Diocles of Carystus (; el, Διοκλῆς ὁ Καρύστιος; la, Diocles Carystius; also known by the Latin name Diocles Medicus, i.e. "Diocles the physician"; c. 375 BC – c. 295 BC) was a well-regarded
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
physician, born in
Carystus
Carystus (; el, Κάρυστος, near modern Karystos) was a polis (city-state) on ancient Euboea. It was situated on the south coast of the island, at the foot of Mount Oche. It is mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the '' Iliad' ...
, a city on
Euboea
Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poin ...
, Greece. His significance was as a major thinker, practitioner, and writer of the fourth century.
Life
Diocles lived not long after the time of
Hippocrates
Hippocrates of Kos (; grc-gre, Ἱπποκράτης ὁ Κῷος, Hippokrátēs ho Kôios; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician of the classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of ...
, to whom
Pliny
Pliny may refer to:
People
* Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'')
* Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...
says he was next in age and fame. Not much is known of his life, other that he lived and worked in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, where he wrote what may be the first medical treatise in
Attic (not in
Ionic as was customary in
Greek medical writings). His most important work was in practical medicine, especially diet and nutrition, but he also wrote the first systematic textbook on animal
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...
. According to a number of sources, he was the first to use the word "anatomy" to describe the study. He belonged to the medical sect of the ''
Dogmatici'', and wrote several medical works, of which only the titles and some fragments remain, preserved by
Galen
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be one of ...
,
Caelius Aurelianus
Caelius Aurelianus of Sicca in Numidia was a Greco-Roman physician and writer on medical topics. He is best known for his translation from Greek to Latin of a work by Soranus of Ephesus, ''On Acute and Chronic Diseases''. He probably flourished ...
,
Oribasius
Oribasius or Oreibasius ( el, Ὀρειβάσιος; c. 320 – 403) was a Greek medical writer and the personal physician of the Roman emperor Julian. He studied at Alexandria under physician Zeno of Cyprus before joining Julian's retinue. He ...
,
Athenaeus
Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...
(in the ''
Deipnosophistae
The ''Deipnosophistae'' is an early 3rd-century AD Greek work ( grc, Δειπνοσοφισταί, ''Deipnosophistaí'', lit. "The Dinner Sophists/Philosophers/Experts") by the Greek author Athenaeus of Naucratis. It is a long work of liter ...
''), and other ancient writers. He was the inventor of the
Spoon of Diocles, a surgical instrument for the extraction of weapons or missiles such as barbed arrowheads that were embedded into the body ( el, κυαθίσκος τοῦ Διοκλέους).
Diocles insisted that health requires an understanding of the nature of the universe and its relationship to man. Diocles emphasised that nerves are the channels of sensations and that interference with them is directly involved in the pathology of disease. There is a letter in his name addressed to king Antigonus, entitled ''A Letter on Preserving Health'' ( el, Ἐπιστολὴ Προφυλακτική), which is inserted by
Paul of Aegina
Paul of Aegina or Paulus Aegineta ( el, Παῦλος Αἰγινήτης; Aegina, ) was a 7th-century Byzantine Greek physician best known for writing the medical encyclopedia ''Medical Compendium in Seven Books.'' He is considered the “Father ...
at the end of the first book of his own medical compendium, and which, if genuine, was probably addressed to
Antigonus II Gonatas, king of
Macedon
Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by ...
, who died in 239 BC, at the age of eighty, after a reign of forty-four years.
[Paul of Aegina, ''Medical Compendium in Seven Books'', i] It resembles in its subject matter several other similar letters ascribed to Hippocrates, and treats of the diet fitted for the different seasons of the year.
It used to be said that Diocles was the first to explain the difference between the
vein
Veins are blood vessels in humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated b ...
s and
arteries
An artery (plural arteries) () is a blood vessel in humans and most animals that takes blood away from the heart to one or more parts of the body (tissues, lungs, brain etc.). Most arteries carry oxygenated blood; the two exceptions are the pu ...
, but this does not seem to be correct, nor is any great discovery connected with his name. His fragments have been recently collected and translated in English by Philip van der Eijk, with a commentary in a separate volume.
Notes
References
*
Smith, William (editor). ''
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 p ...
''
"Diocles Carystius" Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, (1867).
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Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Diocles Of Carystus
Ancient Euboeans
Ancient Greek science writers
4th-century BC Greek physicians
People from Karystos