Polyarchion (πολυάρχιον) in the medicine of Antiquity and Byzantium

Abstract

The present research is devoted to the history of a medicine used in the Ancient and Byzantine Mediterranean, known in the local medical tradition as polyarchion (πολυάρχιον). The aim of the research is to establish the origins of the medicine, demonstrate various prescriptions for polyarchion and they interconnections, retrieve the method the medicine was prepared, reconstruct its form, show its scope of action as well as the reasons for its application in individual therapeutic procedures. Moreover, on the basis of the available non-medical source materials, the authors try to determine the cost of the drug, which, in turn, allows them to hypothesize on the group of its users. The article uses a heuristic analysis of medical treatises composed in Antiquity and Byzantium, such as Gynaeciorum libri by Soran of Ephesus (1st–2nd c. AD), De compositione medicamentorum secundum locos and De compositione medicamentorum per genera by Galen of Pergamon (2nd–3rd c. AD), Collectiones medicae and Synopsis ad Eustathium filium by Orybasius (4th–5th c. AD), Libri medicinales by Aetius of Amida (6th c. AD), Therapeutica by Alexander of Tralles (6th c. AD), the collection of prescriptions entitled De mulierum morbis uteri, the authorship of which is attributed to Metrodora (after the 6th c. AD), Epitome by Paul of Aegina (7th c. AD) and Dynameron by Nicolaus Myrepsus (13th c. AD). Furthermore, the authors supplement their research with non-medical material, i.e. selected letters by John Chrysostom (4th–5th c. AD), the Patriarch of Constantinople, which testifies to the fact that he used polyarchion himself. Polyarchion was a medicine used in the Mediterranean area from the 1st century BC, and was in circulation as late as the 13th century AD. It was considered effective in the treatment of gastric problems. The researched medical texts show that the remedy was prepared in many ways and evolved by adding more ingredients to an initially simple formula. Regardless of the number of ingredients included in the prescriptions, there was a group of core components that determined the effectiveness of the drug. These were selected in accordance with the prevailing theory of materia medica. Due to its high price, the discussed drug was available only to the wealthy and privileged. Non-medical sources allow us to assume that polyarchion was produced in quantities tailored to individual patients' needs, and that it was available only in large urban centres such as Antioch or Constantinople.

Keywords

• history of medical literature
• history of pharmacy
• history of medicine
• polyarchion