W.D. Smith, “Galen on Coans versus Cnidians,” BHM 47 (1973) 569–585; Idem (1979) 202–204;
von Staden (1989) 484–500; OCD3 230, Idem; Idem (1999) 158–160.
John Scarborough
Bakkhulidios (250 BCE – 500 CE)
Cited by pseudo-A P 51 (p. 66 Ihm) for an antidote; the name as such is
unattested, although the archaic “Bakkhulide ̄s” was in use until Aelius’ era (LGPN 1.98,
2.86). Cf. perhaps A K.
(*)
PTK
Bako ̄ris of Rhodes (ca 405 – 350 BCE?)
Wrote a Periplous of unknown scope, which A, OM 42 – 50, cites with P
A and others. The otherwise unattested name might be Egyptian: either from
Pako ̄ris (“he of the snake,” cf. Heuser 1929: 34) or a version of Bokkho ̄ris. Compare also
Bako ̄(n) of Athens (LGPN 2.86), 5th/4th c. BCE, and Bakos of Tauris (LGPN 4.64),
4th c. BCE.
(*)
PTK
Balbillos (Barbillos), Ti. Claudius (40 – 80 CE)
Roman court astrologer of the 1st c. CE and praefectus Aegypti, 55– 59 CE. Cichorius
identified Balbillos as the son of T, astrologer for Tiberius and Claudius.
Balbillos served in the courts of Claudius, Nero, and Vespasian. Fragments of his work
survive (CCAG 8.4, 232–238 and 240–244), including sunkephalaio ̄sis (CCAG 8.3, 103), and
he is mentioned by S (QN 4.2.13), T (Annals 15.47), Suetonius (Nero 36)
and Dio Cassius (65.9.2). His Astrologumena is dedicated to Hermogene ̄s (CCAG 8.3,
pp. 103–104).
A proponent of deterministic astrology in an era when the nature of astral influences
was in debate, Balbillos utilized a “method concerning the length of life from starter and
destroyer” (CCAG 8.4, p. 232), in which a linear arithmetical scheme is given to predict the
month of a person’s death (CCAG 8.4, p. 243). The numbers of the scheme are simple
substitutions for the days of a lifetime, modeled loosely on schemes for the change in the
length of daylight through the year. The same treatise preserves the two earliest Greek
literary horoscopes, dated 72 BCE Jan. 21 or 16, and 42 BCE December 27 (Neugebauer-van
Hoesen 1959: 76–78).
After serving as praefectus, Balbillos’ career is obscure until the accession of Vespasian,
when he again rose to prominence, perhaps through his relation by marriage to Vespasian’s
ally Antiokhos IV Epiphane ̄s of Kommage ̄ne ̄. Dio Cassius mentions games in Balbillos’
honor established at Ephesos. Other Latin inscriptions attest to these games from 90 CE
until the 3rd c., referring to them either as the Balbillea or the Barbillea.
C. Cichorius, RhMus 76 (1927) 102–105, contra, see PIR2 C-813; Pingree (1978) 423; BNP 2 (2003)
471, W. Hübner; BNP 3 (2003) 397–398 (#II.15), W. Eck.
Francesca Rochberg
BAKKHULIDIOS