compilation of H origin was translated into Pahlavi at the time of Xusraw I; the
Greeks, and later the Arabs (and Persians), ascribed it to Zoroaster. This text was corrected
and revised by Ma ̄ha ̄nkard ca 637, then translated into Arabic by Sa ̄ıd ibn Xura ̄sa ̄nxurrah
(ca 747/754) as Kita ̄b al-mawa ̄l ̄ıd. This Arabic text, incorporating many Pahlavi terms and
loanwords, reveals a Greek foundation, intermingled with Indian and Iranian traditions
and doctrines, although some elements could show a H.arra ̄nian influence. Consequently,
Pingree suspects that a H.arra ̄nian native composed the Pahlavi version from a Greek
original of the 3rd c. CE, which Ma ̄ha ̄nkard deeply revised.
Theophilos of Edessa (8th c.) read and translated Sasanian astrological material (whether
in Pahlavi, Arabic, Syrian, or Greek), e.g., letters attributed to Zoroaster.
C. Clemen, Fontes Historiae Religionis Persicae (1920); V. Stegemann, “Astrologische Zarathustra-
Fragmente bei den arabischen Astrologen Abu ̄l H.asan. Al ̄ı b. abı ̄r-Rig ̆a ̄l (11. Jh.),” Orientalia ns 6
(1937) 317–336; D.E. Pingree, The Thousands of Abu ̄ Mashar (1968) 7, 10, 22, 130; Idem (1978) 445;
GAS 7 (1979) 81–86; C.M. Woodhouse, George Gemistos Plethon (1986); Pingree (1989) 227–239;
P. Kunitzsch, “The Chapter on the Fixed Stars in Zara ̄dusht’s Kita ̄b al-mawa ̄l ̄ıd,” Zeitschrift für
Geschichte der arabisch-islamischen Wissenschaften 8 (1993) 241–249; Antonio Panaino, “Sopravvivenze
del culto iranico della stella Sirio nel Kita ̄b al-mawa ̄l ̄ıd di Zara ̄dusˇt ed altre questioni di uranografia
sasanide,” in E. Acquaro, ed., Alle soglie della Classicità. Il Mediterraneo tra tradizione e innovazione. Studi in
onore di S. Moscati (1996) 1.343–354.
Antonio Panaino
Zo ̄simos (Med.) (10 BCE – 95 CE)
A P., in G CMLoc 4.8 (12.753 K.), records his collyrium, com-
pounded from calamine roasted and quenched in Italian wine, plus acacia, aloes,
antimony, copper oxide, saffron, myrrh, Indian nard, and opium, in gum and rainwater.
O, Ecl. Med. 69.6 (CMG 6.2.2, p. 232), records his ointment for tremors, a
carefully prepared mixture of euphorbia (cf. I), marsh-salt (D 5.119),
pine-resin, natron, and opopanax, in olive oil and beeswax; the recipe is praised and
repeated by P A, 3.21 (CMG 9.1, p. 170), 7.19.16 (CMG 9.2, p. 378).
RE 10A (1972) 790 (#5), Fr. Kudlien.
PTK
Zo ̄simos of Pano ̄polis (ca 250 – 300 CE)
Earliest Hellenistic alchemist who wrote without a pseudonym and whose writings survive
in any appreciable number. He was a prolific commentator on the works of previous
alchemists and in his writings are found a blend of practical laboratory instructions, lore
concerning the (pseudo-)history and mythology of alchemy and mystical and religious
speculations of a Gnostic and Hermetic character. He was born at Pano ̄polis in the
The ̄baïd region of Upper Egypt and was, perhaps, resident at Alexandria. He composed a
large number of alchemical treatises, many of which addressed to T, and it is
from these treatises that we have much of our knowledge of the other early alchemists and
their works. Despite his fame and prominent position in alchemical history, almost nothing
is known about his life and because of the allegorical and secretive style of the alchemists,
little can be said with certainty about his alchemical doctrines.
Pho ̄tios calls him a The ̄ban of Pano ̄polis and says that his writings were discussed in a work,
of unknown title and author, which tried to prove that pagan intellectuals of all lands
ZO ̄SIMOS (MED.)