Aristophilus

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Aristophilus (Ancient Greek: Ἀριστόφιλος) was an ancient Greek pharmakopōlēs, an ancient occupation that today would probably be translated as "druggist", "remedy seller", or "apothecary".[1]

He was from Plataea in Boeotia, and lived probably around the fourth century BCE. He is mentioned by Theophrastus as possessing the knowledge of certain anaphrodisiac medicines, which he made use of either for the punishment or reformation of his slaves.[2][3][4]

Scholar Suzanne Amigues suggested that this Aristophilus was the same person as the pharmakopōlēs named "Aristobulus" described by Aeschines in his Against Ctesiphon, father of the youth Aristion of Plataea who lived for a time in the house of the statesman Demosthenes.[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Scarborough, John (1996). "Drugs and Medicines in the Roman World". Expedition Magazine. Vol. 38, no. 2. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. pp. 38–50. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  2. ^ Theophrastus, Historia Plantarum 9.18.4
  3. ^ Scarborough, John (2013). "Adaptation of Folk Medicines in the Formal "Materia Medica" of Classical Antiquity". Pharmacy in History. 55 (2/3). University of Wisconsin Press: 55–63. JSTOR 24631899. PMID 25654901. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  4. ^ Hardy, Gavin; Totelin, Laurence (2015). "Acquiring knowledge of plants in the ancient world". Ancient Botany. Taylor & Francis. p. 44. ISBN 9781134386796. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  5. ^ Totelin, Laurence M.V. (2016). "Pharmakopōlai: A Re-Evaluation of the Sources". In Harris, William V. (ed.). Popular Medicine in Graeco-Roman Antiquity: Explorations. Brill Publishers. p. 73. ISBN 9789004326040. Retrieved 2023-04-12.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainGreenhill, William Alexander (1870). "Aristophilus". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 312.