Bolus of Mendes ( grc-gre, Βῶλος ὁ Μενδήσιος, ''Bōlos ho Mendēsios''; fl. 3rd century BC) was a philosopher, a

neopythagorean Neopythagoreanism (or neo-Pythagoreanism) was a school of Hellenistic philosophy which revived Pythagorean doctrines. Neopythagoreanism was influenced by middle Platonism and in turn influenced Neoplatonism. It originated in the 1st century BC a ...

writer of works of

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...

a and medicine, in Ptolemaic Egypt. Both the '' Suda'', and a later work mistakenly attributed to

Eudokia Makrembolitissa Eudokia Makrembolitissa ( el, Εὐδοκία Μακρεμβολίτισσα, Eudocia Macrembolitissa) was a Byzantine empress by her successive marriages to Constantine X Doukas and Romanos IV Diogenes. She acted as regent of her minor son, Mich ...

—; ''Bed of Violets'', probably a 16th-century forgery by

Constantine Paleocappa Constantine Paleocappa was a 16th-century Byzantine scribe, forger, and counterfeiter. Paleocappa is believed to be the true author of the work known as the '' Collection'' or ''Bed of Violets'' (Ἰωνιά), and historically attributed to the 11t ...

—write of a Pythagorean philosopher of Mendes in Egypt. He is described as one who wrote on marvels, potent remedies, and astronomical phenomena. The ''Suda'', however, also describes a separate Bolus who was a philosopher of the school of

Democritus Democritus (; el, Δημόκριτος, ''Dēmókritos'', meaning "chosen of the people"; – ) was an Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from Abdera, primarily remembered today for his formulation of an atomic theory of the universe. N ...

, who wrote ''Inquiry'', and ''Medical Art'', containing "natural medical remedies from some resources of nature." However, from a passage of

Columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the wo ...

, it appears that Bolos of Mendes and this other Bolus, follower of Democritus, were one and the same person. He seems to have lived following the time of Theophrastus, whose work ('On Plants'), Bolus appears to have known. Bolus was either an ancient Greek or a

Hellenized Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in th ...

Egyptian.

Notes

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolus of Mendes 3rd-century BC Greek physicians 3rd-century BC philosophers Neo-Pythagoreans