Petro'nius
Petro'nius
（
*Petrw/nios), a writer on pharmacy.
He lived probably in the beginning of the first century after Christ, as he is mentioned by Dioscorides (
De Mater. Med. praef. vol. i. p. 2), who classes him among the later authors (comp. St. Epiphan.
Adv. Haeres. i 1.3, p. 3, ed. Colon. 1682). Fabricisus (
Bibl. Gr. vol. xiii. p. 361, ed. vet.) supposes his name to have been Petronius Niger [NIGER], but this is uncertain, and in the latest edition of Dioscorides (
l.c.), where the words
καὶ Νικήρατος καὶ Πετρώνιος Νίγερ τε καὶ Διόδοτος occur, a
comma is placed between
Πετρώνιος amd
Νίγερ. In Pliny (
Plin. Nat. 20.32), he is called
Petronius Diodotus, but probably the text is not quite sound [DIODOTUS].
He is mentioned by Galen (
De Comlpos. Medicam. sec. Gen. 2.5, vol. xiii. p. 502), where the words
Πετρώνιος Μούσας occur, which has made some persons consider
Petronius Musa to be one and the same individual, and others conjecture that instead of
Πετρώνιος, we should read
Ἀντώνιος : probably, however, it is only necessary to insert a
καὶ or a
comma between the words. One of his medicines is quoted by Galen (
Ibid. 5.11. p. 831).
Further Information
See Fabric.
Bibl. Gr. l.c.
Petronius
The name of
M. Petronius Heras, a physician, occurs in an ancient Latin inscription preserved by Gruter.
[
W.A.G]
