Nikano ̄r of Samos (118 – 131 CE?)
Wrote On rivers, in at least two books, quoted by -P, D F 17.2
(1160C) as a source of information about the stone thrasudeilos (“audacious-cowardly”)
found along the Eurotas river. Among the Nikano ̄rs mentioned by Müller (FHG 3.632–634)
and Jacoby, our Nikano ̄r is perhaps identifiable with the one ( perhaps from Kure ̄ne ̄) who
lived under Hadrian, and to whom the Metonomasiai are attributed; consequently, possibly
the Nikano ̄r quoted by S B, who says that he loved to Hellenize
Barbarian names (according to Jacoby, however, he should be an unidentifiable author
before V).
RE 17.1 (1936) 277 (#28), C. Wendel; FGrHist 146; De Lazzer (2003) 85.
Eugenio Amato
Nike ̄ratos (of Athens?) (10 – 40 CE)
A 3rd c. papyrus cites a “Nike ̄ratos of Athens” and his suggestions for the use of liquid
bitumen to treat mange in dogs (Gazza 1955: 96–97), probably the Nike ̄ratos mentioned
by D, pr.2, as an Askle ̄piadean pharmacologist who lacked precision in
his description of medicinals. Like I B, P, S N, and
D, these Askle ̄piadeans did not “.. .measure the activities of drugs experi-
mentally, and in their vain prating about causation, they have explained the action of an
individual drug by differences among particles, as well as confusing one drug for another”
(Scarborough and Nutton 1982: 196, with comm., 205).
Dioskouride ̄s’ criticism notwithstanding, Nike ̄ratos’ is quoted with respect by S
L 39 (unnamed, attribution established from A P. in G, CMLoc
3.1 [12.633–634 K.]; cf. Wellmann 1914: 44, n. 1), listing simples to treat unulcerated but
painful ears, including small millipedes or pillbugs (oniokon to ̄n katoikidio ̄n; cf. Scarborough
1980) boiled in oil, then inserted into the external auditory meatus. Nike ̄ratos’ coral-based
trokhiskoi incorporated two kinds of “earths” (Samian and Lemnian), henbane seeds, the
latex of the opium poppy, pomegranate flowers, high-grade flour, broom (Cytinus spp.), and
plantain juice (Askle ̄piade ̄s in Gale ̄n, CMLoc 7.1 [13.87 K.]), an effective narcotic compound
for raw windpipes that produced bloody sputum. His Secret Pain-Killer (ibid., 96) – good for
“consumption” (phthisis), coughs, bowel pains, diarrhea, and catarrhs of all sorts – con-
sisted of saffron, a double-measure of henbane, opium poppy latex, beaver castor, the
rhizomes of European wild ginger (Asarum spp. [a good emetic]), and storax, to be admin-
istered with honey. Among the ekleikta (lozenges manufactured to “melt in the mouth” or
medicinals “made into a linctus,” viz. an “electuary,” a medicine to be licked from a spoon),
Nike ̄ratos’ intended his Pharyngeal Linctus/Lozenge to be a galactagogue for the new mother
suffering from suppurations, difficult breathing, persistent coughs bringing up glutinous
or sticky phlegm, and whose infant was not receiving sufficient milk (ibid., 98): she was
given fresh horehound-leaf juice (prasion: likely Marrubium vulgare L.), liberally mixed with
“Falernian” wine and Attic honey, augmented with white pepper, frankincense, and myrrh
(horehound syrup remains a common remedy for sore throats). Nike ̄ratos’ little pills (katapo-
tia) for difficult breathing and panting (asthmatikos) combined beaver castor, the gum of the
Libyan giant fennel (Ferula marmarica L.), lavender cotton ( probably the oil from the leaves of
Santolina chamaecyparissus L.), wormwood oil (Artemisia spp.), and “Ethiopian” ammi, mixed
with vinegar and administered as pills the size of chickpeas (ibid., 110), and his two recipes
NIKE ̄RATOS (OF ATHENS?)