Aethicus Ister (650 – 800 CE?)
The purported author, otherwise unknown, of a Latin Cosmographia written in the late 7th or
8th c. and containing later interpolations. It claims that a philosopher and traveler Aethicus
wrote it in Greek, and that Jerome translated it into Latin (i.e., ca 400 CE). The work begins
with the creation of the world and describes the author’s travels through the oikoumene ̄,
including Taprobane ̄ (Ceylon), Britain, Thule, Asia Minor, Greece, and many other real
and imaginary places. Some of the material is taken from I H, I
S, and other earlier writers. The author emphasizes that much of his material is not
mentioned in any other authority, and he obviously invents some place names. The names
of the author and the translator are considered to be a mystification, and the work may have
been a parody, missed by its medieval audiences. The Cosmographia was often used in the
Middle Ages by geographical writers and mapmakers.
Ed.: O. Prinz, Die Kosmographie des Aethicus (1993).
RE 1.1 (1893) 697–699, H. Berger; TTE 4 – 5, M. Hamel; M.H. Herren, “The ‘Cosmography’ of
Aethicus Ister: Speculations about Its Date, Provenance, and Audience,” in A. Bihrer and E. Stein,
edd., Nova de veteribus: mittel- und neulateinische Studien für Paul Gerhard Schmidt (2004) 79–102; D. Shanzer,
“The Cosmographia Attributed to Aethicus Ister as Philosophen- or Reiseroman,” in G.R. Wieland
et al., edd., Insignis Sophiae Arcator: Medieval Latin Studies in Honour of Michael Herren on His 65th Birthday
(2006) 57–86.
Natalia Lozovsky
Aethicus, Pseudo (450 – 600 CE?)
The unknown author of a Cosmographia (different from that by A I but falsely
attributed to him in some MSS). The first part is based on I H, and reports
that I C as consul ordered a survey and measurement of the world. Then it lists
geographical features, such as seas, rivers, and mountains, as well as provinces, towns, and
peoples. The second part, drawn from O, describes the three known parts of the
world, Asia, Europe, and Africa. The work’s focus on Italy suggests a Roman compiler.
Ed.: GLM 71 – 103.
RE 1.1 (1893) 697–699, H. Berger; GRL §1061; PLRE 2 (1980) 19; C. Nicolet and P.G. Dalché, “Les
‘quatre sages’ de Jules César et la ‘mesure du monde’ selon Julius Honorius: réalité antique et
tradition médiévale,” Journal des savants (1986) 157–218.
Natalia Lozovsky
Aethlios of Samos (350 – 200 BCE?)
Wrote a chronicle of Samos, giving geographical or botanical data: fruits that grow twice a
year, pears of Keo ̄s. For the very rare name, cf. D L 8.89.
FGrHist 536 = Ath., Deipn. 14 (650d, 653f ).
PTK
Aëtios (1st c. CE)
The name of an otherwise unknown writer of a survey of philosophical opinions (often
called Placita). Since Diels (1879) he is assumed to be the source of the two extant specimens
of doxography found in pseudo-P’s Epitome of the Opinions of the Philosophers and
AE ̈TIOS