Andromachus (physician)
Encyclopedia
Andromachus was the name of two Greek physicians, father and son, who lived in the time of Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....

.
  • Andromachus the Elder, was born in Crete
    Crete
    Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

    , and was physician to Nero
    Nero
    Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....

    , 54-68 AD. He is principally celebrated for having been the first person on whom the title of "Archiater
    Archiater
    An archiater was a chief physician of a monarch, who typically retained several. At the Roman imperial court, their chief held the high rank and specific title of Comes archiatrorum.The term has also been used of chief physicians in communities...

    " is known to have been conferred, and also for having been the inventor of a very famous compound medicine and antidote, which was called after his name Theriaca Andromachi
    Theriac
    Theriac or theriaca was a medical concoction originally formulated by the Greeks in the 1st century AD and became popular throughout the ancient world as far away as China and India via the trading links of the Silk Route...

    , which long enjoyed a great reputation. Andromachus has left us the directions for making this strange mixture in a 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...

     elegiac
    Elegiac
    Elegiac refers either to those compositions that are like elegies or to a specific poetic meter used in Classical elegies. The Classical elegiac meter has two lines, making it a couplet: a line of dactylic hexameter, followed by a line of dactylic pentameter...

     poem, consisting of 174 lines, and dedicated to Nero. Galen
    Galen
    Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamon , was a prominent Roman physician, surgeon and philosopher...

     has inserted it in two of his works, and says that Andromachus chose this form as being more easily remembered than prose, and less likely to be altered. Some persons suppose him to be the author of a work on pharmacy
    Pharmacy
    Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...

    , but this is generally attributed to his son, Andromachus the Younger.

  • Andromachus the Younger, the son of Andromachus the Elder, may also have been an imperial physician. Nothing is known of the events of his life, but he is generally supposed to have been the author of a work on pharmacy
    Pharmacy
    Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...

    in three books, which is quoted very frequently and with approbation by Galen, but of which only a few fragments remain.

Sources

  • Vivian Nutton, (2004), Ancient Medicine, pages 177-8. Routledge
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