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(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. …

[English version] One of the first official acts of the World Medical Association, founded in 1947, was drafting the Geneva Declaration (GD), a contemporary reformulation of the Hippocratic Oath; further improvements were made in 1968. The so-called abortion paragraph and the ban on surgery made way for more modern general provisions to respect human life from the moment of conception and always to use medical knowledge in harmony with the laws of humanity. It retained mention of a doctor's obliga…

[German version] [1] Common Roman praenomen Common Roman praenomen ; abbreviation: Q.; Greek Κόιντος/ Kóintos. It is identical to the ordinal quīntus (‘fifth’); in Oscan-Umbrian, this name is represented by Pompo and the like, with the nomina gentilicia Pomponius, Pompeius, Pontius. Like other so-called ‘numeral praenomina’, the former individual name could be given to children according to their birth order in the early period. In no case is Q. derived from quīntīlis (‘July’) because the name of this month is in turn already a derivative of quīntus (Months, names of the). The nomen ge…

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…

Name of a Roman patrician family, probably originally from Cameria (hence the cognomen Camerinus); documented in the fasti from c. 500 BC. The otherwise rare praenomen Servius appears comparatively frequently and at times is even used in place of the nomen gentile (Tac. Hist. 2,48; Plut. Galba 3,1). The number of cognomina within the gens is high, but it has been impossible to identify clear branches. The link between the S. from the 3rd to the 2nd and 1st cent. BC is unclear. In the 2nd cent. BC, the most important branch of the family was that of…

(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…

(Ἀγαθοκλῆς; Agathoklês) [German version] [1] of Athens Archon 357/56 BC Archon 357/56 BC (Dem. Or. 47,44; Diod. Sic. 16,9). Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] Tyrant King of Syracuse (316-288 BC) Later king of Syracuse, born 361/0 BC in Thermae in Sicily. Son of Carcinus, who had been banned from Rhegium, and who under  Timoleon had received citizenship in Syracuse and had a pottery manufactory. A. had an adventurous youth, participated in several martial undertakings and early on fostered broad-reaching politica…

(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] (πυρετός/ pyretós, Lat. febris) strictly refers to a symptom only, i.e. a raise in body temperature, but all ancient medical authors frequently use this term to refer to a specific illness or class of illness. In modern diagnostic usage, the term covers a variety of conditions; thus the identification of any ancient ‘fever’ without any further sub-classification or other description of symptoms is bound to fail. Such aids to identification could consist of observations regarding the periodicity of fever attacks, as in the febris tertiana or febris quartana, when epi…

Common Roman cognomen ('red-haired', 'redhead', Quint. Inst. 1,4,25). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] [- - -]us R. Proconsul of Pontus-Bithynia with an impressive monument in Rome Proconsul of Pontus-Bithynia, probably in the final period of the Republic or the first years of Augustus. An impressive monument was erected for him in Rome by more than six cities of the province (CIL VI 1508 = 41054; cf. IGUR 71). Eck, Werner (Cologne) Bibliography W. Eck, CIL VI 1508 (Moretti IGUR 71) und die Gestaltung senatorischer Ehrenmonumente, in: Chiron 14, 1984, 201-217  PIR2 R …

[German version] from Marseilles ( Massalia), physician, who came to Rome in the time of Nero (Plin. HN. 29,9). He gained renown when he combined astronomy with medicine by orienting the diet plans for his patients according to the course of the stars. When he died, he left 10 million sesterces after having already spent the same sum on repairing the walls and other defences in his native town. Nutton, Vivian (London)

(Μοσχίων/ Moschíōn). [German version] [1] Tragedian, 3rd cent. BC Athenian tragedian, probably 2nd half of 3rd cent. BC, known almost solely through quotations by Stobaeus. Titles attested include ‘Telephos and two historical dramas: ‘Themistokles, at the heart of which was probably the naval battle at Salamis, following on from Aeschylus' ‘Persians, with the distinction that M. made Themistocles the protagonist; and ‘The Pheraeans, probably dealing with the death of Alexander [15] of Pherae. A lengthy f…

[German version] (Δημοκήδης; Dēmokḗdēs) of Croton. Greek physician, lived about 500 BC and according to Hdt. 3,125 was the best physician of his age. He was the son of Calliphon and practised in Croton before going to Aegina. After a year the town of Aegina employed him for one talent as the community's physician but a year later he moved to Athens for a higher salary and finally into the service of Polycrates of Samos who paid two talents. After Polycrates' assassination D. was taken as a slave to…

[German version] In Late Antiquity in Alexandria [1] writings by Galenus and to a lesser extent by Hippocrates [6] were assembled into a medical compendium. Known as the '16 Books of Galen', it covers the basic areas of medicine  (including anatomy, physiology and therapeutics). According to Arab sources [1], a number of teachers ( Iatrosophistḗs ) in Alexandria are supposed to have written a series of summaries or abridgements of the books contained in this compendium, which were then collected under the title SA and translated into Arabic and perhaps also into Hebrew [2]. In…

[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…

[German version] (Φιλάγριος; Philágrios). Doctor from Epirus, fl. 3rd-4th cents. AD; he practised in Thessalonica and was the author of more than 70 books: treatises on dietetics, gout, dropsy and rabies as well as a commentary on Hippocrates [1]. He is often cited by later authors, especially in Arabic, for his treatment of diseases of the liver and spleen. Doctrinally, he often follows Galen, but pays particular attention to pneuma (Pneumatists) as the co-ordinating force in organisms. His name appears often in garbled form as Filaretus (e.g. frr. 131-133: Rhazes, Continens, V…

[German version] An eye disease characterized by exudation, covering a variety of specific diseases like trachoma and conjunctivitis. A dry variety of lippitudo, xerophthalmía, in which the purulent eyes become stuck shut over night is also described (Celsus, De medicina 6,6,29). Celsus [7] (ibid. 6,6,2) reports a large number of ointments and other agents against lippitudo, an extremely common condition; this is confirmed by many ‘oculists' stamps’ for eye ointments ( Kollyrion) with the inscriptions ‘against lippitudo’ and by the large number of manufacturers of such …

(Φιλόξενος; Philóxenos). [German version] [1] Name of several officers under Alexander the Great Several officers with the name P. are mentioned in the sources about Alexander  [4] the Great. They cannot always be distinguished with certainty. One P. was appointed by Alexander in 331 BC (incorrect [1]) ' to collect tribute on this side of the Taurus'(i.e. in Asia Minor) (Arr. An. 3,6,4). This cannot be correct. Arrian must, as often, have expressed himself imprecisely, as this duty had already been entrusted to somebody else. It can also hardly be th…

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 …

[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.  …

(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…

[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…

(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] (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…

(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…

[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…

[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 …

(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…

[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…

(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…

(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…

(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…

(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…

(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…

[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…

(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) …

[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…

(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…

(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…

[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)

(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…

[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…

(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…

[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…

(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…

(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 (…

(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…

[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…