including diets for children, and is counted amongst the more important Dogmatic physicians (Dogmatists) [1]. Galen ascribes to him a logical classification of illnesses that follows Plato's method (fr. 10,11 Bert…

Eryximachus

(89 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] (Ερυξίμαχος; Eryxímachos) Son of  Acumenus, Athenian doctor and Asclepiad, 5th cent. BC. As a friend of the sophist Hippias (Pl. Prt. 315A) and of Phaedrus (Pl. Phdr. 268A; Symp. 177A), he plays an important part in Plato's Symposium, in which he delivers a long speech in honour of Eros (185E-188E). His slightly pedantic manner earns him only the good-natured laughter of the invited guests but contemporary parallels to his linking of natural philosophy and medicine can be found in the Corpus Hippocraticum. Nutton, Vivian (London)

Medicine

(5,440 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
Nutton, Vivian (London) [German version] A. Introduction (CT) The history of Classical medicine developed in different ways in the three cultures of Byzantium, Islam (Arabic medicine, Arabic-Islamic Cultural Sphere) and Latin Christianity. The first two shared a heritage of late-Antique Galenism, which was far less pervasive in Western Europe and Northern Africa than in the Greek world and among the Syriac Christians of the Near East. From the 11th cent. onwards, Western Europe rediscovered Galenism lar…

Diocles

(2,746 words)

Author(s): Bloch, René (Berne) | Meister, Klaus (Berlin) | Hidber, Thomas (Berne) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Folkerts, Menso (Munich) | Et al.
(Διοκλῆς; Dioklês). [German version] [1] Hero in Megara Hero in Megara. He supposedly died in battle, bravely covering a youth with his shield. At his grave boys competed for who could give the sweetest kiss. This agon, which took place every spring, was called Dioclea (Schol. Pind. Ol. 7,157; 13,156a; Theoc. 12,27-33 with Schol.: Aition). Perhaps the kisses represented farewell kisses repeated in the cult of the hero ([1]; to the contrary [2]). According to Schol. Aristoph. Ach.774 the agon was founded…

Harpocration

(789 words)

Author(s): Baltes, Matthias (Münster) | Lakmann, Marie-Luise (Münster) | Tosi, Renzo (Bologna) | Nutton, Vivian (London)
(Ἁρποκρατίων; Harpokratíōn). [German version] [1] Platonic philosopher from Argos Platonic philosopher from Argos, 2nd cent. AD, pupil of  Atticus, called ‘top Platonist’ (Πλατωνικῶν κορυφαῖος; Platōnikôn koryphaîos) by Proclus [1. 18]. Important was his commentary on Plato (24 bks.) [1. 28, 152, 180ff., 191, 194, 197, 206, 216f.] and his lexicon on Plato (2 bks.) [1. 28, 235]. Just as Atticus and Plutarch, H. supported the idea of the world's origin in a single (temporal) act, but, in his understanding of the  Demiour…

Corpus Medicorum

(178 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[English version] This research project was begun in 1901 at the suggestion of the Danish scholar Johan Ludvig Heiberg and with the assistance of the Saxon and Danish Academies of Science and the Puschmann Foundation was established in the Berlin Academy of Sciences. Its self-defined task was the editing of all extant ancient medical authors, initially under the directorship of Hermann Diels. Diels' catalogue of manuscripts by Greek physicians (1906), together with a supplement (1907), remains to …

Iohannes

(7,268 words)

Author(s): Frey, Jörg (Stuttgart) | Domhardt, Yvonne (Zürich) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Rist, Josef (Würzburg) | Redies, Michael (Berlin) | Et al.
(Ἰωάννης; Iōánnēs). Well-known persons i.a.: I. [1] the Evangelist, I. [4] Chrysostomos, bishop of Constantinople and Homilet, I. [18] Malalas, author of the world chronicle, I. [25] of Gaza, rhetor and poet, I. [33] of Damascus, the theologian, I. [39] Baptistes. [1] I. the Evangelist [German version] A. Tradition and criticism According to the inscriptions, the author of a  Gospel (Jo), of three letters and the Apocalypse in the NT is called I. (= J.; the name appears only in Apc. 1:1; 1:4; 1:9; 22:8). Since the end of the 2nd cent. (Iren. adv…

