Mantias (ca 15 CE)
Wrote Concerning the Phenomena Observed during the Rarefaction and Condensation of Bodies, of which
one fragment survives in an Arabic translation of M A’s Concerning
the Technique by which the Amount of Each of a Number of Mixed Bodies May be Known (Madrid,
Escurial MS árabe 960, ff. 43a.18–43b.29; Würschmidt 1925: 381–382). The names of
both author, Mantias, and dedicatee, Germanicus the King (= Germanicus Iulius Caesar?,
d. 19 CE), suggesting Mantias’ floruit, are conjectural reconstructions of Greek names
garbled in the Arabic (Würschmidt 1925: 380–381).
Menelaos cites Mantias as the source of a solution to the problem of A’
water-test of the purity of the gold wreath of H II S. However,
Mantias did not himself claim that Archime ̄de ̄s devised his test. Unlike V’
(9.9–12) improbable explanation of Archime ̄de ̄s’ water-test as based solely upon comparing
the volume of water displaced by Hiero ̄n’s wreath with that displaced by an equal weight
of pure gold, Mantias provides a description of a test based on Archime ̄de ̄s’ principles of
buoyancy and of the lever. Mantias’ test goes further than evaluating the purity of a
given metal and can be used to calculate the relative proportions of the constituents of any
two-metal alloy provided that the identities of the two metals are known.
Mantias’ test for a gold-silver alloy first calls for the construction of a calibrated balance:
(1) place gold and silver in a proportion of 1:1 in one scale of a balance and place an equal
weight of pure silver in the other scale; (2) Submerge the scales in water and watch the
balance tip towards the side of the gold and silver; (3) Move the scale with the gold and
silver along the beam of the balance and mark the position of the scale at which the beam
becomes horizontal; (4) Repeat this procedure increasing the proportion of gold to silver
(2:1, 3:1, 4:1 etc.) and marking the final position of the scale each time. To use the balance,
an object (e.g. Hiero ̄n’s wreath) made of gold and silver in unknown proportions is placed in
one scale and an equal weight of pure silver is placed in the other. The scales are then
submerged in water and when the balance tips towards the alloy, its scale is moved along the
beam until it becomes horizontal. A reading is taken at that point and the proportions of
gold and silver in the alloy are ascertained. Mantias places limitations on his method,
pointing out that differences in the waters in which the scales are submerged during each
use of the balance can affect its readings. This method was later described in the C
P (lines 124–162).
Text: Madrid, Escurial MS árabe 960 (item 3), ff. 43a-50b; GAS 5 (1974) 164.
Trans.: J. Würschmidt, “Die Schrift des Menelaus über die Bestimmung der Zusammensetzung von
Legierungen,” Philologus 80 (1925) 377–409.
Bink Hallum
Mantias (He ̄roph.) (150 – 100 BCE)
“He ̄rophilean” physician, teacher of H T (G, CMGen 2.1
[13.462 K.], CMLoc, 6.11 [12.989 K.: “a true He ̄rophilean from the beginning”]). By
naming one of his multi-ingredient anti-diarrhea compounds an “Attalike ̄” (Gale ̄n CMLoc
8.3 [13.162 K.]), Mantias was probably honoring A III P, confirming
the king’s reputation as an investigator of drugs and poisons, and perhaps signaling personal
association. Famed for works on pharmacology, Mantias was, if Gale ̄n is right, one of the
first physicians to devise effective multi-ingredient compounds to treat specific ailments, and
MANTIAS (HE ̄ROPH.)