Stephanus of Athens (lived ), also called Stephanus the Philosopher, was a

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman co ...

physician and writer. A

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

native of

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 ...

, he studied at

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

under a certain Asclepius, possibly

Asclepius of Tralles Asclepius of Tralles ( el, ; died c. 560–570) was a student of Ammonius Hermiae. Two works of his survive: *Commentary on Aristotle's ''Metaphysics'', books I-VII (''In Aristotelis metaphysicorum libros Α - Ζ (1 - 7) commentaria'', ed. Mi ...

. He later practised and taught medicine there.. Stephanus wrote at least five works in

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 ...

, four of which survive. These are commentaries on the ''Aphorisms'' and ''Prognostics'' 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 ...

; a commentary on the first book of the ''Therapeutics to Glaucon'' of

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 ...

; and ''Peri ouron'', a treatise on

uroscopy Uroscopy is the historical medical practice of visually examining a patient's urine for pus, blood, or other symptoms of disease. The first records of uroscopy as a method for determining symptoms of an illness date back to the 4th millennium BC, ...

. The work ''On Pulses'' is lost. An alphabetized epitome of the ''De materia medica'' of

Dioscorides Pedanius Dioscorides ( grc-gre, Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης, ; 40–90 AD), “the father of pharmacognosy”, was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of ''De materia medica'' (, On Medical Material) —a 5-vol ...

has also been attributed to Stephanus and a redaction of a commentary by Palladius on the ''Fractures'' of Hippocrates attributed to Stephanus of Alexandria may in fact be the work of Stephanus of Athens. It has even been suggested that the two Stephani are in fact a single individual.. Stephanus' commentaries are structured as a series of lectures (''praxeis'') and discussions (''theoriai'') in the fashion of the school of Ammonius of Alexandria, the teacher of Asclepius of Tralles. He demonstrates familiarity with

Greek philosophy Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empir ...

and had probably studied it alongside medicine.

References

{{Authority control Byzantine Athenians 6th-century Byzantine physicians 7th-century Byzantine physicians Writers from Athens