myrrh, and the gum from Babul acacia (Acacia arabica Lam.), softened with salted wine
(Gale ̄n, CMGen 5.11 [13.831 K.]). Apollophane ̄s’ pharmacology retained its value well
into the Byzantine era, illustrated by re-quotations (from Gale ̄n and O) of the
anodyne salve, now employed for pains in the liver (A , Liver
Inflammations, 1 [2.386 Puschm.]; A A 13.18 [p. 617 Cornarius], P
A, 7.18.20 [CMG 9.2, p. 373]; cf. 3.46.6 [9.1, p. 253]). Appropriately enough,
Apollophane ̄s had his own version of a theriac, useful against snakes, scorpions, and
poisons, of unknown composition (P 22.59; Scholia on N, The ̄riaka, 491
[ p. 197 Crugnola]). The strangely corrupted text in Gale ̄n, Antid., 2.14 (14.183 K.) says
that Antiokhos had a theriac made from snake-meat, which might be a faint echo of
Apollophane ̄s’ theriac and its main ingredient. (See also Pliny 20.264 and A
VIII.)
RE 2.1 (1895) 165–166, M. Wellmann; C.B. Welles, Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period (1934;
repr. 1974); Walbank 1 (1957) 584–585; T.S. Brown, “Apollophanes and Polybius, Book 5,” Phoenix
15 (1961) 187–195; A. Mastrocinque, “Les médecins des Séleucides,” in Ph. van der Eijk et al., edd.,
Ancient Medicine in its Socio-Cultural Context, 2 vols. (1995 [Clio Medica 27]) 1.143–151.
John Scarborough
Apsurtos of Klazomenai (ca 150 – 350 CE?)
Wrote on the care and medical treatment of horses, donkeys, mules, and cattle; probably
the most influential veterinary author of Late Antiquity. According to the Souda (A-4739),
Apsurtos was a native of Prousa or Nikome ̄deia; however, evidence in his text suggests he
was from Klazomenai. Apsurtos explains in his preface (which dedicates the work to an
unknown Askle ̄piade ̄s) that he was a soldier, a statement corroborated by his frequent refer-
ences to elements of military life, and to Thrakian and Sarmatian horses and horsemen
encountered on the Danube frontier. The treatise takes the form of a collection of letters
purporting to answer questions from Apsurtos’ friends and acquaintances. The letters are
addressed to over 60 individuals, including soldiers of various ranks and more than
20 horse-doctors. Apsurtos’ letters are preserved in the Hippiatrika: they served as the com-
pilation’s armature, onto which excerpts from other texts were added. Apsurtos’ treatise
predates that of T (early-mid 4th c.), in which it is quoted: there is no solid
evidence for a more precise dating, although Björck proposed 150– 250 CE. Apsurtos cites
written sources including “Mago ̄n of Carthage” (presumably C D’ rework-
ing of Mago ̄n’s agricultural manual), E, and others; he also presents recipes found
in texts on human medicine. Twenty-one spells appear under Apsurtos’ name in the M
recension of the Hippiatrika; it is unclear whether these were excerpted from the veterinary
manual or from a separate book of magical cures. Also preserved in the Hippiatrika is the
preface to a treatise or chapter on cows. Passages from Apsurtos appear in Latin translation
in the M C, which contains moreover two chapters attributed to
Apsurtos not extant in Greek. The Latin author V seems to have known this
translation, but P, who used Apsurtos both as a source of content and as a
model of literary style, worked from the Greek text. H also used Apsurtos,
reworking the text into higher style. Apsurtos’ name appears among the false attributions in
G 16, and also (along with S and X) in the title of the collections
of hippiatric texts in three late MSS.
APSURTOS OF KLAZOMENAI