Poseido ̄nios of Macedon (335 – 325 BCE)
Designed a helepolis, described in B, Belop. 4 ( pp. 51–56 W.), for Alexander the Great,
perhaps in 335 BCE. Poseido ̄nios’ rolling siege-tower, over 20 m (50 cubits) tall and made of
light flexible wood coated with flame-retardant, was padded against missiles and supported
on a wheeled oaken platform about 18 m (60 feet) square. It was self-propelled, driven by a
capstan operated by the soldiers inside, and had floors corresponding to the heights of the
walls to be assaulted.
Marsden (1971) 70–73, 84–90.
PTK
Potamo ̄n (300 BCE – 80 CE)
A, in G CMGen 2.2 (13.473, 488–489 K.), mentions Potamo ̄n’s “green”
plaster. The name is rare before ca 300 BCE (LGPN).
RE 22.1 (1953) 1028 (#5), H. Diller.
PTK
Potamo ̄n of Alexandria (ca 40 – ca 10 BCE)
Described as an “eclectic” by D L pr.21; the Souda Pi-2126 records that he
wrote on Elements; his arkhai were matter, quantity, quality, and space. S, In de Caelo
3.4 (CAG 7 [1894] 607), says that he defined mathematical arkhai through quantity, starting
from the monad.
OCD3 1235, J. M. Dillon.
PTK
Praecepta Salubria (100 – 400 CE)
Iambic poem giving advice on regimen, purportedly based on A and
D; its pharmaceutical use of beer (zume ̄ lines 88, 97) suggests an Egyptian (or
Mesopotamian) origin. The invocation of an unnamed single deity, if not merely formulaic
(“with God”, line 27), and emphasis on repressing libido (62–63 and 72–75), may suggest a
Christian origin. Moderation is urged (1–5) and a diet prescribed that balances the qualities
hot/cold and wet/dry by solar and lunar cycles (7–46); therapeutic interventions include
sleeping on one’s right-hand side (6, 45), bathing (14–16), purges and phlebotomy (30–32),
and fumigations (47–52). Those are followed by six simple prescriptions: raw honey for long
life (57–61), chicory (intubion) and lentils to repress libido (62–63: on chicory, contrast
G Properties of Foodstuffs 2.40–41 [6.624–628 K.], and A, in Gale ̄n [?],
Eupor. 1.1 [14.321 K.]), boiled oregano taken at the new moon for good memory (64–67),
Thasian almonds to prevent inebriation (68–71), lettuce-seed in water for sexual restraint
(72–75), garlic or cinnamon to clear the throat (76– 79 – perhaps another encratic therapy,
cf. -D in P 20.28). The poem closes with four pest-control potions:
wormwood, absinthe wormwood, or boiled fig-juice to banish fleas and bedbugs (80–85),
pellets formed of iron filings in beer and fat to slay mice (86–90), an ointment of mercury
simmered in fat for delousing (91–94), and aconite or realgar boiled in beer and fat to
exterminate rodents (95–100).
PRAECEPTA SALUBRIA