and Antagoras of Rhodes: it is uncertain whether he had a special cultural task there
or not.
He was best known as a tragedian, as well as one of the tragic Pleiad; however very little
of this production has survived. He also wrote epyllia (like The Fisherman), epigrams and
elegies (like Apollo and The Muses): several fragments survive. But, according to S
E and The Second Life of Aratos, he is also said to have composed Phainomena on
constellations like Aratos: the authenticity of this poem is disputed and no fragment has
survived.
Ed.: E. Magnelli, Alexandri Ætoli Testimonia et Fragmenta (1999).
OCD3 60, K. Dowden; BNP 1 (2003) 478–479 (#21), F. Pressler.
Christophe Cusset
Alexander of Tralleis (ca 550 – 605 CE)
In his Histories (5.5–6 [171 Keydell]), Agathias of Murina (ca 535 – ca 575 CE) sketches
Alexander’s family: born ca 525 CE, he was the youngest of five brothers, all distinguishing
themselves in their chosen professions; A, the eldest, became Justinian’s archi-
tectural and engineering confidant in the rebuilding of the famous Hagia Sophia, the
massive structure still admired in modern Istanbul; the second brother, M, a
prominent grammarian, was summoned by the emperor to Constantinople, where he
taught the “.. .young sons of the ruling class... the love of eloquence;” Olumpios, the
third, was famed as a legal advocate and lawyer, and Dioskouros (the fourth) became a
physician, practicing in Tralleis with honor and success. Alexander was a renowned travel-
ing doctor, ending his career in Rome, where he “.. .had been called to hold a position of
the highest distinction.” Agathias says their mother was “.. .especially blessed to have borne
such gifted children.” Alexander’s father, the physician S T, was
probably the principal teacher of his two sons following the profession, and Alexander
thanks him for an effective, multi-ingredient gargle. Perhaps the “Kosma ̄s”, to whom
Alexander dedicates his Books on Fevers (1.289 Puschm.) and who was a friend of Stephanos,
is the famous K I; if so, he may have introduced some Far Eastern
pharmaceuticals to the physicians, father and sons (the cloves present among the ingredients
in fashioning emetic lozenges to expel black bile and in treatments for gout suggest a special
connection with the spice trade: Quartan Fevers, 1.429, 431 Puschm.; Podagra, 2.231 Puschm.).
One passage hints that Alexander studied for a time in Alexandria (Colic, 2.343 Puschm.)
Alexander traveled widely, settling in varying locales where he gathered folk traditions on
drugs and therapies, and fused them into the venerated theoretical package of elements,
qualities, and humors; most simples in Alexander’s pharmaceutical recipes are known
from earlier works, but some are new and some have different nomenclatures; from time to
time, he allows amulets as useful for patients who find them powerful healing agents, and
occasionally Alexander’s comments reflect an ordinary use of magical remedies among the
pagani wherever he might journey or settle – documented are stints in Italy, southern Gaul,
Africa (presumably the recently re-conquered rims of coastal Tunisia and Algeria), and
Spain – finally going to Rome in old age, when he says he lacks vitality and energy to
continue the rigors of a full practice. In Rome, late in the 6th c., Alexander likely set down
writings incorporating his lengthy experiences as a practitioner, and frequently there is blunt
criticism of the classical authorities (especially G) when practice demonstrated clinical
errors in the written texts. One receives the impression of a highly intelligent, innovative
ALEXANDER OF TRALLEIS