()-Z, P, A, A, H, A,
O ̄ T, P A, and P; among his Roman sources are
P and V (cf. Wachsmuth, pp. –). The De ost. is also valuable for the
study of important but poorly-attested authors, such as N F and C
T. What looks like a miscellany, from the standpoint of Quellenforschung, actually pres-
ents a coherent system, based on synchronic signs, months and dates. The desire for such
unity seems evident in Lydus’ own program at De ost. 4 ( pp. 6–7 Wa.).
Of special interest are Lydus’ various systems of dating, indicating divergences between
sources, or competing contemporary systems. For example, days of the month listed in the
ephemeris of chapters De ost. §§ 27 – 38 are numbered consecutively, whereas, in the
ephemeris of Clodius Tuscus (§§ 59 – 70), this system is combined with a Greek version of
the old Roman system of counting back from the fixed points of the month. In De mens.
Book 2, Lydus follows the seven-day “planetary” week, rather than the nundinal cycle
appropriate to his antiquarian material.
Ed.: R. Wuensch, Ioannis Laurentii Lydi, Liber de mensibus (1903; repr. 1967); C. Wachsmuth, Ioannis
Laurentii Lydi, Liber de ostentis (1863; 2nd edition 1897).
A.K. Michels, The Calendar of the Roman Republic (1967); KP 3.801–2 (#2), T.F. Carney; PLRE 2 (1980)
612 – 615; M. Beard, “A complex of times: no more sheep on Romulus’ birthday,” PCPS (1987) 1–15;
M. Maas, John Lydus and the Roman Past: Antiquarianism and Politics in the Age of Justinian (1992); OCD3
899, L.M. Whitby; BNP 8 (2006) 14–15, F. Tinnefeld.
Emma Gee
Io ̄anne ̄s of Stoboi (400 – 440 CE)
Io ̄anne ̄s from the Macedonian city Stoboi (often cited as “Stobaios”) collected a large num-
ber of “excerpts, sayings, and precepts” from more than 500 Greek authors, from H
to T (who is the terminus post quem). He dedicated this collection to his son. It was
divided into four books on physics (1), logic and ethics (2–3), and political theory and
practice and various practical matters (4). In the medieval tradition it was split into two
different volumes, Books 1–2 called Eclogae physicae et ethicae, Books 3– 4 Florilegium. Stobaios
has preserved many quotations from Greek authors otherwise lost; the text was arranged
in thematic chapters, e.g. “Is the universe one?,” “No one is willingly evil,” or “On virtue.”
In Book 1 he used the doxographical collection of A, in Books 2, 3 and 4 we find
many of D’ ethico-political statements. Stobaios is also an important source for
many (Neo)Pythagoreans and Neo-Platonists, not to mention poets like Euripide ̄s and
Menander.
Ed.: C. Wachsmuth and O. Hense, Iohannis Stobaei Anthologium 5 vv. (1884–1912).
Mansfeld and Runia (1996) 196–271; NP 11.1006–1010, R.M. Piccione and D.T. Runia; DPA 3 (2000)
1012 – 1016, R. Goulet.
Jørgen Mejer
Iollas of Bithunia (150 – 110 BCE?)
Physician prior to H T, both of whom are quoted by D
(MM 1.pr.1); wrote a lacunose pharmacological work of unknown title. N’
Scholia in The ̄riaka twice refer to somebody called Iolaos, who must be the same person as
Iollas: (1) ad verse 683, concerning the herb named puritis/purethron; (2) ad verse 523, on
IOLLAS OF BITHUNIA