D E; Wellmann and others have suggested identification with
D (M.). The father’s name is very rare: LGPN 1.353 (Crete), 3A.344 (Argos),
3B.327 (Amphissa and Eruthrai).
C.G. Kühn, Additamenta ad elenchum medicorum ueterum 14 (1827) 7; RE 5.1 (1903) 976 (#132), M.
Wellmann; BNP 4 (2004) 486 (#24), V. Nutton.
PTK
Dionusios of Aigai (200 – 300 CE?)
Empiricist physician and Skeptic who probably lived after G; von Staden (1999) has
suggested that he was perhaps not an Empiricist. He wrote a work called Diktuaka (whose
date and provenance is not certain), twice excerpted by Pho ̄tios, Bibl. 185 and 211, contain-
ing 100 chapters, consisting of 50 pairs of medical thesis and antithesis (listed), with argu-
ments (lost). For example, §50: “the capacity to think is located in the area of the central
vesicle of the brain,” or §42: “the liver is the source of the veins.” The work can be divided
into five sections: A = 1–4: spermatogenesis; B = 5–26: digestion and nutrition; C = 27–52:
pathology; D = 52–69: therapy; E = 70–100: anatomy and cognition. He often presented
several theoretical alternatives, and how each could be refuted. His work focused on
Hellenistic debates, but also contained traces of theories of the 2nd c. CE, including
those of Gale ̄n, such as antithesis 42 (first attested in Gale ̄n PHP 6.3–6 = CMG 5.4.1.2,
pp. 372–404). Antithesis 50 apparently reflects the works of N and P
(M. II), which may indicate that Dionusios is later than usually assigned. A number of
the counter-hypotheses include doctrines attributed to E, with whom Dionu-
sius at times agrees and at other times, disagrees.
RE 5.1 (1903) 975 (#124), H. von Arnim; Deichgräber (1965) 340; von Staden (1989) 389; Idem (1999)
177 – 185.
Robert Littman
Dionusios (of Alexandria?) (ca 240 – 260 CE?)
Addressed by D, Arithmetica Pr.1, as an enthusiastic beginning student of
mathematics. Hultsch rejects identification with the contemporary bishop of Alexandria.
RE 5.1 (1903) 993 (#147), Fr. Hultsch.
GLIM
Dionusios of Alexandria, Perie ̄ge ̄te ̄s (130 – 138 CE)
Greek grammarian and geographer, son of Glaukos, living under Hadrian. Dionusios was
director of the imperial libraries and secretary in charge of correspondence and
embassies. There is some confusion regarding Dionusios’ period. However, he himself
hints at his origin and time in the acrostics of some verses (109–134; 513–532) of his
poetic description (perie ̄ge ̄sis) of the oikoumene ̄, consisting in 1,186 hexameters. The
work describes the ocean and the three continents: Africa, Europe and Asia, based mainly
on E.
Ed.: GGM 2.–, 103–176; K. Brodersen, Dionysios von Alexandria: Das Lied von der Welt (1994); A.A.
Raschieri, Dionigi di Alessandria: Guida delle terre abitate (2004); E. Amato, Dionisio di Alessandria.
Descrizione della Terra abitata (2005).
DIONUSIOS OF ALEXANDRIA, PERIE ̄GE ̄TE ̄S