Abascantus () was a physician of
Lugdunum
Lugdunum (also spelled Lugudunum, ; modern Lyon, France) was an important Colonia (Roman), Roman city in Gaul, established on the current site of Lyon, France, Lyon.
The Roman city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, but cont ...
, who probably lived in the 2nd century AD. He is mentioned several times by
Galen
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (; September 129 – AD), often Anglicization, anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Ancient Rome, Roman and Greeks, Greek physician, surgeon, and Philosophy, philosopher. Considered to be one o ...
, who has also preserved an antidote invented by him against the bite of serpents. The name appears in numerous Latin inscriptions in Gruter's collection, five of which refer to a
freedman
A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...
of
Augustus
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...
, who is supposed by some scholars to be the same person that is mentioned by Galen.
[ This identification is uncertain, as also whether Parakletios Abaskanthos (Παρακλήτιος Ἀβάσκανθος) in Galen][''De Compos. Medicam. secund. Locos'', vii. 3. vol. xiii. p. 71] refers to the subject of this article.
References
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2nd-century Greek physicians
People from Lugdunum
2nd-century Gallo-Roman people
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