Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 16
NICANDER, OF COLOPHON (185 B.C.-135 B.C.) Theriaka; Tou autou Alexipharmaka [Greek title transliterated]. Theriaca; Eiusdem Alexipharmaca. Opera Ioan. Soteris 1530 [4] 103 [1] pp. 20.3 cm.
Nicander resided near Colophon in western Asia Minor. He was a poet, author, and grammarian and it is likely that he also held an hereditary priest- hood at the local temple of Apollo. He wrote a substantial number of prose and poetical works of which only two have survived. Both of these works-Theriaca and Alexipharmaca-are concerned with toxicological subjects. Scholars have shown that Nicander based them on the work of the Greek physician Apollodorus (fl. 250 B.C.) from whom he borrowed quite freely. Since only fragments of Apollodorus' work now exist, Nicander's two books are important sources for studying Greek toxicology and pharmacology. However, "his contorted style and fantastic vocabulary put him beyond the reach of scientists unless they are also Greek scholars. . . " (A. S. F. Gow and A. F. Scholfield, Nicander; the poems and poetical fragments. Cambridge, I953. p. xi). It has also been determined that Nicander did not have a working knowledge of the fundamentals of toxicology and was far more interested in form and style than accuracy of content. The Theriaca is essentially a lengthy poem about the symptoms and therapy for poisoning resulting from the bite of poisonous animals while the Alexipharmaca is oriented more toward poisonous plants and the appropriate antidotes. These books were first printed in 1499 in an edition of Dioscorides' De materia medica (see No. 29). In this edition, likely based on the 1499 Aldine edition, the Greek text is surrounded by the Greek commentary. The accompanying work (see No. I7) was apparently issued as a companion volume.
Cited references: Durling 3340; Garrison-Morton 2069 (Venice ed., 1499); Osler 280 (Paris ed., 1557); Waller 6853 (Frankfurt ed., 1532); Wellcome 4528
Gift of John Martin, M.D.
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