Askle ̄piadean connections to Areios, but given Dioskouride ̄s’ criticism of Askle ̄piadean
theories (Pr.2), Areios was not a strict adherent of the sect. He was an accomplished
physician and pharmacologist in his own right, and a client of the consular C. Laecanius
Bassus (consul 64 CE: CIL 5.698; T Annals, 15.33; P 26.5 and 36.203). Areios wrote
a handbook on pharmacology, known to Gale ̄n through quotations in A’
compilation (CMGen 5.13 [13.840 K.]), and Dioskouride ̄s contributed a styptic compound
included by Areios in that work (Gale ̄n, CMLoc 5.15 [13.857 K.]). He also wrote a Life of
H ̄, mentioned by S (Vita Hipp. 1 [CMG 4, p. 175]).
If the formulas and recipes quoted by Gale ̄n are representative, Areios was an expert
compounder of drugs fashioned from ores and minerals, and Book 5 of Dioskouride ̄s’
Materia Medica plausibly reflects this emphasis on medical mineralogy and concomitant
technologies of smelting and refining in 1st c. CE Roman metallurgy and mining. Not only
would that variety of drugs have indefinite “shelf-lives,” many were superb styptics quite
suitable for staunching the wounds commonly suffered by soldiers and gladiators, and kind-
red pharmaceuticals were quite effective in the treatment of the widespread ophthalmic
ailments of the day. Ingredients are exemplified in one of Areios’ styptic collyria and include
copper “flakes,” iron pyrite, fissile alum, calamine, and verdigris, compounded with the
latex of the opium poppy and thickened with acacia-gum (Gale ̄n, CMLoc 4.8 [12.776 K]).
RE 2.1 (1895) 626, M. Wellmann; R. Syme, “People in Pliny,” JRS 58 (1968) 135–151; J.F. Healy,
Mining and Metallurgy in the Greek and Roman World (1978) 246 with nn.133–154; Scarborough and
Nutton (1982) 198–199, 206–208; R. Syme, “Eight Consuls from Patavium,” PBSR 51 (1983)
102 – 124; John Scarborough, “Introduction” to L.Y. Beck, trans., Dioscorides of Anazarbus De materia
medica (2005) – at .
John Scarborough
Aretaios of Kappadokia (150 – 190 CE?)
Greek physician from Kappadokia of uncertain date; -A A-
, O F, quoting Aretaios (16.1, 24.5, 30.1 Tassinari), provides a clear terminus ante
quem. G, who does not quote Aretaios explicitly, fails to mention his source in reporting
a case of elephantiasis (Subfiguratio Empirica 10 [pp. 75–79 Deichgr.]; Simples 11.pr.
[12.312 K.]), which corresponds to Aretaios, Morb. Chron., 4.13. Gale ̄n mentions that this
episode happened when he was young, living in Asia minor (in the 140s): thus Aretaios
might have lived during Gale ̄n’s lifetime rather than a century earlier as suggested by
Kudlien and Oberhelmann.
Aretaios’ major work analyzes causes, signs, and therapy of acute and chronic diseases in
two groups of four books each (On causes and signs of acute and chronic diseases, and On therapy of
acute and chronic diseases). He composed four other treatises, all lost, three known only through
Aretaios’ own testimonia: (1) On Fevers (Acute, 3.pr.; possibly cited by ps.-Alexander Aphro-
disias, De Febr., 16 and 30); (2) On Gynecology (Acut., 3.3); (3) On Surgery (Chron., 3.2); (4) On
Preventive Medicines (?) (Peri Phulaktiko ̄n: ps.-Alexander Aphrodisias, De Febr., 24).
Aretaios’ theoretical leanings are debated. Although often presented as a Pneumaticist
strongly influenced by Hippokratic medicine (Kudlien), Oberhelmann’s recent re-evaluation
shows him more Pneumaticist than Hippokratic. Aretaios defined four major categories
of diseases according to elemental imbalance (duskrasia), those of (1) dry and cold, (2) cold
and wet, (3) dry and warm, and (4) warm and wet. Therapy consists, first, in eliminating the
excess of pneuma by bleeding, cupping, and possibly also rubefaction. Simultaneously, the
ARETAIOS OF KAPPADOKIA