Artemidorus Cornelius () was a Greek physician of

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

who was born at

Perga Perga or Perge ( Hittite: ''Parha'', ''Perge'', ) was originally an ancient Lycian settlement that later became a Greek city in Pamphylia. It was the capital of the Roman province of Pamphylia Secunda, now located in Antalya Province on the ...

Pamphylia Pamphylia (; , ''Pamphylía'' ) was a region in the south of Anatolia, Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the ...

, or, according to some editions of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, at

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; ), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greece, ancient Greek city in Aeolis. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north s ...

Mysia Mysia (UK , US or ; ; ; ) was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor (Anatolia, Asian part of modern Turkey). It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on the east, Phrygia on the southeast, Lyd ...

. He is known primarily as the agent and personal physician of the notorious

Roman magistrate The Roman magistrates () were elected officials in ancient Rome. During the period of the Roman Kingdom, the King of Rome was the principal executive magistrate.Abbott, 8 His power, in practice, was absolute. He was the chief priest, lawgive ...

Gaius Verres Gaius Verres ( 114 – 43 BC) was a Roman magistrate, notorious for his misgovernment of Sicily. His extortion of local farmers and plundering of temples led to his prosecution by Cicero, whose accusations were so devastating that his defence advo ...

. One of the crimes alleged against Verres was his serial plundering of valuable artworks from religious sanctuaries, and Artemidorus assisted in Verres's robbery of the temple of

Diana Diana most commonly refers to: * Diana (name), given name (including a list of people with the name) * Diana (mythology), ancient Roman goddess of the hunt and wild animals; later associated with the Moon * Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997), ...

at Perga, when the latter was ''

legatus A legate (Latin: , ) was a high-ranking Roman military officer in the Roman army, equivalent to a high-ranking general officer of modern times. Initially used to delegate power, the term became formalised under Augustus as the officer in comman ...

'' to

Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella was a consul of the Roman Republic in 81 BC, with Marcus Tullius Decula, during the dictatorship of Sulla. Biography Possibly a military tribune in 89 BC, Dolabella soon was attached to the staff of Sulla as a legate, ...

Cilicia Cilicia () is a geographical region in southern Anatolia, extending inland from the northeastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Cilicia has a population ranging over six million, concentrated mostly at the Cilician plain (). The region inclu ...

in 79 BCE. Afterwards Artemidorus attended Verres in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

during his

praetor ''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to disch ...

ship in 72-69 BCE, where, among other acts, he was one of the judges (''recuperatores'') in the case of Nympho, a farmer whom Verres prosecuted for failure to pay a tax of wheat, a case considered by some to have been a miscarriage of justice and gross abuse of power.

, ''

In Verrem "''In Verrem''" ("Against Verres") is a series of speeches made by Cicero in 70 BC, during the corruption and extortion trial of Gaius Verres, the former governor of Sicily. The speeches, which were concurrent with Cicero's election to the aedil ...

'' 1.20, 3.21 His original name appears to have been "Artemidorus" (with no further

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

). Cicero seems to imply that he and other partisans of Verres (such as Tlepolemus Cornelius) did not previously have the name "Cornelius", but later suddenly assumed it together. It is believed he was at first a

slave Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

, and afterwards, on being freed by his master -- perhaps the same Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella whom Verres had served -- took the name of "Cornelius", similar to how the 10,000 manumitted slaves of

Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (, ; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman of the late Roman Republic. A great commander and ruthless politician, Sulla used violence to advance his career and his co ...

were also given their former master's name. Most of what we know of him comes from Cicero's oration against what he saw as the abuses and misgovernment of Verres, ''

'', though Cicero uses three different names: "Cornelius medicus", "Artemidorus Pergaeus", and "Artemidorus Cornelius".

, ''

'' 100.49 Most scholars agree these all refer to the same person, though very rarely they have been treated as separate, as in the ''Index Historicus'' of

Johann August Ernesti Johann August Ernesti (; ; 4 August 1707 – 11 September 1781) was a German Rationalist Lutheran theologian and philology, philologist. Ernesti was the first who formally separated the hermeneutics of the Old Testament from those of the New Test ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Artemidorus 1st-century BC Roman physicians 1st-century BC Greek physicians Cornelii