Philo ̄tas of Amphissa (35 BCE – 30 CE)
Born ca 55 BCE; one of the young medical attendants serving M. Antonius Antyllus
(b. 47/46 BCE, Antony’s elder son by Fuluia) in the early 30s BCE, he later returned to
Amphissa after completing medical studies in Alexandria. At the age of about 75 (Oldfather
1924: 177), Philo ̄tas was honored in a Delphic inscription (SEG 1.181; Pelling 1988: 195) for
his many years of service. P’s grandfather, Lamprias, passed on the stories of
garrulous old Philo ̄tas (Plut., Ant. 28.3). Scholars have often noted that oral sources are
important to Plutarch ( Jones 1971: 10; Millar 1984: 23–24 with n. 97; Pelling 1988:
29, 195), and Lamprias was “his most eloquent and resourcefully clever self while imbibing,
saying that since frankincense becomes vaporous fumes from heat, thus he was made so by
wine” (Plut., Quaest. Conv. 1.5 [622E]).
Philo ̄tas learned some typical medical theory while a student at Alexandria, dimly mirrored
in this third-hand quotation from Lamprias: during an evening meal with M. Antonius
Antyllus and his attendants, the young Philo ̄tas challenged an annoying older physician with
“To someone who is slightly feverish one must administer something cold; and anyone who
displays a fever is slightly feverish; therefore everyone who has a fever should be given cold
[water]” (Plut., Ant. 28.5). Philo ̄tas valued complicated and specialized compounds, suitable
for a late Hellenistic royal court, and perhaps useful for a military physician serving one
of the doomed generals contesting the Roman takeover of the Eastern Mediterranean.
Recorded under Philo ̄tas’ name is a kephalikon (in the class of compounds called rhaptousai:
that “sew up” or “seal” a wound; usually prepared as plasters), especially useful for skull
fractures (C 5.19.7 = A P. in G, CMGen 4.13 [13.745 K.]).
Not only does Philo ̄tas’ kephalikon contain the expected beeswax, myrrh and frankincense,
agglutinative “Eretrian” earth combined with vinegar, four variants of copper flakes and
verdigris, the gummy “juice” of birthwort, raw alum, oil of roses, and olive oil, but also
ikhthuokolla. One is tempted to place Philo ̄tas’ multi-ingredient eye-salve (Gale ̄n, CMLoc
4.8 [12.752 K.]: an aphroditarion, viz. “darling”) in the context of Antony and K’s
court, and the inclusion of 12 drachmas of saffron crocus would make this special collyrium
fittingly costly; the 12 drachmas of opium poppy latex combined with 24 drachmas of
calamine, 12 drachmas of washed Cyprian copper dust, 36 drachmas of acacia-gum, all
to be mixed in pure rainwater and spread on with an egg (then washed off) could engender
the advertised copious flowing (of tears, presumably).
W.A. Oldfather, “A Friend of Plutarch’s Grandfather,” CPh 19 (1924) 177; C.P. Jones, Plutarch and Rome
(1971); E.G. Huzar, Mark Antony: A Biography (1978) 70–71; F. Millar, “The Mediterranean and the
Roman Revolution: Politics, War and the Economy,” P&P 102 (1984) 3–24; C.B.R. Pelling, ed., with
commentary, Plutarch: Life of Antony (1988).
John Scarborough
P ⇒ P
Philoumenos of Alexandria (150 – 190 CE)
The author of an extensive pharmacological compilation modeled on A’ Peri to ̄n
kata genos pharmako ̄n, its main source. There are several excerpts in O’ Collectiones
medicae (see Index s.v. Philumenus in CMG 6.2.2), who was his earliest user, followed by
A A. The iological part (De uenenatis animalibus eorumque remediis), inspired
by Arkhigene ̄s (Book V), was directly transmitted (Vaticanus gr. 284, 11th c.), though
PHILOUMENOS OF ALEXANDRIA