Scribonius Largus Designatianus | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1 |
| Died | c. 50 (aged c. 49) |
| Occupation | Court physician toClaudius |
| Known for | Author ofCompositiones |
| Notable work | Compositiones |
Scribonius Largus Designatianus (c. 1 –c. 50) was the court physician to the Roman emperorClaudius.
Around 47 AD, at the request ofGaius Julius Callistus, the emperor's freedman, he drew up a list of 271 prescriptions (Compositiones), most of them his own, although he acknowledged his indebtedness to his tutors, to friends, and to the writings of eminent physicians.[1] Certain traditional remedies are also included. The work has no pretensions to style, and contains many colloquialisms,[2] and has been cited byPeter Suber as a forerunner ofOpen Access.[3] The greater part of it was transferred without acknowledgment to the work ofMarcellus Empiricus (c. 410),De Medicamentis Empiricis, Physicis, et Rationabilibus, which is of great value for the correction of the text of Largus.[4]
See the edition of theCompositiones by S. Sconocchia (Teubner 1983), which replaced the well-outdated edition[5] of G. Helmreich (Teubner 1887).
Compositiones makes the earliest known allusion to theHippocratic oath.[6]
Largus is credited with an early descriptionperipheral nerve stimulation in the form of shocks from electric fish to provide relief from gout and headaches.[7]
Largus was among the first Romans who wrote detailed instructions on opium (dried poppy juice) and its prescription for cold, dental pain, injuries, wounds, earaches, and colic, and described treatment for opium poisoning.[8][9][10][11]
There is an obscure Latin inscription that mentions a "Lucius Scribonius Asclepiades" that Rhodius believed to indicate this Scribonius, but most scholars consider this very doubtful.[12][13]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Largus, Scribonius".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 216.
