Abiyu ̄n al-Bit
̇
rı ̄q (ca 630 CE)“Apio ̄n the Patricius,” at the time of the advent of Islam, mentioned by Ibn-al-Nadı ̄m and
Ibn-al-Qift
̇
̄ı. He wrote a work “On Operating the Planispherical Astrolabe,” at present
unknown.
GAS 6 (1978) 103.
Kevin van Bladel
Abram (150 BCE – 150 CE)
Presumably pseudepigraphic astrological authority cited by V V (2.29–30) as
a “most wondrous” authority on astrological prediction of a propensity to travel, and several
times on various topics by F M (4.pr, 4.17–18, and 8.3), who calls him
“divine.” The patriarch Abraham was regarded in early Jewish and Christian lore as a
discoverer of astronomy (e.g. Iosephus, Ant. Iud. 1.156–157), but it is remarkable to find his
reputation thus reflected in the “pagan” astrological tradition already in the 2nd c. CE.
RE S.1 (1903) 5 (#2), F. Boll; Riley (n.d.).
Alexander Jones
A- ⇒ A-
C. Acilius (155 – 140 BCE)
Wrote Roman history in Greek, and served as translator when K, D
B, and K P addressed the Senate in 155 BCE. His annals
explained Sicily as an island rent from the mainland in a prehistoric flood (F13).
FGrHist 813; OCD3 7 – 8, A.H. McDonald.
PTK
Acilius Hyginus of Kappadokia (20 – 55 CE)
Modified the colic remedy taught by A, substituting white pepper for black: S-
L 120 (M B 29.5 [CML 5, p. 502]). Presumably
distinct from his contemporary, Acilius the rake: T, Ann. 13.19, 13.21–22.
RE S.3 (1918) 17 (#47a), W. Kroll; Korpela (1987) 164.
PTK
Adamantios (300 – 350 CE?)
Author of a paraphrasis of the physiognomy by P (whose Greek original is lost),
taking into account also the A C P, as he states in the
foreword. The metaphor in the first sentence for his use of past physiognomic lore, that of
setting up a holy statue of a god in a Pagan sacred precinct, hardly allows identifying
him with A I, which some have suggested (Rose; Wellmann; Nutton).
Foerster (1.) deduces from style and language a date of 300– 350 CE.
The treatise has two parts, the first of which contains a brief theoretical introduction on
the methods of physiognomy (1.1–4) and long chapters on the significance of the eyes (1.5–23).
The second briefly resumes the main areas of signs (2.1) and the significance of gender
ABIYU ̄N AL-BIT ̇RI ̄Q