Nicander of Colophon ( grc-gre, Νίκανδρος ὁ Κολοφώνιος, Níkandros ho Kolophṓnios; fl. 2nd century BC), Greek

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and grammarian, was born at Claros (Ahmetbeyli in modern Turkey), near Colophon, where his family held the hereditary priesthood of

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

. He flourished under Attalus III of Pergamum. He wrote a number of works both in prose and verse, of which two survive complete. The longest, '' Theriaca'', is a hexameter poem (958 lines) on the nature of venomous animals and the wounds which they inflict. The other, '' Alexipharmaca'', consists of 630 hexameters treating of

poison Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

s and their antidotes. Nicander's main source for medical information was the physician Apollodorus of Egypt. Among his lost works, '' Heteroeumena'' was a mythological epic, used by

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...

in the ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his '' magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

'' and epitomized by

Antoninus Liberalis Antoninus Liberalis ( el, Ἀντωνῖνος Λιβεράλις) was an Ancient Greek grammarian who probably flourished between AD 100 and 300. His only surviving work is the ''Metamorphoses'' (Μεταμορφώσεων Συναγωγή, '' ...

; '' Georgica'', of which considerable fragments survive, was perhaps imitated by

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

. The works of Nicander were praised by

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

(''De oratore,'' i. 16), imitated by

and

Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November 39 AD – 30 April 65 AD), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba (modern-day Córdoba), in Hispania Baetica. He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial ...

, and frequently quoted by Pliny and other writers (''e.g.''

Tertullian Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...

in ''De Scorpiace'', I, 1).

List of works

Surviving poems

* '' Theriaca'' (Of Venomous Animals) * '' Alexipharmaca'' * ''Epigrams''

Lost poems

* ''Cimmerii'' * ''Europia'' * '' Georgica'' ("Farming") * '' Heteroeumena'' ("Metamorphoses") * ''Hyacinthus'' * ''Hymnus ad Attalum'' ("Hymn to Attalus") * '' Melissourgica'' ("Beekeeping") * ''Oetaica'' * ''Ophiaca'' * ''Sicelia'' * ''Thebaica''

Lost prose works

* ''Aetolica'' ("History of

Aetolia Aetolia ( el, Αἰτωλία, Aἰtōlía) is a mountainous region of Greece on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, forming the eastern part of the modern regional unit of Aetolia-Acarnania. Geography The Achelous River separates Aetoli ...

") * ''Colophoniaca'' ("History of Colophon") * ''De Poetis Colophoniis'' ("On poets from Colophon") * ''Glossae'' ("Difficult words")

Notes

References

Bibliography

* ''Nicander'' ed. and tr.

A. S. F. Gow Andrew Sydenham Farrar Gow (27 August 1886 – 2 February 1978) was an English classical scholar and teacher. Apart from eleven years as a master at Eton College between 1914 and 1925 his career was entirely at Trinity College, Cambridge. At ...

, A. F. Scholfield. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953. * Earlier editions by JG Schneider (1792, 1816); O. Schneider (1856) (with the ''Scholia''). * The ''Scholia'' (from the Göttingen manuscript) were edited by * H. Klauser, "De Dicendi Genere Nicandri" (''Dissertationes Philologicae Vindobonenses'', vi. 1898). * * W. Vollgraff, ''Nikander und Ovid'' (Groningen, 1909 ff.).

External links

An ancient Life of Nicander, from the scholia

''Theriaca et Alexipharmaca''
recensuit et emendavit, fragmenta collegit, commentationes addidit Otto Schneider. Accedunt scholia in Theriaca ex recensione Henrici Keil., scholia in Alexipharmaca ex recognitione Bussemakeri et R. Bentlei emedationes, Lipsiae sumptibus et typis B. G. Teubneri, 1856. *''Poetae bucolici et didactici. Theocritus, Bion, Moschus, Nicander, Oppianus, Marcellus de piscibus, poeta de herbis'', C. Fr. Ameis, F. S. Lehrs (ed.), Parisiis, editore Ambrosio Firmin Didot, 1862
pp. 127-163
* English translations o

an

:Scholia * {{Authority control 2nd-century BC Greek physicians 2nd-century BC poets 2nd-century BC historians Ancient Greek epic poets Ancient Colophonians Ancient Greek grammarians Ancient Greek priests Hellenistic-era historians Hellenistic poets Historians from Hellenistic Anatolia Epigrammatists of the Greek Anthology Kingdom of Pergamon