Oribasius orOreibasius (Greek:Ὀρειβάσιος or Ὀριβάσιος; c. 320 – 403) was aGreek medical writer and thepersonal physician of the Roman emperorJulian. He studied atAlexandria under physicianZeno of Cyprus before joining Julian's retinue. He was involved in Julian's coronation in 361, and remained with the emperor until Julian's death in 363. In the wake of this event, Oribasius was banished to foreign courts for a time, but was later recalled by the emperorValens.
Oribasius's major works, written at the behest of Julian, are two collections of excerpts from the writings of earlier medical scholars, a collection of excerpts fromGalen and theMedical Collections (Ἰατρικαὶ Συναγωγαί,Iatrikai Synagogai;Latin:Collectiones medicae), a massive compilation of excerpts from other medical writers of the ancient world. The first of these works is entirely lost, and only 25 of the 70 (or 72) books of theCollectiones survive. This work preserves a number of excerpts from older writers whose writings have otherwise been lost, and has thus been valuable to modern scholars. The earliest known description of astring figure, presented as the surgical slingPlinthios Brokhos by Greek physicianHeraklas, is among the preserved material.[1][2]
Hagiography has it that in 362, on behalf of his emperor Julian, Oribasius visited theDelphicoracle, now in a rather desolate state, offering his emperor's services to the temple and, in return, receiving one of the last prophecies by the DelphicPythia:
Εἴπατε τῷ βασιλεῖ, χαμαὶ πέσε δαίδαλος αὐλά,
οὐκέτι Φοῖβος ἔχει καλύβην, οὐ μάντιδα δάφνην,
οὐ παγὰν λαλέουσαν, ἀπέσβετο καὶ λάλον ὕδωρ.
Tell the king, the splendid hall fell to the ground.
Phoebus no longer has his house, nor the prophesying laurel,
nor the speaking well. The speaking water has dried out.
—Passio Artemii 96.1284.45–7,Cedrenus 1.532.8–10
