Epaphroditos and Vitruuius Rufus (200 – 300 CE?)
A collection of geometrical problems to be found in Latin gromatic MSS (i.e. collections of
texts about land surveying) has survived with these two otherwise unknown names attached
to it; but Lachmann did not include them in his edition of the corpus. Following the same
order as that in the works attributed to H A (Metrika I, authentic, and
Geo ̄metrika, considered apocryphal), whose influence is obvious, the calculations of peri-
meters and areas of triangles, of quadrangular figures, regular polygons, and of the circle
and its segments are all dealt with practically, with detailed figures but no attempt at demon-
stration, which is a great difference from the Metrika. Surprisingly, the polygonal areas
(pentagon and so on up to dodecagon) are here dealt with arithmetically, not geometrically;
they are looked at in the Pythagorean manner as sums, not products. The origin of these
developments ought to be looked for in D’ treatise Polygonal Numbers, which
provides evidence for dating. As they show similarities with the Podismus (Lachmann,
pp. 295–301), Epaphroditos’ and Vitruuius’ excerpts may bear some link with the calcula-
tion of triangular, trapezoidal, and pentagonal subseciua (minor areas of a centuriation not
allotted to any owner), such as presented by I N (Lachmann p. 290).
Ed.: N. Bubnov, Gerberti opera mathematica (1899); CAR 3 (1996).
Jean-Yves Guillaumin
Epaphroditos of Carthage (25 – 80 CE)
A records that he used – as patient or doctor? – an antidote from Z
as a once-a-year prophylactic: birthwort, clover, herpullos, myrrh, opopanax, pimpernel,
skordion, germander, etc., plus bitumen and sulfur, in wine: G, Antid. 2.12
(14.178–179 K.).
RE S.9 (1962) 36 (#7), J. Kollesch.
PTK
Ephoros of Kume ̄ (360 – 330 BCE)
Wrote a History of Kume ̄, a work On Words, and a work On Inventions. His Histories in 30 books –
lost but frequently cited by later writers – traced the history of the inhabited world from the
return of the He ̄rakleidai to the siege of Perinthos in 340 BCE (the final book was written by
his son De ̄mophilos). Arranging his history by nation (kata genos), he took a particular interest
in geography. In Books 4–5, he gave a geographical overview of the oikoumene ̄, covering
Europe and Asia respectively. A particularly important fragment, preserved by S
(1.2.28) and K I, represents the Earth as a flat rectangle, bordered to
the north by Skuthians, to the east by Indians, to the south by Aithiopians (Ethiopians),
and to the west by Kelts, an advance over the older Ionian view of the world as a circle
surrounded by the River Ocean. Ephoros likely arranged his conspectus of the lands along
the standard lines, following the Mediterranean coast from western Europe, covering
Greece and the Pontos, moving down the eastern Mediterranean to north Africa, and
ending with the African coast outside of the Straits of Gibraltar. Ephoros showed particular
interest in the historical geography of places, their early inhabitants, and foundation
accounts of cities. He speculated on the origins of the Nile flood, proposing that the ground
soaks up water like a sponge in the cool months and sweats it out in the hot months. He
EPAPHRODITOS AND VITRUUIUS RUFUS