(Ath., Deipn. 9 [390b]) and perhaps an Aithiopika. He is cited with D, A,
B, the younger S, and X as a foreign authority on geography and
ethnography (P 1.ind.6), estimating the size of “Ethiopia” (6.183). The name is rare
(2nd c. BCE – 2nd c. CE: LGPN).
FGrHist 718.
GLIM
B ⇒ (1) C B; (2) I B; (3) P B
Bathullos (?) (100 BCE? – 10 CE)
A P., drawing on H, in G, Antid. 2.11 (14.173–174 K.), gives
his anti-hudrophobia plaster, compounded from psimuthion and litharge, plus myrrh,
etc., reduced in olive oil to a paste. Kühn prints ΒΑΦΟYΛΛΟΣ, unattested; if not “Bathullos,”
perhaps “Babulos” (LGPN 3B.84, Delphi), B, or F.
Fabricius (1726) 100.
PTK
B ⇒ V
De Rebus Bellicis (365 – 375 CE)
The anonymous author of this treatise details a proposed reformation of provincial,
military, legal, and financial policy for late Roman imperial administration. The author
describes military machines and equipment which he considers essential to the apparatus of
the Roman army and for which meticulous colored drawings are provided, but his accounts
lack the technical rigor of Hellenistic writers on siege-machines. Precise measurements
and material specifications are lacking, and the author refers the reader to illuminations
for clarification (7.1).
The author emphasizes current frontier dangers and the need for state-of-the-art equip-
ment in attacking walled cities (6.3). He includes design specifications and instructions
for deploying and utilizing a ballista whose arrows are propelled by a windlass rather
than torsion (7), a wall-scaling mechanism (tichodifrus: 8, “wall-chariot”), short-range fletched
javelins to enable speed (plumbata tribulata: 10), fletched shield-piercing weapons (plumbata
maillata: 11), and several scythed-combat vehicles (12–14). The author also recommends a
calf-skin device to facilitate crossing rivers (ascogefyrus: 16, “skin-bridge”), and, recognizing
human limitations, ingeniously suggests adapting oxen-driven watermills into a paddle-
wheel system to ease the operation of massive warships (liburna: 17), seemingly the first,
perhaps theoretical, attempt to propel a ship without oars or sails.
Ed.: R. Ireland, Anonymi auctoris De rebus bellicis (1984); A. Giardina, De rebus bellicis (1989).
GLIM
Be ̄rossos of Babylo ̄n (ca 330 – 280 BCE)
Be ̄rossos was a Chaldaean and a priest of Bel (=Marduk) in Babylo ̄n. His life spanned the
period from the reign of Alexander the Great to that of Antiokhos I So ̄te ̄r. He is reported to
have spent his final years in exile, teaching astrology on the island of Ko ̄s in Ptolemaic
BE ̄ROSSOS OF BABYLO ̄N