Androcydes (physician)
Encyclopedia
Androcydes was a Greek physician and writer at the time of Alexander the Great. According to Pliny
, he advised Alexander to moderate his drinking:
Elsewhere, Androcydes is supposed to have recommended cabbage to counteract the effects of wine. Some attempts have been made to identify this Androcydes with the Androcydes who wrote on Pythagoreanism
, as the advice regarding wine (bad) and cabbage (good) may reflect Pythagorean dietary discipline.
Androcydes, if the same authority is meant, may not have confined himself to writing on medical topics. He is cited by Athenaeus
for an etymology
of the Greek
word kolax, "flatterer," which is taken by one wry prosopographer
as evidence of his association with Alexander's court.
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
, he advised Alexander to moderate his drinking:
Elsewhere, Androcydes is supposed to have recommended cabbage to counteract the effects of wine. Some attempts have been made to identify this Androcydes with the Androcydes who wrote on Pythagoreanism
Androcydes (Pythagorean)
Androcydes was a Pythagorean whose work On Pythagorean Symbols survives only in scattered fragments. The dating of his life is uncertain; he lived before the 1st century BC but possibly as early as the 4th...
, as the advice regarding wine (bad) and cabbage (good) may reflect Pythagorean dietary discipline.
Androcydes, if the same authority is meant, may not have confined himself to writing on medical topics. He is cited by Athenaeus
Athenaeus
Athenaeus , of Naucratis in Egypt, Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourished about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century AD...
for an etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
of the Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
word kolax, "flatterer," which is taken by one wry prosopographer
Prosopography
In historical studies, prosopography is an investigation of the common characteristics of a historical group, whose individual biographies may be largely untraceable, by means of a collective study of their lives, in multiple career-line analysis...
as evidence of his association with Alexander's court.