Stephanus of Athens ( Greek: Στέφανος ό Άθηναίος; lived ), also called Stephanus the Philosopher, was a

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic; Greek: ) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the F ...

physician and writer. A

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

native of

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, he studied at

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

under a certain Asclepius, possibly

Asclepius of Tralles Asclepius of Tralles (; died c. 560–570) was a student of Ammonius Hermiae. Two works of his survive: *Commentary on Aristotle's ''Metaphysics'', books I-VII (''In Aristotelis metaphysicorum libros Α - Ζ (1 - 7) commentaria'', ed. Michae ...

. He later practised and taught medicine there.. Stephanus wrote at least five works in

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 ...

, four of which survive. These are commentaries on the ''Aphorisms'' and ''Prognostics'' of

Hippocrates Hippocrates of Kos (; ; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician and philosopher of the Classical Greece, classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is traditionally referr ...

; a commentary on the first book of the ''Therapeutics to Glaucon'' of

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 ...

; and ''Peri ouron'', a treatise on

uroscopy Uroscopy is the historical medical practice of visually examining a patient's urine to diagnose diseases or medical conditions. It is an ancient technique that involves the analyzing the color, odor, and sometimes composition of urine. It was wide ...

. The work ''On Pulses'' is lost. An alphabetized epitome of the ''De materia medica'' of

Dioscorides Pedanius Dioscorides (, ; 40–90 AD), "the father of pharmacognosy", was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of (in the original , , both meaning "On Materia medica, Medical Material") , a 5-volume Greek encyclopedic phar ...

has also been attributed to Stephanus and a redaction of a commentary by Palladius on the ''Fractures'' of Hippocrates attributed to Stephanus of Alexandria may in fact be the work of Stephanus of Athens. It has even been suggested that the two Stephani are in fact a single individual.. Stephanus' commentaries are structured as a series of lectures (''praxeis'') and discussions (''theoriai'') in the fashion of the school of Ammonius of Alexandria, the teacher of Asclepius of Tralles. He demonstrates familiarity with

Greek philosophy Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC. Philosophy was used to make sense of the world using reason. It dealt with a wide variety of subjects, including astronomy, epistemology, mathematics, political philosophy, ethics, metaphysic ...

and had probably studied it alongside medicine.

References

{{Authority control Byzantine Athenians 6th-century Byzantine physicians 7th-century Byzantine physicians Writers from Athens