Nicander of Colophon (; fl. 2nd century BC) 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 ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

, and grammarian. The scattered biographical details in the ancient sources are so contradictory that it was sometimes assumed that there were two Hellenistic authors with the same name. He may have been born at Claros (Ahmetbeyli in modern Turkey), near Colophon, where his family is said to have held the hereditary priesthood of

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

. The chronological indications range from the middle of the 3rd century BC until the late 2nd century BC. He wrote a number of works both in prose and verse, of which two survive complete. The longest, '' Theriaca'', is a

hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek as well as in Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of s ...

poem (958 lines) on the nature of venomous animals and the wounds which they inflict. The other, '' Alexipharmaca'', consists of 630 hexameters treating of

poison A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...

s and their

antidote An antidote is a substance that can counteract a form of poisoning. The term ultimately derives from the Greek term φάρμακον ἀντίδοτον ''(pharmakon antidoton)'', "(medicine) given as a remedy". An older term in English which is ...

s. Nicander's main source for medical information was the physician Apollodorus of Egypt. Among his lost works, '' Heteroeumena'' was a mythological epic, used by

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

in the ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...

'' and epitomized by

Antoninus Liberalis Antoninus Liberalis () was an Ancient Greek grammarian who probably flourished between the second and third centuries AD. He is known as the author of ''The Metamorphoses'', a collection of tales that offers new variants of already familiar myths ...

; '' Georgica'', of which considerable fragments survive, was perhaps imitated by

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

. The works of Nicander were praised by

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 ...

(''De oratore'', i. 16), imitated by

and

Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November AD 39 – 30 April AD 65), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba, Hispania Baetica (present-day Córdoba, Spain). He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imper ...

, and frequently quoted by Pliny and other writers (e.g.,

Tertullian Tertullian (; ; 155 – 220 AD) was a prolific Early Christianity, early Christian author from Roman Carthage, Carthage in the Africa (Roman province), Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive co ...

in ''De Scorpiace'', I, 1).

List of works

Surviving poems

* '' Theriaca'' (Of Venomous Animals) * '' Alexipharmaca'' * ''Epigrams''

Lost poems

* ''Cimmerii'' * ''Europia'' * '' Georgica'' ("Farming") * '' Heteroeumena'' ("Metamorphoses") * ''Hyacinthus'' * ''Hymnus ad Attalum'' ("Hymn to Attalus") * '' Melissourgica'' ("Beekeeping") * ''Oetaica'' * ''Ophiaca'' * ''Sicelia'' * ''Thebaica''

Lost prose works

* ''Aetolica'' ("History of

Aetolia Aetolia () is a mountainous region of Greece on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, forming the eastern part of the modern regional unit of Aetolia-Acarnania. Geography The Achelous River separates Aetolia from Acarnania to the west; on ...

") * ''Colophoniaca'' ("History of Colophon") * ''De Poetis Colophoniis'' ("On poets from Colophon") * ''Glossae'' ("Difficult words")

Notes

References

Bibliography

* ''Nicander'' ed. and tr. A. S. F. Gow, A. F. Scholfield. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953. * Earlier editions by JG Schneider (1792, 1816); O. Schneider (1856) (with the ''Scholia''). * The ''Scholia'' (from the Göttingen manuscript) were edited by * * H. Klauser, "De Dicendi Genere Nicandri" (''Dissertationes Philologicae Vindobonenses'', vi. 1898). * * W. Vollgraff, ''Nikander und Ovid'' (Groningen, 1909 ff.).

External links

An ancient Life of Nicander, from the scholia

''Theriaca et Alexipharmaca''
recensuit et emendavit, fragmenta collegit, commentationes addidit Otto Schneider. Accedunt scholia in Theriaca ex recensione Henrici Keil., scholia in Alexipharmaca ex recognitione Bussemakeri et R. Bentlei emedationes, Lipsiae sumptibus et typis B. G. Teubneri, 1856. *''Poetae bucolici et didactici. Theocritus, Bion, Moschus, Nicander, Oppianus, Marcellus de piscibus, poeta de herbis'', C. Fr. Ameis, F. S. Lehrs (ed.), Parisiis, editore Ambrosio Firmin Didot, 1862
pp. 127-163
* English translations o

an

:Scholia * {{Authority control 2nd-century BC Greek physicians 2nd-century BC Greek poets 2nd-century BC Greek historians Ancient Greek epic poets Ancient Colophonians Ancient Greek grammarians Ancient Greek priests Historians from Hellenistic Anatolia Epigrammatists of the Greek Anthology Kingdom of Pergamon Ancient Greek didactic poets