previous next

CHAP. 109. (34.)—AN EXPLANATION OF GREEK TERMS RELATIVE TO WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

As we have occasion to make use of Greek names very fre- quently when speaking of weights and measures,1 I shall here subjoin, once for all, some explanation of them.

The Attic drachma—for it is generally the Attic reckoning that medical men employ—is much the same in weight as the silver denarius, and is equivalent to six oboli, the obolus being ten chalci; the cyathus is equal in weight to ten drachmmæ. When the measure of an acetabulum is spoken of, it is the same as one fourth part of a hemina, or fifteen drachmæ in weight. The Greek mna, or, as we more generally call it, "mina," equals one hundred Attic drachmæ in weight.

Summary.—Remedies, narratives, and observations, seven hundred and thirty.

Roman Authors Quoted.—Cato the Censor,2 M. Varro,3 Antias,4 Cæpio,5 Vestinus,6 Vibius Rufus,7 Hyginus,8 Pompo- nius Mela,9 Pompeius Lennæus,10 Cornelius Celsus,11 Calpurnius Bassus,12 C. Valgius,13 Licinius Macer,14 Sextius Niger15 who wrote in Greek, Julius Bassus16 who wrote in Greek, Autonius Castor.17

Foreign Authors Quoted.—Theophrastus,18 Democritus,19 Orpheus,20 Pythagoras,21 Mago,22 Menander23 who wrote the Biochresta, Nicander,24 Homer, Hesiod,25 Musmæus,26 Sophocles,27 Anaxilaüs.28

Medical Authors Quoted.—Mnesitheus29 who wrote on Chaplets, Callimachus30 who wrote on Chaplets, Phanias31 the physician, Simus,32 Timaristus,33 Hippocrates,34 Chrysippus,35 Diocles,36 Ophelion,37 Hieraclides,38 Hicesius,39 Dionysius,40 Apollodorus41 of Citium, Apollodorus42 of Tarentum, Praxagoras,43 Plistonicus,44 Medius,45 Dieuches,46 Cleophantus,47 Philistio,48 Asclepiades,49 Crateaus,50 Petronius Diodotus,51 Iollas,52 Erasistratus,53 Diagoras,54 Andreas,55 Mnesides,56 Epicharmus,57 Da- mion,58 Dalion,59 Sosimenes,60 Tlepolemus,61 Metrodorus,62 Solo,63 Lyeus,64 Olympias65 of Thebes, Phlilinus,66 Petrichus67 Micton,68 Glaucias,69 Xenocrates.70

1 See the Introduction to Vol. 111.

2 See end of B. iii.

3 See end of B. ii.

4 See end of B. ii.

5 A writer on flowers and chaplets, in the time of Tiberius. Nothing whatever beyond this seems to be known of him.

6 C. Julius Atticus Vestinus, or, according to some authorities, M. Atticus Vestinus. He was consul a.d. 65; and, though innocent, was put to death by Nero's order, for alleged participation in the conspiracy of Piso.

7 See end of B. xiv.

8 See end of B. iii.

9 See end of B. iii.

10 See end of B. xiv.

11 See end of B. vii.

12 See end of B. xvi.

13 See end of B. xx.

14 See end of B. xix.

15 See end of B. xii.

16 See end of B. xx.

17 See end of B. xx. See also B. xxv. c. 5.

18 See end of B. iii.

19 See end of B. ii.

20 See end of B. xx.

21 See end of B. ii.

22 See end of B. viii.

23 See end of B. xix.

24 See end of B. viii.

25 See end of B. vii.

26 An alleged disciple of Orpheus, and probably as fabulous a personage. Many works, now lost, passed under his name.

27 One of the most celebrated of the Greek tragic writers; born B.C. 495. Of his 127 tragedies, only seven have come down to us.

28 A Pythagorean philosopher, a native of one of the cities called Larissa. Being accused of magical practices, he was banished from the city of Rome by the Emperor Augustus. The explanation of these charges is, that he probably possessed a superior knowledge of natural philosophy. See B. xxv. c. 95. B. xxxiii. c. 49. B. xxxii. c. 52, and B. xxxv. c. 50.

29 A physician, a native of Athens in the fourth century B.C. He is supposed to have belonged to the sect of the Dogmatiei, and was greatly celebrated for his classification of diseases. He wrote on diet and drink, among other subjects.

30 Probably the same writer that is mentioned at the end of B. iv.; or, possibly, a physician of that name, who was a disciple of Herophilus, and lived about the second century B.C.

31 A distinguished Peripatetic philosopher of Eresos in Lesbos, a disciple of Aristotle, and a contemporary of Theophrastus.

32 Of this writer, nothing whatever is known, beyond the mention made of him in c. 88 of this Book, and in B. xxii. c. 32.

33 Nothing whatever is known relative to this writer.

34 See end of B. vii.

35 See end of B. xx.

36 See end of B. xx.

37 See end of B. xx.

38 For Heraclides of Pontus, see end of B. iv. For Heraclides of Ta- rentum, see end of B. xii.

39 See end of B. xv.

40 See end of B. xii.

41 See end of B. xx.

42 See end of B. xx.

43 See end of B. xx.

44 See end of B. xx.

45 See end of B. xx.

46 See end of B. xx.

47 See end of B. xx.

48 See end of B. xx.

49 See end of B. vii.

50 See end of B. xx.

51 See end of B. xx.

52 See end of B. xii.

53 See end of B. xi.

54 See end of B. xii.

55 See end of B. xx.

56 See end of B. xii.

57 Sec end of B. xx.

58 See end of B. xx.

59 See end of B. vi.

60 See end of B. xx.

61 See end of B. xx.

62 See end of B. xx.

63 See end of B. xx.

64 See end of B. xii.

65 See end of B. xx.

66 See end of B. xx.

67 See end of B. xix.

68 See end of B. xx.

69 Sec end of B. xx.

70 See end of B. xx.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Places (automatically extracted)

View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.

hide Dates (automatically extracted)
Sort dates alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a date to search for it in this document.
495 BC (1)
hide References (4 total)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: