Crateuas (111–64 ), also known as Cratevas (
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
), Krateuas, or Kratevas (), was a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
doctor
Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to:
Titles and occupations
* Physician, a medical practitioner
* Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree
** Doctorate
** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...
and
pharmacologist
Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between ...
. He was distinguished from
others of the same name by the
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 ...
"Rootpicker" or "Rhizotomist" (, ''ho rhizotómos'') after the Greek name of his principle work, the ''Herbology''.
Life
Little is known of Crateuas's life. Although he is often closely linked with
Mithridates VI
Mithridates or Mithradates VI Eupator (; 135–63 BC) was the ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120 to 63 BC, and one of the Roman Republic's most formidable and determined opponents. He was an effective, ambitious, and r ...
of
Pontus
Pontus or Pontos may refer to:
* Short Latin name for the Pontus Euxinus, the Greek name for the Black Sea (aka the Euxine sea)
* Pontus (mythology), a sea god in Greek mythology
* Pontus (region), on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in modern ...
in various histories, surviving sources from antiquity only attest that they were in correspondence with one another and that Crateuas credited the Pontic king with the discovery of a plant named ''mithridation'' in his honour. The exact plant described remains unknown, although some scholars have connected it to ''
Dorstenia tambourissa'' or ''
Erythronium denscanis''.
Works
Crateuas is known to have written a scholarly three-volume
herbal
A herbal is a book containing the names and descriptions of plants, usually with information on their medicinal, Herbal tonic, tonic, culinary, toxic, hallucinatory, aromatic, or Magic (paranormal), magical powers, and the legends associated wi ...
in Greek known as the ''Rhizotomica'' (, ''Rhizotomoúmena''). In it, he described the medicinal properties of various plants known to the Greeks. He also produced a simplified work on the same subject for general readers, with the plants
alphabetized and illustrated in colour.
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...
credits Crateuas with Dionysius and Metrodorus as the first to provide such illustrations with their descriptions of various plants, although he complains that the images he knew of were frequently misleading. Only two direct fragments of these works are known to have survived into the present day.
Luigi Anguillara
Luigi Anguillara, actually Luigi Squalermo, (born c. 1512 in Anguillara Sabazia, died September 1570 in Ferrara) was an Italian botanist.
Life
Little is known about Anguillara's early life. From 1539, he is attested at the private botanical gar ...
claimed to have consulted a complete illustrated manuscript of Crateuas's guide in
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
for his 1561 ''Semplici'', although Max Wellmann subsequently established that Anguillara's source must have been a Latin version of Dioscurides's ''De Materia Medica''.
The ''Rhizotomica'' was well regarded in its time, however, and was one of the main sources for Dioscurides's work, which was the primary herbology for Europe during the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
. The early 6th century "
Vienna Dioscurides" produced for
Anicia Juliana
Anicia Juliana (Greek: Ανικία Ίουλιανή, Constantinople, after 461 – 527/528) was a Late Antique Roman imperial princess, wife of the ''magister militum'' of the eastern Roman empire, Areobindus Dagalaiphus Areobindus, patron of ...
in
Constantinople
Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
includes numerous images captioned with short texts beginning with the name Crateuas. Wellmann and
Singer
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...
believed these were based on now-lost manuscripts of Crateuas dating to the 2nd or 3rd century, although others have argued that it may only be the text which derives from Crateuas's work.
Legacy
Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
named a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
Capparaceae
The Capparaceae (or Capparidaceae), commonly known as the caper family, are a family of plants in the order Brassicales. As currently circumscribed, the family contains 15 genera and about 430 species. The largest genera are ''Capparis'' (about 1 ...
caper
''Capparis spinosa'', the caper bush, also called Flinders rose, is a perennial plant that bears rounded, fleshy leaves and large white to pinkish-white flowers.
The taxonomic status of the species is controversial and unsettled. Species with ...
s ''
Crateva'' in memory of Crateuas.
References
Citations
Bibliography
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* . (Latin)
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External links
The 'Vienna Dioscurides'
{{Authority control
1st-century BC Greek physicians
Ancient Greek pharmacologists
2nd-century BC births
1st-century BC deaths