Andromachus
(Ἀνδρόμαχος).
1. Commander of the Eleans in B. C. 364, was defeated by the Arcadians and killed himself in consequence. (Xen. Hell. 7.4.19.)
2. Ruler of Tauromenium in the middle of the fourth century B. C., and the father of the historian Timaeus, is said to have been by far the best of the rulers of Sicily at that time. He assisted Timoleon in his expedition against Dionysius, B. C. 344. (Diod. 16.7, 68; Plut. Tim. 10.) Respecting the statement of Diodorus that he founded Tauromenium, see Wesseling, ad Diod. 14.59.
3. The commander of the Cyprian fleet at the siege of Tyre by Alexander, B. C. 332. (Arrian, Arr. Anab. 2.20.) He may have been the same Andromachus who was shortly afterwards appointed governor of Coele-Syria, and was burnt to death by the Samaritans. (Curt. 4.5, 8.)
4. The father of Achaeus [see p. 8a], and the brother of Laodice, who married Seleucus Callinicus, was detained as a prisoner by Ptolemy at Alexandria, but was liberated about B. C. 320 on the intercession of the Rhodians. (Plb. 4.51, 8.22.)
5. Of Aspendus, one of Ptolemy Philopator's commanders at the battle of Raphia, in which Antiochus the Great was defeated, B. C. 217. After the battle Ptolemy left Andromachus in command of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia. (Polyb 5.64, 83, 85, 87.)
6. An ambassador of Ptolemy Philometor, sent to Rome B. C. 154. (Plb. 33.5.)
7. A Greek grammarian, quoted in the Scholia upon Homer (Hom. Il. 5.130), whom Corsini (Fast. Att. i. Diss. vi. p. 386), without sufficient reasons, supposed to be the author of the Etymologicum Magnum. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vi. p. 601.)
8. A Greek rhetorician, who taught at Nicomedeia in the reign of Domitian. (Eudoc. p. 58 ; Suid. s. v. Σιρίκος.)
(Ἀνδρόμαχος).
1. Commonly called " the Elder," to distinguish him from his son of the same name, was born in Crete, and was physician to Nero, A. D. 54-68. He is principally celebrated for having been the first person on whom the title of " Archiater" is known to have been conferred (Dict. of Ant. s. v. Archiater). Works Medicinal Formula in a Greek Elegiac poem
He is known for having been the inventor of a very famous compound medicine and antidote, which was called after his name " Theriaca Andromachi," which long enjoyed a great reputation, and which retains its place in some foreign Pharmacopoeias to the present day. (Dict. of Ant. s. v. Theriaca.) Andromachus has left us the directions for making this strange mixture in a Greek elegiac poem, consisting of one hundred and seventy-four lines, and dedicated to Nero. Galen has inserted it entire in two of his works (De Antid. 1.6, and De Ther. ad Pis. 100.6. vol. xiv. pp. 32-42), and says, that Andromachus chose this form for his receipt as being more easily remembered than prose, and less likely to be altered. Editions
The poem has been published in a separate form by Franc. Tidicaeus, Tiguri, 1607, 4to., with two Latin translations, one in prose and the other in verse; and again by J. S. Leinker, Norimb. 1754, fol. It is also inserted in the first volume of Ideler's Physici et Medici Graeci Minores, Berol. 8vo. 1841. Translations
There is a German translation in E. W. Weber's Elegische Dichter der Hellenen, Frankfort, 1826, 8vo. Work on Pharmacy attributed to him
Some persons suppose him to be the author of a work on pharmacy, but this is generally attributed to his son, Andromachus the Younger.
2. The Younger, so called to distinguish him from his father of the same name, was the son of the preceding, and is supposed to have been also physician to Nero, A. D. 54-68. Nothing is known of the events of his life. Works On Pharmacy
he is generally supposed to have been the author of a work on pharmacy in three books (Galen, De Compos. Medicam. sec. Gen. 2.1. vol. xiii. p. 463), which is quoted very frequently and with approbation by Galen, but of which only a few fragments remain. [W.A.G]
(Ἀνδρόμαχος). (1) An opulent Sicilian, father of the historian Timaeus. He collected together the inhabitants of the city of Naxos, which Dionysius the tyrant had destroyed, and founded with them Tauromenium. Andromachus, as prefect of the new city, subsequently aided Timoleon in restoring liberty to Syracuse. (Diod. Sic.xvi. 7, 68.)
(2) A general of Alexander, to whom Parmenio gave the government of Syria. He was burned alive by the Samaritans, but his death was avenged by Alexander. (Quint. Curt. iv. 5.)
(3) A brother-in-law of Seleucus Callinicus.
(4) A traitor, who discovered to the Parthians all the measures of Crassus, and, on being chosen guide, led the Roman army into a situation whence there was no mode of escape.
(5) A physician of Crete in the age of Nero. He was physician to the emperor, and inventor of the famous medicine, called after him, theriaca Andromachi. It was intended at first as an antidote against poisons, but became afterwards a kind of panacea. This medicine enjoyed so high a reputation among the Romans that the emperor Antoninus, at a later period, took some of it every day, and had it prepared every year in his palace. It consisted of sixty-one ingredients, the principal of which were squills, opium, pepper, and dried vipers.
- Paus. 6.14.12