RA

M E T RO D O

DSB 9.337340, G.J. Toomer; B. Goldstein and A.C. Bowen, Meton of Athens and Astronomy in the
Late Fifth Century B.C., in Leichty et al. (1988) 4081; R. Hannah, Euctemons Parape gma, in
C.J. Tuplin and T.E. Rihll, Science and Mathematics in Ancient Greek Culture (2002) 76132.

Henry Mendell
Metrodo ra (50 400 CE?)
Preserved in a single MS (Florence, Biblioteca Laurenziana, Pluteus 75.3, 4V19R). Dating is
dicult, since Me trodo ra mentions no names, apart from a cosmetic used by Berenike
called Kleopatra (a confused reference, possibly an interpolation). Use of the vaginal
speculum argues for a date beginning ca 1st c. CE, and the text cites neither S nor
encyclopedias, and displays no Galenism, which places it probably before the fth.
The title, From the Works of Metrodo ra, indicates a selection from a corpus of at least two
books. The preserved text, entitled Concerning the Feminine Diseases of the Womb,
contains 63 chapters in seven well-organized sections. 1: Introduction; 219: General conditions of the womb (inammation, suppuration, hardness, cancer, discharges, hemorrhages, prolapses, coldness, and ination); 2025: Diseases caused by excessive moisture
(dropsy, cleansing of ulcers, recipes to restore the appearance of virginity); 2628: Conception and contraception (fertility, female and male children, cures for sterility, three
recipes for contraception); 2932: Childbirth; 3339: Sexual recipes (tests for virginity,
aphrodisiacs), 4055: Diseases of the breasts; 5663: Cosmetics and general preparations.
(Four sets of mainly pharmaceutical extracts following in the MS are probably not Me trodo ras). The earlier chapters are fuller and the text may have been abbreviated at some
point. There is no mention of obstetrics; the work was not conned to midwifery, but
focuses on pathology.
Me trodo ra is an interesting gure in the history of medicine for reasons independent of
gender. More than an anthologist like O or an encyclopedist like A
A, she does not depend on the growing secondary literature of the handbooks but
reaches directly back to H , quoting, paraphrasing, synthesizing, and gathering
symptoms missed by others.
Me trodo ra takes sides in several medical controversies over symptomatology and etiology
(e.g., inammation of the womb). She formulates an individual classication of various
vaginal discharges, a hotly debated topic. She makes several seemingly original contributions to theory and etiology (e.g., linking certain vaginal discharges to irritation of the
adjoining rectum produced by intestinal worms). Some of her compounds became part of
the ancient medical common stock, but the vast majority appear only in her work. In
clinical practice Me trodo ra employs both digital examination and the vaginal speculum,
providing a unique and detailed description of pathology based on its use. These are indications of individual scholarship of a high level, backed by experience.
A Latin translation was made in late antiquity ( probably 5th/6th c.), and portions of
the material circulated under the names of K, T P, and in
other early medieval sources, notably the Liber de causis feminarum (ed. Egert 1936). Through
these the material passed to Caspar Wolfs Harmonia Gynaeciorum (1566), the rst Renaissance
encyclopedia of gynecology.
Ed.: A.P. Kousis [Kuzes], Metrodoras work On the feminine diseases of the womb according to the
Greek codex 75, 3 of the Laurentian Library, Praktika tes Akademias Atheno n (1945 [1949]) 20, 4668:
editio princeps and unreliable; G. Del Guerra, Il Libro di Metrodora (1953), repr. with Italian trans.:

552

 RO S ( P H A R M . )
M E T RO D O

Metrodora: Medicina e cosmei ad uso delle donne (1994): unreliable; Holt N. Parker, Metrodora: The Gynecology
= SAM (forthcoming).

Holt N. Parker
Metrodo ros (Astr. I) (ca 150 50 BCE?)
Ps Phaseis records that Me trodo ros observed in Italy and Sicily ( p. 67 H.), and
cites him, with other parapegmatists from D to H and
Caesar (S I) for over a dozen weather-signs: Phao phi 5: rain ( p. 18), Athur
13: tempest and thunderstorm ( p. 22), Mekhir 15: start of spring ( p. 38), Mechir 30:
the swallow appears ( p. 39), Pakho n 17: start of summer ( p. 50), Epiphi 27: start of fall
( p. 60), etc. I L, Mens. cites him ad March 15, September 17, and October
27.
Rehm (1941) 82, n.2; BNP 8 (2006) 838 (#7), W. Hbner.

PTK
Metrodo ros (Astr. II) (ca 10 300 CE?)
Seruius, ad Georg. 1.229 (3.1.185 Th.-H.), cites Me trodo ros work on the zones, which also
defended Vs astronomy, and Probus ad Georg. 2.224 (3.2.371 Th.-H.) cites him for
the geographical tidbit that the River Clanius near Mount Vesuvius is named for a giant.
Goulet identies with M (A. I).
RE S.7 (1940) 449 (#24a), W. Kroll; DPA 4 (2005) 504, R. Goulet.

PTK
Metrodo ros (Arch.) (20 BCE 77 CE)
Listed among the non-Roman authorities on painting, pigments, and drugs derived therefrom consulted by P (1.ind.35). He wrote On the Science of Architecture (de Architectonice),
but is omitted from V 7.pr, perhaps providing a terminus post.
RE 15.2 (1932) 1483 (#29), W. Kroll.

GLIM
Metrodo ros (Pharm.) (100 BCE 60/75 CE)
Wrote Epitome of Rootcutting, recommending peplis (a Euphorbia sp.) after delivery, to ease
expulsion of the khorion (P 20.214). Illustrations accompanied exegeses of botanical
properties, as for D ( M ) and K (25.8). He was presumably the
doctor listed after T and before S (1.ind.2027). Our pharmacist, perhaps
identiable with the Hippokratic commentator cited by E under Epidemics 5.26,
caul ( fr.19, p. 105 Nachm.), may also be the homonymous Asklepiadean pharmacist
cited by G , Simples 1.29, 35 (11.432, 442 K.).
RE 15.2 (1932) 1483 (#27), W. Kroll.

GLIM

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