theories are described in some detail in the doxographical tradition (DK 51 A1–5), implying
that he wrote a treatise on natural philosophy that was available to T. In the
catalogue of Pythagoreans, compiled by A, his birthplace is given as Kroto ̄n
(DK 59 A1), but otherwise he is from Surakousai (A1–2, 5). He must be earlier than
H H P, who accepted his theory that the Earth rotates
around its own axis. Ekphantos could have been a follower of P, though not
necessarily his pupil.
As a philosopher Ekphantos is an example of an eclectic, typical of late Pre-Socratics.
Following D he taught that the world consists of indivisible bodies (adiaireta
so ̄mata, atoma) and void (A2), but is governed by “divine power, which he calls ‘mind’ and
‘soul’,” as A believed, and not by necessity (A1, 4). The idea that he identified
these adiaireta so ̄mata with “Pythagorean monadas”, i.e. arithmetical units (A2), which gave
rise to the Pythagorean “number atomism,” is unattested in the other testimonia on
Ekphantos and comes most probably from doxographers. Ekphantos’ skepticism (“it is not
possible to attain a true knowledge of things,” A1) is close both to the epistemological stance
of some Pythagoreans (A, Philolaos) and of De ̄mokritos. His astronomical
hypothesis (attested also in his contemporary H) develops Philolaos’ theory that the
Earth rotates around the Central Fire in 24 hours. Ekphantos abandoned Philolaos’ ideas
on the Central Fire and the Counter-Earth, returned the Earth to the central place in the
universe, and asserted that it moves about its own center from west to east (A1, 5), in order
to explain the apparent diurnal rotation of the heavens. Copernicus mentioned both
Ekphantos and He ̄rakleide ̄s in the preface to his De revolutionibus.
DK 51; T.L. Heath, Aristarchus of Samos (1913); Dicks (1970).
Leonid Zhmud
Elephantine ̄/Elephantis (100 BCE – 75 CE)
P 28.81 cites her for quasi-magical abortifacients, and S, in G CMLoc 1.1
(12.416–420 K.) lists her, with A, H, and M, as providing
recipes for alo ̄pekia. The Souda A-4261 blames her or a homonym for a work on sexual
positions.
RE 5.2 (1905) 2324–2325 (#3), O. Crusius; Parker (1997) 145 (#43).
PTK
Eleutheros (900 – 1450 CE)
Physician, credited with a treatment for sciatica compounded from the juice of wild figs and
radish mixed with olive oil and applied externally or injected internally as an enema, and
preserved in MS Antinori 102 of Florence, Medicea Laurenziana, ca 1460 CE, f. 358. The
MS probably comes from the collection of a medical library in Constantinople. It excerpts
canonical writers such as H, D, G, and P A,
plus physicians of the mid- to late-Byzantine period: Theophane ̄s Khrusobalante ̄s “Nonnos”
(mid-10th c.), Sumeo ̄n Se ̄th (mid-11th c.), Nike ̄phoros Blemmide ̄s (mid-13th c.), etc., thus
suggesting the date-range.
Diels 2 (1907) 35.
Alain Touwaide
ELEUTHEROS