the king to warn of the effects of immoderate drinking (P 14.58) is insufficient proof to
declare him Alexander’s private physician. Some Androkude ̄s (Clement of Alexandria,
Strom. 7.6.33.7) — the same as the Pythagorean (Androkude ̄s ho Puthagorikos, ibid. 5.8.45.2)? —
used to say that “both wine and meat strengthen bodies but weigh down one’s spirits” (cf.
P, Meat-Eating 995E, al.). The epistolary Androkude ̄s may be identifiable with
T’ Androkude ̄s who considered cabbage a remedy against drunkenness (HP
4.16.6, unde Pliny 17.240). Only Athe ̄naios (6 [258b]) titled Androkude ̄s a physician; but the
etymology of kolakeia (flattery), from kollasthai, that he attributed to Androkude ̄s is better
suited to a grammarian (cf. Etymologicum Genuinum = Etymol. Magnum, s.v. kolax [525.2]).
RE 1.2 (1894) 2149 (#1), M. Wellmann.
Jean-Marie Jacques
Andromakhos of Crete (Elder) (50 – 65 CE)
Greek physician from Crete, father of A C (Y). Perhaps a
peregrinus (Korpela 1987: 164, #54), he practiced medicine in Rome as Nero’s personal
doctor (G, Antid. 1.1, 14.2 K.), probably specializing in pharmaceutical therapy. He
altered the formula of the Mithridateion supposedly created by (or for) M VI
(ibid.), recording his version in 87 elegiac couplets, twice given by Gale ̄n: Antid. 1.6 (14.32– 42
K.) and The ̄r. Pis. 6 – 7 (14.233 K., but omitted by Kühn). Modifying both the list and
proportions of ingredients, Andromakhos called the new 64–ingredient compound gale ̄ne ̄ as
effecting tranquility regarding health (Gale ̄n ibid. 15, 14.270–271 K.). Andromakhos’ for-
mula resulted in a wide-spectrum medicine, instead of a supposedly universal antidote
against all kinds of venoms and poisons. The medicine, later known as theriac, circulated
independently in Byzantine MSS, was translated into Arabic (ed. L. Richter-Bernburg, Eine
arabische Version der pseudogalenischen Schrift De theriaca ad Pisonem, Diss. Göttingen 1969), and
continued to be prepared into the early 20th c.
Ed.: Ideler 1 (1841/1963) 138–143; Heitsch 2 (1964) 8–15.
RE 1.2 (1894) 2153–2154 (#17), M. Wellmann; Watson (1966) esp. 45–53; KP 5.1573, J. Kollesch; BNP
1 (2002) 685 (#4), V. Nutton.
Alain Touwaide
Andromakhos of Crete (Younger) (70 – 90 CE)
Greek physician, son of A C (E), physician to the imperial court
at Rome: G CMGen 1.15 (13.427–429 K.). Andromakhos, perhaps specializing
in pharmaceutical therapy like his father whose theriac recipe he is believed to have tran-
scribed into prose (Wellmann), wrote on medicine in three works, each cited as a monograph:
- medicines for external use; 2. medicines for internal use; 3. ophthalmologic medicines
(Gale ̄n, CMGen 2.1, 13.463 K.). Gale ̄n claims that Andromakhos simply compiled them
from his many sources without properly explaining the doses and uses of the medicines:
CMGen ibid. and 1.16 (13.441–442 K.). Indeed, Andromakhos often claims to have
employed or preferred a particular recipe – e.g. CMLoc 9.5 (13.299 K.) and CMGen 6.14
(13.930–931 K.), cf. Fabricius (1972) 174–179. Contrast CMLoc 9.5 (13.300 K.) and CMGen
7.13 (13.1037 K.), where Andromakhos gives detailed preparation directions (and claims to
have used the second recipe). Maybe Gale ̄n’s criticism is due to his willingness to appear
as the major authority in pharmacology, something that led him to sharply criticize his
ANDROMAKHOS OF CRETE (YOUNGER)