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

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 ...

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 wri ...

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 Claros (; el, Κλάρος, ''Klaros''; la, Clarus) was an ancient Greek sanctuary on the coast of Ionia. It contained a temple and oracle of Apollo, honored here as Apollo Clarius. It was located in the territory of Colophon, which lay twelv ...

(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 Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek and Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of syllables). It w ...

poem (958 lines) on the nature of venomous animals and the wounds which they inflict. The other, '' Alexipharmaca'', consists of 630 hexameters treating of poisons and their

antidote An antidote is a substance that can counteract a form of poisoning. The term ultimately derives from the Greek term φάρμακον ἀντίδοτον ''(pharmakon) antidoton'', "(medicine) given as a remedy". Antidotes for anticoagulants are s ...

s. 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 Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

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; '' 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, and frequently quoted by

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 ...

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 Aetolia ...

") * ''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, 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