Oribasius
, Greek medical writer, c. 320–c. 400 CE
Oribasius
, Greek medical writer, c. 320–c. 400 CE
- Robert Browning
- and V. Nutton
Extract
Born in Pergamum, he studied medicine at *Alexandria(1) under *Zeno(2) of Cyprus, and practised in Asia Minor. He became the personal physician of *Julian, who took him to Gaul (355). Closely involved in the proclamation of Julian as Emperor (361), Oribasius accompanied him until his death in *Mesopotamia (363). Banished for a time to foreign courts, Oribasius was soon recalled by the Emperor *Valens and continued to practise his profession until an advanced age. His principal works are a collection of excerpts from *Galen—now lost—and the Collectiones medicae (Ἰατρικαὶ συναγωγαί), a vast compilation of excerpts from earlier medical writers, from *Alcmaeon (2) of Croton (c.500 bce) to Oribasius' contemporaries Philagrius and Adamantius. Both of these works were written at the behest of Julian. Of the 70 (or 72) books of the Collectiones only 25 survive entire; but the rest can be in part reconstructed from the Synopsis ad Eustathium, and the treatise Ad Eunapium, epitomes of the Collectiones in 9 books and 4 books respectively made by Oribasius himself, and from various excerpts and summaries, some of which are still unpublished.Subjects
- Science, Technology, and Medicine