Note to Users
Entries whose inclusion in this work is doubtful have their lemma italic; entries with
uncertain name have a “(?)” suffixed.
Entries for anonymi give the title of the work underlined; almost all papyri are filed under
“Papyrus” with the papyrological citation.
Date-ranges in the lemmata are termini post and ante of the period of
activity. Such a system is the only one that can be fairly applied to all cases.
(For some entries only the terminus post or ante is known; a very few entries
give only a single “akme ̄” date; the few known or inferred birth-dates are
given within the lemma.) Precision is almost never possible, so most dates
should be regarded as best estimates.
Homonyms are listed in this order: (1) bare names, in order by topic (mathematics, cosmology,
astronomy, astrology, geography, mechanics, alchemy, biology, pharmacy, and medicine);
(2) names provided with some accepted, usually ancient, epithet (e.g., Apollodo ̄ros
“De ̄mokritean” and then “the ̄riakos”); (3) names with known patronymics; (4) names with
known ethnics (cities of origin or residence), in order by city-name. These 11 frequent
names best show the system: Apollodo ̄ros, Apollo ̄nios, De ̄me ̄trios, Diodo ̄ros, Diogene ̄s,
Dionusios, He ̄liodo ̄ros, He ̄rakleide ̄s, Io ̄anne ̄s, Me ̄trodo ̄ros, and Philo ̄n.
Cross-references to other entries are indicated by S C (on their first occurrence
within an entry).
Terms in the Glossary are marked in bold wherever they appear in an entry.
Bibliography at the end of an entry is intended to be initiatory and not complete (especially
for entries such as Aristotle, Euclid, Gale ̄n, Homer, or Plato); items in English have generally
been preferred (e.g., BNP rather than NP), but not exclusively. Authors or works whose
editions are cited within the encyclopedia (e.g., Aëtios of Amida, Pappos, Proklos, etc.)
or else which would not readily be found through the initiatory bibliography cited, are given
under “Ed.:” before other items. (*) indicates a person (or work) for which we could find
no modern bibliography.