Search

[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…

[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…

[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…

[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 …

[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…

[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…

[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…

(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…

[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…

[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 …

[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…

[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…

[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…

[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…

[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…

[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)

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…

[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 …

[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…

[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…

[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…

[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…

[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.

(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…

[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)

[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…

[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…

[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…

[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…

[German version] (Ἀκουμενός; Akoumenós) [of Athens] Doctor from the late 5th cent. BC. As father of the doctor  Eryximachus, who was a friend of Socrates and Phaedrus, A. emerges briefly as a fictitious dialogue partner in Pl. Phdr. 268a and 269a, in order to emphasize the thesis that the art of medicine comprises more than merely knowledge, which has been gleaned from books and teachers. Nutton, Vivian (London)

[German version] (Φυλότιμος; Phylótimos) of Cos. Physician and chief magistrate ( mónarchos) of Cos in the first half of the 3rd cent. BC; along with Herophilus [1], he was a pupil of Praxagoras and became one of the classic authorities of Greek medicine (cf. Gal. De examinando medico 5,2), although only fragments of his writings now survive. He pursued anatomical interests, placed the seat of the soul in the heart and held that the brain was merely a useless extension of the spinal medulla (Gal. De usu pa…

[German version] The idea that physical health was connected with bodily fluids was widespread. Mucus is already mentioned in ancient Egyptian medicine, and also in Babylonian medicine particular attention was paid to the quantity and colour of bodily fluids. The Greeks regarded   ichṓr of the gods, blood (α(̃ιμα; haîma) in humans and sap (χυμός; chymós) in plants as the bearers of life. These fluids (χυμοί/ chymoí, Latin humores) could also become dangerous in excess. Two humours, phlegm (φλέγμα; phlégma) and bile (χόλος; chólos or χολή; cholḗ), are already represented as hazard…

[German version] Evodus (Εὐστόχιος; Eustóchios) from Alexandria. He encountered  Plotinus towards the end of the latter's life ( c. AD 269), who converted him to philosophy. E. also acted as Plotinus' physician, accompanied him on his last journey, and was with him when he died (Porphyrius V. Plot. 7). Nutton, Vivian (London)

[English version] Documentary evidence for a use of the HO in Late Antiquity is ambiguous. Gregory of Nazianzus (Greg. Naz. Or. 7,10) reported that his brother Caesarius did not have to swear the oath as a medical student in Alexandria, thus implying that others probably had to. However, there is no record for the Byzantine or Muslim world to confirm any official obligation to swear this oath, even though it was evidently well-known. In practice, it was superseded by the Galenic concept equating e…

[German version] also ‘Hansen's Disease’. A chronic disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae affecting the peripheral nerves, and often also the skin. Palaeopathological finds prove its existence in the Mediterranean area only for the Hellenistic period [1], but texts from Babylon, Egypt and Israel from c. 800 BC onwards describe disfiguring skin diseases, among which could be included leprosy, even though the descriptions probably refer to psoriasis. The biblical name of the disease ṣaraʿat, in the Middle Ages wrongly translated as leprosy, referred to a disease whic…

[German version] I. Greece Greek medicine is fundamentally different from Egyptian and Babylonian medicine because it allots dietetics in the broader sense of a regime of eating, drinking, exercise and bathing, a key role within therapeutics [2. 395-402; 3]. Originally, dietetics referred to the administering of balanced foods in liquid, pasty or solid form, depending on the degree of illness (Hippocr. De medicina vetere 5 [4. 241-257]). However, about the mid 5th cent. BC it expanded well beyond a …

[German version] Several MSS of Dioscorides contain an anonymous poem of 215 hexameter verses about the qualities of herbs, which was written probably in the 3rd cent. in highly stylized Greek. It refers back to Nicander, Dioscorides and Andromachus [4, the Elder] According to [1], the poetic language shows similarities with the Orphica (newest edition: [1; cf. 2]). Nutton, Vivian (London) Bibliography 1 E. Heitsch, in: AAWG 1964, 23-38 2 NGAW 1963, 2, 44-49.

