defined regions with rectilinear borders (sphragides, “seals”). It is not clear whether the
text was meant to be accompanied by an actual map. Notwithstanding Hipparkhos’
criticisms, Eratosthene ̄s’ conception of the general shape and layout of the known world
remained the basis for verbal and pictorial portrayals of the world well into the Roman
period.
- Astronomy and Chronology. Although Eratosthene ̄s’ geodesy had an ostensibly
astronomical empirical foundation, his direct contributions to astronomy were slight.
G (8.24) refers to a work on the oktaete ̄ris, in which Eratosthene ̄s explained how
the 365-day year of the Egyptian calendar meant that Egyptian festivals gradually shifted
backwards in relation to the natural seasons. A work for which the Souda offers the alterna-
tive titles Astronomia and Kataste ̄rigmoi (“constellations”) retailed myths relating to the constel-
lations; an extant anonymous book containing such material may represent an adaptation
or digest of Eratosthene ̄s’ work.
Eratosthene ̄s is often credited as the principal founder of Greek chronography, chiefly on
the basis of his On Chronographers and Olympic Victors. It is unclear, however, whether this
reputation is wholly deserved. On Chronographers (an alternative version of the title, Chronogra-
phy, is less likely to be correct) appears to have been more a critical review of earlier writings
pertaining to chronology rather than an original study, though it did propose a framework
of specific intervals of years between landmark dates from the Trojan War up to the death
of Alexander. The Olympic Victors, in at least two books, was not primarily a chronological
catalogue – such works in any case had allegedly been compiled already by H
E ̄, A, and Philokho ̄ros – but a gathering of general information relating to the
Olympic Games from literary sources.
Ed.: H. Berger, Die geographischen Fragmente des Eratosthenes (1880).
P.M. Fraser, “Eratosthenes of Cyrene,” PBA 56 (1970) 175–207; K. Geus, Eratosthenes von Kyrene. Studien
zur hellenistischen Kultur- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte (2002).
Alexander Jones
E ⇒ P
Ero ̄tianos (60 – 80 CE)
Dedicates his extant Hippokratic Lexicon to A, “arkhiatros.” G indicates
that both Ero ̄tianos and Andromakhos were at Nero’s court (54– 68 CE). Two physicians
named Andromakhos (likely father and son) are attested, and Gale ̄n often cites the Elder
for pharmaceutical recipes. Ero ̄tianos frequently cites B T’s
lost Hippokratic Glossary, one of several such compilations attempting to “explain” the
often-obscure Hippokratic medical terms. As Smith (1979) illustrates in translation (203,
n. 31), Ero ̄tianos’ purpose in setting forth a new collection of readings was straightforward
enough, and similar to previous glossographers: “H is important... because
he is useful for literary instruction. He is useful for physicians especially because in reading
him they can learn new things and test the ones they already know.”
Entries are arranged alphabetically, most likely following the template devised by
A B, with each term explicated by citations from other writers,
including near-contemporaries (Ero ̄tianos is the first known witness to D’
Materia Medica [Lexicon, K, 31.85, p. 51 Nachm.]), and there are comparisons of medical
terminologies employed by earlier Hellenistic physicians including A
ERO ̄TIANOS