Antonius Musa (40 – 20 BCE)
One of four “Askle ̄piadean” physicians known to A (P 29.6), thus linked
with the teachings of A B; Musa is frequently quoted by Roman
and Byzantine medical authors (e.g. Pliny 29.141; G CMLoc, 7.2 [13.57 K.]; A
A, Tetrabiblon, 8.56 and 75; and P A, Epitome of Medicine, 7.12.18),
for his drug-prescriptions, especially multi-ingredient pills, noted for their mildly narcotic
properties, well diluted in wine or water. Famed for his cure of the emperor (23 BCE) with
cold-water baths (Suetonius Aug., 59; Dio Cassius 53.30), Musa was one of a number of
physicians in the late Roman Republic and early Empire who advocated various forms of
“hydrotherapy” accompanied by mild-acting pharmaceuticals. Pliny (29.6) associates Musa
with T L, thereby putting him in the direct heritage of Askle ̄piade ̄s.
Musa’s brother, E, was a physician to I (Pliny 25.77); the genus Euphorbia
commemorates Iouba’s doctor and their research on medical plants, discovering one species
(E. dendroides L.) still used to stun fish. Gale ̄n (CMGen, 6.15 [13.935 K.]) cites A
“ -,” perhaps the same as the author of the extant De herba botanica (CML 4
[1927] 3–11).
RE 1.2 (1896) 2633–2634, M. Wellmann; M. Michler, “Principis medicus: Antonius Musa,” ANRW
2.37.1 (1993) 757–785; D.W. Roller, The World of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene (2003) 159–160,
178 – 179; Idem (2004) 103–107.
John Scarborough
A M () ⇒ A ()
A P ⇒ P L
Antonius “root-cutter” (100 BCE – 95 CE)
A P. (as preserved in G) four times cites an Antonius, thrice calling
him “root-cutter” (rhizotomos), and once “druggist” (pharmakopo ̄los), nearly synonymous.
Evidently a practical man, and considered “very experienced” (CMLoc 2.2 [12.580 K.]), he
may well be identical with A C. The root-cutter compounded a henbane-
and poppy-juice-based vegetal remedy for headache (ibid. 2.1 [12.557]), and a compound of
mined salt and litharge in gum, laced with galbanum, for joint conditions; as druggist he
prescribed a vegetal remedy for gassy colic: CMLoc 9.4 (13.281–282 K.).
RE S.1 (1903) 96 (#14a), M. Wellmann.
PTK
Antullos (100 – 260 CE)
Greek physician, surgeon, therapist, and pharmacologist who lived after A
A and before O. His treatment of disease with purgation is a typically
Pneumaticist therapeutic principle, but he also assimilated Hippokratic elements into his
practice: he studied the influence of the environment on human health, recommended
physical exercise, and considered patients’ housing and diet. He recommended therapeutic
thermal baths, particularly mineral waters (cf. A M), and wrote on pharmacol-
ogy in the manner of 1st c. CE therapists.
ANTULLOS