the middle-Byzantine period: ODB 86 – 87, Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit 1.1 (1999)
#228–341.
RE 1.2 (1894) 2067 (#4), M. Wellmann.
PTK
Vindonius Anatolios of Be ̄rutos (ca 330 – ca 370 CE)
Agricultural writer (Vindanius in Pho ̄tios, Bibl. cod. 163), perhaps but not certainly identifi-
able with the imperial official and friend of L who died in 360 (PLRE 1 [1971]
59 – 60, #3). His Sunago ̄ge ̄ geo ̄rgiko ̄n epite ̄deumato ̄n, a collection from earlier Greek writers in
12 books, extant in the 9th c., was distinguished by Pho ̄tios as useful and superior to similar
treatises. From its preface Pho ̄tios names D, I A, H-
T, A, “Florentius” (=F), V V, Leo ̄n
(perhaps L), P, and the Paradoxa of D. Its contents
embraced siting the farmstead; quality of soil and water; weather prognostication and rem-
edies for natural phenomena such as storms and insects; culture and preservation of cereal
crops, vines, olives, as well as the products of garden and orchard and their potential
medicinal applications; livestock and their care. From what survives, Pho ̄tios’ judgment
seems entirely valid: alongside empirical commentary of known and accepted validity is a
rich miscellany of “irrational and incredible elements, reeking of pagan folly.” The latter
embrace folklore, apotropaic customs, and practices based on the “Democritean” dogma of
sympathy and antipathy.
Anatolios’ work achieved widespread circulation. In the west, P, whose refer-
ences take the form Graeci (auctores), used it. Probably in the 6th c., it was translated into
Syriac (an abbreviation partially survives) and thence into Arabic (Kita ̄b al-Fila ̄h.a of
Yu ̄niu ̄s, preserving the author’s name and apparently much of his format). Roughly
contemporaneously, it was revised and expanded by C B, whose Eklogai
not only were incorporated (largely wholesale) into the 10th c. G, but were in
turn translated into Old Persian and thence a second time into Arabic. Complex rela-
tionships amongst the Middle Eastern and Islamic versions, themselves marked by a
certain fluidity, are the subject of current studies, which will illuminate the combination
of literary tradition and practical innovation characteristic of Arabo-Andalusian agro-
nomical works.
Only fragments of the Sunago ̄ge ̄ survive in Greek. Independently transmitted are a chapter
on hail, frost and pests in the vineyard (Paris, BNF graecus 2313, f. 49V), and a short section
on medical treatment of cattle (P. Vindob. G40302, 6th/7th c.). Sixteen excerpts in the late
antique compilation of veterinary texts known as the Hippiatrika are securely attributed to
Anatolios; these closely correspond to material on horses preserved in Geo ̄ponika Book 16,
indicating that this part of Cassianus’ compilation is derived, without much alteration, from
Anatolios. Anonymous passages on the points of the horse and on breeding which preface
the C recension of the Hippiatrika are attributed by Oder (1896) to Anatolios on account of
their similarity to parts of Geo ̄ponika 16.
Oder (1890); RE 1.2 (1894) 2073 (#14), M. Wellmann; E. Oder, Anecdota Cantabrigiensia (1896);
E. Fehrle, Studien zu den griechischen Geoponikern (1920); Robert H. Rodgers, “Hail, Frost, and Pests in
the Vineyard,” JAOS 100 (1980) 1–11; A. Papathomas, “Das erste antike Zeugnis für die veterin-
ärmedizinische Exzerptensammlung des Anatolios von Berytos,” WSt 113 (2000) 135–151; J.
Carabaza Bravo, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 12 (2002) 155–178; J. Hämeen-Anttila, “The Oriental
VINDONIUS ANATOLIOS OF BE ̄RU TO S