Clodius

(2,871 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Will, Wolfgang (Bonn) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Glock, Andreas (Bremen) | Birley, A. R. (Düsseldorf) | Et al.
In the 1st cent. BC, vernacular form of the gentilicium  Claudius (C. [I 4] and  Clodia), since late Republican period also an independent family name. I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] C., C. Praefect of M. Brutus in 43/42 BC In 43/42 BC follower and prefect of M. Brutus; he murdered C. Antonius [I 3]. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 2] C., Sex. Henchman of P. Clodius [I 4] Pulcher, Sex. Cloelius [2] Henchman of P. Clodius [I 4] Pulcher, Sex.  Cloelius [2]. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 3] C. Aesopus Tragic actor, 2nd half of the 1st cent. BC Tragic …

Poseidonius

(2,115 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Matthaios, Stephanos (Cologne) | Inwood, Brad (Toronto) | Fornaro, Sotera (Sassari)
(Ποσειδώνιος/ Poseidṓnios). [German version] [1] Doctor, end of the 4th cent. BC Doctor at the end of the 4th cent. BC, who wrote about mental illnesses and about ephiáltēs, a feeling of suffocation (cf. demons V. C.; Aet. 6,12). P. was taken by Philostorgius (Historia Ecclesiastica 8,10) to be the source for the assertion that insanity is not the result of demonic affliction, but has a physical cause in the form of an imbalance in the bodily fluids (Humoral theory). Nutton, Vivian (London) [German version] [2] Greek grammarian, 2nd cent. BC Alexandrian grammarian of the 2nd cent. BC,…

Alexipharmaka

(207 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[German version] (ἀλεξιφάρμακα; alexiphármaka). ‘Medications that protect from poisons’. The search for effective antidotes is as old as the poisons themselves.  Theophrastus ( c. 380-288/5 BC) already presented discussions of a few antidotes (fr. 360, 361 Fortenbaugh), but a more serious investigation into poisons seems to have begun in Alexandria with  Herophilus and  Erasistratus (around 280 BC) and was continued by Apollodorus and Nicander of Colophon (2nd cent. BC), whose Theriaka and Alexipharmaka are the oldest surviving treatises on the topic. Alexipharmaka can be us…

Hippocratism

(604 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London)
[English version] Even though in Byzantium and the medieval Christian Occident Hippocrates was seen as the founder of medicine and given legendary status, his teachings, as compiled in the Corpus Hippocraticum, were studied only on a very narrow textual basis, and the few available texts were known only through Galen's interpretation or from the lemmata of the Galenic commentaries on Hippocrates. In the Western medicine of the Middle Ages, pseudonymous treatises were at least as influential as those contained in the modern edition of Hippocrates' texts, with the exception of the Aphor…

Olympius

(422 words)

Author(s): Nutton, Vivian (London) | Groß-Albenhausen, Kirsten (Frankfurt/Main)
(Ὀλύμπιος; Olýmpios). [German version] [1] Court doctor of Constantine [2] II, 4th cent. Doctor, friend (and pupil) of Libanius, whom he treated in AD 354 for pains in the head and kidneys. In the two years that followed he visited Rome from where he returned to Constantinople and became court physician to Constantine [2] II (Lib. Ep. 51; 65; 353; 534; 539). Nutton, Vivian (London) [German version] [2] Office bearer (4th cent. AD) O. of Antioch, around AD 355 consularis Macedoniae, senator first in Rome, then (from 358) in Constantinople where in 361 he achieved exemption from munera ( munu…

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…
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