[German version] Medical writer, 4th cent. AD, author of a Latin paraphrase of a Greek letter to (an undefined) king Antigonus that is passed down under the name of Hippocrates [6] and that contained a dietetic plan and advice on treating diseases of the head, chest, belly and kidneys. This paraphrase is extant in the introduction to a medical treatise of Marcellus Empiricus, where it is preceded by a letter of L. to his sons. Both texts probably belonged to the introduction to a medical work by L. that is lost today. Nutton, Vivian (London)

[German version] Physician, the son of Hesychius of Damascus, changed his residence in the early 6th cent. AD in order to join his father's medical practice in Constantinople. He treated emperor Leo, whereupon he became a   comes and   archiatros (Chron. pasch. 8254a; Malalas, Chronographia 370 Dindorf; Photius, Bibliotheca 344A). As a pagan philosopher who was honoured in Athens and Constantinople with statues, he ordered the rich to help the poor. The latter he incidentally treated without charging a fee. His nic…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[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…

[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…

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…

[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 …

[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…

[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…

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…

[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 …

[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…

[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…

[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…

[German version] (Οὐλιάδαι; Ouliádai). Family connected with medicine and healing cults in Velia [1] in southern Italy. The name derives from Oú 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…

[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…

[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)

[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…

[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…

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

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

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

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

(Φιλώτας; Philṓtas). [German version] [1] Macedonian nobleman, 4th cent. BC Eldest son of Parmenion [1]; following Philippus' [I 4] II marriage to Cleopatra [II 2] P. stood by him against Alexander [4] the Great in the Pixodarus affair. After Philip’s death (336 BC) and the murder of Attalus [1] by Parmenion [1], P. was promoted to the command of the hetaíroi , whom he led in the great battles against the Persians. In autumn 330 BC his brother Nicanor [1] died. P. remained behind for the funeral while Alexander continued the march. …

(Διεύχης; Dieúchēs). [German version] [1] Physician and author of medical texts Physician and author of medical texts in the 4th and possibly even the early 3rd cent. BC. He viewed the human body from the perspective of the four elementary qualities (Gal. 10,452), approved of bloodletting (11,163) and was positively disposed towards anatomy (11,795). He became particularly respected for his methods of treatment (Gal. 10,28; 11,795), especially because of greater care in prescribing dangerous medication (Or…

(Κλεόφαντος; Kleóphantos). [German version] [1] Son of Themistocles and Archippe Son of  Themistocles and Archippe (Plut. Themistocles 32; Pl. Men. 93d-e), was honoured with civic rights in Lampsacus (ATL III,111-3). Davies 6669,VI. Beck, Hans (Cologne) [German version] [2] Greek physician, 3rd cent. BC Greek doctor, active c. 270-250 BC, brother of  Erasistratus, pupil of  Chrysippus [3] of Cnidus and founder of a medical school (Gal., 17A 603 K.). He wrote a paper on the medical prescription of wine, which provided the model for a similar…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient In Babylonia and Egypt midwives are only known from allusions found in literary texts. In the Atraḫasis myth the mother goddess opens the womb, lets the woman deliver the baby ‘on the birth brick’ (cf. Ex 1,16) and determines the child's fate while cutting the umbilical cord. Stol, Marten (Leiden) Bibliography E. Brunner-Traut, s.v. Hebamme, LÄ 2, 1074f. M. Stol, Zwangerschap en geboorte bij de Babyloniërs en in de Bijbel, 1983, 84-86. [German version] II. Greece The story of Agnodike (Hyg. Fab. 274), the first midwife, who allegedly went, …

(Βακχεῖος; Bakcheîos). [German version] [1] From Tanagra, physician, c. 250-200 BC of Tanagra. According to Erotian (31,10), B. was a physician and student of Herophilus (Gal. 18 A, 187 K.), active around 250-200 BC. In addition to his writings about pulse theory, pathology, and pharmacology, he also authored his memoirs of Herophilus and the latter's other students. B.'s reputation is largely based upon his glossary on Hippocrates, in which certain text versions have survived that are missing in the MSS o…

Roman family name, whose older and inscriptional form is Decumus (Schulze, 159), derived from  Decimus. Historic bearers of the name are documented since the 2nd half of the 2nd cent. BC. [German version] [1] D., C. Legate in Egypt 168 BC Legate in Crete in 171 BC, praetor peregrinus in 169, legate in Egypt in 168. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [2] D., Num. Leader of allies in the war against Hannibal 217 BC from Bovianum in Samnium; in 217, he brought timely help with a contingent of allies to the magister equitum Q. Minucius who was under heavy pressure from Hannibal …

(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…

[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…

(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…

(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) …

(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…

(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 (…

(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…

(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 …

(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…

[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…

[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…

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…

(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 …

(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…

[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…

(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 …

(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.…

[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…

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 …

(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, …

(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)…

(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…

(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,…

(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…

(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…