Simmias son of Me ̄dios or Me ̄deios (260 – 220 BCE?)
The name Simmias is linked to two potions against the sting of phalanx-spiders: (1) an
antidote presented as being of his own creation (A P. in G Antid. 2.13
[14.180.10 K. Simmia tou Me ̄diou, but Knidiou Laur. gr. 74.5]); (2) a remedy to be drunk or used
as a plaster, good for all venomous snake bites, which he is cited for having been known to
use (ibid. 182.15 K. Simmias ho okhlago ̄gos). If Me ̄diou is the uera lectio, one might identify his
father as Me ̄deios, a physician in Olunthos, who knew how to cure Libyan cobra bites
(P, Epigr. 95.5 A.–B.), whose son probably received an excellent medical educa-
tion; so the hypothesis is less attractive if Gossen is right about him being the same person as
“the quack.”
RE 3A.1 (1927) 158 (#8), H. Gossen.
Jean-Marie Jacques
Simmias (of Macedon?) (245 – 220 BCE)
Friend and elephant-driver of Ptolemy III Euergete ̄s, sent to report on the land of the
fish-eaters and the elephant-hunting there, according to A Book 5, fr.41,
in D S 3.18.4. The name appears primarily as Simías, the form Simmías
being mostly Boio ̄tian and Thessalian (LGPN).
GGL §468; RE 3A.1 (1927) 142–143 (Simias #2), A. Klotz, and 144 (Simmias #3), P. Schoch.
PTK
Simo ̄n of Athens (ca 470 – 400 BCE)
Equestrian and prestigious author of a lost Art of Horsemanship (Peri Hippike ̄s). He was perhaps
a hipparch (Aristophane ̄s, Knights 242) and is supposed to have dedicated a bronze horse in
the Athenian Eleusinium, on which pedestal he inscribed his deeds (X Eq. 1.1).
Xenopho ̄n is widely and explicitly inspired by Simo ̄n with whom he always agrees, and
pretends only to have filled his omissions (Xenopho ̄n, ibid.; A, On hunting 1.5).
The Hippiatrika (Hipp. Cant. 92), giving the complete title as On Kinds and (good) Choice
of Horses, preserves a fragment of Simo ̄n, still influential on late Greek hippiatric literature
(e.g. H). Simo ̄n gave much practical riding advice and a detailed portrait (e.g. on
hoof angles) of the perfect horse type (well balanced: summetros), to help, as Xenopho ̄n said,
a buyer avoid being cheated. He probably also treated horse diseases, although a special
book on the subject (Hippoiatrikos logos according to Souda T-987) is dubious.
NP 11.570 (#2), H. Schneider; McCabe (2007) 195–197.
Arnaud Zucker
Simo ̄n of Magnesia (ca 350 – 250 BCE)
Physician perhaps in the time of Seleukos Nikano ̄r (358– 281 BCE: D L
2.123), wrote Midwifery. H cites him ( providing the terminus ante quem) as having
observed difficulties in labor encountered by women who experienced troublesome preg-
nancies with three to five fetuses (S, Gyn. 4.1[53]: CMG 4, p. 130; CUF v. 4 ,
p. 3; Temkin 1956: 176, 214). Other ancient sources who discuss multiple births include
A, HA 9(7).4 (584b) and P, 7.33.
SIMMIAS SON OF ME ̄DIOS OR ME ̄DEIOS