The Encyclopedia of Ancient Natural Scientists: The Greek tradition and its many heirs

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intervals and defined such terms as interval and harmony. T  S (Exposition
of Plato’s Mathematics) preserves material offering definitions of such terms as “enharmonic”
or “harmony,” and of “symphonic” and “diaphonic” intervals, and explaining the differ-
ences between arithmetic, geometric, and harmonic rations (T13, 14a). Thrasullos also
discussed astronomy in a mathematical context, tackling the size of the Sun, as well as
influencing the astrological tradition in various ways (T24–28). -P, O
R, mentions a Thrasullos of Mende ̄s writing works On Stones, Thrakian Matters, and
Egyptian Matters.


Barker (1989) 2.209–213, 226–229; Harold Tarrant, Thrasyllan Platonism (1993), with fragments.
Harold Tarrant


Thrasumakhos of Sarde ̄s (430 – 330 BCE)


Greek physician known only from the doxography of the L 
(11.42–12.8): he attributes the origin of diseases to blood, considered a residue of food.
Blood, modified through excessive heat or cold, produces bile, phlegm or sepsis, patho-
logical humors. K, according to A, de Anima 1.2 (405b6), thought that
soul is blood and Thrasumakhos’ theory can well represent one of those against which the
H N  M polemizes, wherein bile and phlegm are humors parallel
to blood and not produced by it: cf. P Timaios 82e–83a.


K. Fredrich, Hippokratische Untersuchungen (1899) 27, n.1; M.P. Duminil, Le sang, les vaisseaux, le coeur dans la
collection hippocratique (1983) 251–252.
Daniela Manetti


Threptos (100 BCE – 90 CE)


A P., in G CMGen 5.11 (13.828 K.), records his remedy for a wide
variety of ulcers: alum, khalkanthon, aloes, birthwort, frankincense, myrrh, oak-gall,
and pomegranate peel. The name is unattested before the 1st c. BCE: LGPN 2.230,
3A.213.


Fabricius (1726) 439.
PTK


Thucydide ̄s of Athens (430 – 400 BCE)


Thoukudide ̄s, historian, son of Oloros, Athenian citizen, served as general in the war against
Sparta in 424 BCE. He was exiled for failing to stop Brasidas from taking Amphipolis and
spent the rest of the war gathering information and writing an account of it. His History of
the Peloponnesian War ends abruptly in 411 but shows signs of work after 404.
Although not explicitly concerned with geographical questions, he understood better
than any other ancient historian the importance of geography in interstate relations. In his
introduction to the Sicilian Expedition, he himself notes, and endeavors to correct, the
general ignorance of Athenians about the geography of Sicily. His descriptions of sites of
various conflicts in the war are detailed and, where evaluation is possible, highly reliable. In
several instances, such as the campaigns at Pulos, Amphipolis and Surakousai (Syracuse),
even if he did not witness the events, he may very well have visited, studied the sites and
interviewed eyewitnesses extensively. Elsewhere his brief geographical descriptions of the


THUCYDIDE ̄S OF ATHENS
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