Zeuxis “the He ̄rophilean” (ca 80 – 10 BCE)
S 12.8.20 notes that “.. .in my own time.. .,” a Zeuxis had established a “large
He ̄rophilean teaching center of medicine” at the Temple of Me ̄n Karou, located between
Laodikeia and Karura in Phrugia, western Asia Minor. Strabo ̄n continues to say that
A P succeeded Zeuxis. Kudlien posits a “Zeuxis the Elder from
Taras,” but the evidence is shaky, and a recipe for the treatment of leikhe ̄n ascribed to
Zeuxis (G, CMLoc 5.3 [12.834 K.]) probably belongs to the homonymous Empiricist
physician, not the He ̄rophilean. Nonetheless, a Zeuxis was named on two bronze coins
issued in Laodikeia, after 27 BCE (the obverse carries Sebastos, Greek for Augustus), one of
which displays a caduceus on the reverse. Nothing is known regarding Zeuxis’ medical
contributions, but one can suppose that his instruction at Me ̄n Karou included such typical
He ̄rophilean topics as pulse lore, obstetrics and gynecology, and the physiology of
reproduction.
RE 10A (1972) 387, Fr. Kudlien; J. Benedum, “Zeuxis Philalethes und die Schule der Herophileer in
Menos Kome,” Gesnerus 31 (1974) 221–236; RE S.15 (1978) 306–308, idem [“Philalethes”]; von
Staden (1989) 529–531; Dueck (2000) 142.
John Scarborough
Zı ̄g (Royal Tables) (450, 555/556, and ca 635 – 650 CE)
The Pahlavi Z ̄ıg ̄ı Sˇahrya ̄ra ̄n (Arabic: Z ̄ıjˇ al-sˇa ̄h), three different versions of the Sasanian
royal astronomical tables. The first was calculated in 450, according to Ibn Yu ̄nis, under
Yezdegird II (438– 457 CE). Its mathematical parameters were probably derived from the
Sanskrit P.
Al-Ha ̄sˇim ̄ı (Kita ̄b al-z ̄ıja ̄t, ca 875) preserves a statement of Ma ̄sˇa ̄alla ̄h that King Xusraw
I ordered an astronomical meeting, where the Pahlavi version of P’s Syntaxis
was compared with the Pahlavi translation of the Old Su ̄ryasiddha ̄nta; this second set of tables
was named Z ̄ıg ̄ı Arkand (probably the Pahlavi translation of Sanskrit ahargan.a: “series of
days, calculated term”). Indian parameters were curiously preferred to the Ptolemaic ones.
Al-Bı ̄ru ̄nı ̄ in his al-Qa ̄nu ̄n al-Masu ̄d ̄ı (3.1473–1474) confirms that the meeting occurred in the
25th year of Xusraw (555–556).
Ma ̄sˇa ̄alla ̄h wrote that, under Yezdegird III (632–652), a third set of tables was compiled.
This Z ̄ıg was named “Trifold,” because it utilized only three kardaja (Sanskrit kramajya ̄: “out-
stretched cord, sinus, etc.”). Manusˇcˇihr’s second Epistle (2.2.9–11, a 9th c. Pahlavi text),
confirms the promiscuous use of different astronomical tables, such as the Z ̄ıg of the Persian
King (or Z ̄ıg ̄ı Sˇahrya ̄ra ̄n), the Z ̄ıg of the Indians (or Z ̄ıg ̄ı Hindu ̄g), and the Z ̄ıg of Ptolemy (or Z ̄ıg ̄ı
Ptalamaius). In particular the last redaction of the Sasanian Z ̄ıg had an enormous impact on
subsequent sets of astronomical tables calculated by Arabo-Islamic and mediaeval
astronomers.
Bailey (1943; 1971) 80; al-B ̄ıru ̄n ̄ı, Kita ̄b al-Qa ̄nu ̄n al-Masu ̄d ̄ı 3 vv. (1954–1956); E.S. Kennedy, A Survey of
Islamic Astronomical Tables (1956); GAS 6 (1978) 106–111, 115 and 7 (1979) 102–108; ‘Alı ̄ b. S. al-
Ha ̄shim ̄ı, The Book of the Reasons behind Astronomical Tables (Kita ̄b fi ‘ı ̄lal al-z ̄ıja ̄t): translation by
F.I. Haddad and E.S. Kennedy and a commentary by D.E. Pingree and E.S. Kennedy (1981),
95 – 95 R, 212–213; Pingree (1989) 238–239; Antonio Panaino, Tessere il Cielo (1998).
Antonio Panaino
ZI ̄G (ROYAL TABLES)