each pounded separately and then mixed together with liquid added gradually (6.6.3).
A, in G CMLoc 9.4 (13.267–269 K.), quotes Philo ̄n’s 13 elegiac couplets
detailing an analgesic of white pepper, henbane, opium, saffron, purethron, euphorbia
(cf. I), and spikenard in Attic honey, for gastro-intestinal, urinary tract, respiratory and
neurological use. Gale ̄n, considering this recipe the first of its kind, explicates the couplets,
pharmaceutical preparation, and efficacy (269–276 K.). The verses were rendered in prose
in early Byzantine medical encyclopedias (O Syn. 3.182 = A A
9.32 = P A 7.11.13), and are transmitted independently in some MSS.
Diels 2 (1907) 85, Suppl. (1908) 63; RE 20.1 (1941) 52–53 (#47), 60 (#59), H. Diller; KP 4.776 (#13),
F. Kudlien; Fabricius (1972) 202; Scarborough and Nutton (1982) 193, n. 24; BNP 11 (2007) 61
(#13), Alain Touwaide.
Alain Touwaide
Philo ̄n of Tuana (200 BCE – 100 CE)
Together with D A, discovered linear curves in efforts to trisect
rectilineal angles. Philo ̄n probably predates M who called one of his or De ̄me ̄trios’
curves “paradoxical”: P Coll. 4.36 (270 H.; cf. Pappos 4.33–34: pp. 259–265 H.).
RE 20.1 (1941) 55 (#51), K. Orinsky.
GLIM
Philo ̄nide ̄s of Catina (10 BCE – 25 CE)
Physician from Catina (Sicily), known from brief quotations in later medical authorities;
G (Puls. Diff. 4.10 [8.748 K.]) has at hand Philo ̄nide ̄s’ On Medicine Book 18 (Peri iatrike ̄s)
which discusses arterial pulsation, and is cognizant of Philo ̄nide ̄s’ multi-ingredient com-
pound emollient plaster as quoted by A (CMGen 8.7 [13.978 K.]). M-
B (Med. 29.38, CML 5, p. 514]) says he has used an analgesic compound
against lower abdominal pains, a remedy for colic “.. .from the book of Philo ̄nide ̄s,” which
includes celery seeds, myrrh, opium latex, saffron, and spikenard among ten ingredients,
graues et inueteratos dolores mitigans, mihi quoque experimentis notissima. D (MM 4.148.3)
writes simply (on white hellebore) that “... I completely concur with Philo ̄nide ̄s, the Sicilian
from Enna... regarding dosage, administration, and consequent dietetic regulation”;
and E (E-16 and T-8 [ pp. 36, 84 Nachm.]) cites Philo ̄nide ̄s for descriptions of
reddish or flushed skin conditions and terms for unhealthy life-styles, probably from the
On Medicine noted by Gale ̄n. Philo ̄nide ̄s’ most famous student was A P.
Philo ̄nide ̄s’ books were probably not translated into Latin, so it is probable that he was
bilingual, quite characteristic of physicians prominent in Roman Sicily (cf. Scribonius
Largus). Philo ̄nide ̄s may have been one of the first Sicilian doctors to produce tracts in both
Latin and Greek.
Ihm (2002) #202.
John Scarborough
Philo ̄nide ̄s of Durrakhion (80 – 60 BCE?)
S B (s.v. Durrakhion [ p. 245 Meineke]) quotes H
P’s Physicians from Durrakhion noting that Philo ̄nide ̄s was a student of A,
PHILO ̄N OF TUANA