An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

ORIBASIUS (Ὀρειβάσιος), [Oreibasius]

7 entries
  • 1959.1
  • 4808.1
  • 4915.1

Caelii Aureliani Siccensis Tardarum passionum libri V. D. Oribasii Sardi Iuliani Caesaris archiatri Euporiston lib: III. Medicinae comperi: lib: 1. Curationum lib: 1. Trochiscoru confect: lib: 1.

Basel: Henricus Petrus, 1529.

From a clinical point of view, the two works of Caelius Aurelianus, which were translated into Latin from Greek originals by Soranus of Ephesus that were later lost, represent the high-point of Graeco-Roman medical achievement. Soranus (fl. circa 150 CE), was the chief representative of the methodic school of medicine. Besides his writings on gynecology and obstetrics that survived, Soranus left works on chronic and acute maladies—Tardae or Chronicae passiones, in five books, and Celeres or Acutae passiones in three books, which were preserved through Caelius's translations. The Latin translations show that Soranus possessed considerable practical skill in the diagnosis of both ordinary and exceptional diseases. The translations are also important for their references to the methods of earlier medical authorities.

This is first edition of Caelius's Tardarum passionum (Chronic diseases ), edited by Johannes Sichard. On the verso of the title page the editor provided a list of about 50 ancient Greek physicians referred to in Caelius's text.

Garrison described Caelius / Soranus as a 5th century neurologist who gave one of the best early descriptions of epilepsy, including its convulsive and comatose forms, and the tendency of victims of vertigo to become epileptic. Caelius also distinguished between sensory and motor impairment, and between spastic and flaccid paralysis.

The first edition of Caelius's / Soranus's other work—Acute diseases – Liber celerum vel acutarum passionum, was edited by Johann Guinter von Andernach and published in Paris at the press of Simon de Colines in 1533. Both that and Sicart's edition of 1529 were based on Latin manuscripts that have since disappeared. No other medieval codices of these texts survived.

The four works by Oribasius also edited by Sicard for this 1529 printing represent the first editions in Latin of the texts involved. Like Caelius and Soranus, Oribasius was also a major compiler. Oribasius, a pagan, was physician to the Emperor Julian (the Apostate) in the period of Late Antiquity. Digital facsimile of the 1529 edition from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Greece, ANCIENT MEDICINE › Late Antiquity, ANCIENT MEDICINE › Roman Empire, NEUROLOGY › Epilepsy, OTOLOGY › Vestibular System › Vertigo, PSYCHIATRY, THERAPEUTICS
  • 13269

Oribasii Sardiani Synopseos ad Eustathium filium libri novem: Quibus tota medicina in compendium redacta continetur Ioanne Baptista Rasario Novariensi medico interprete.

Venice: Paulus Manutius, 1554.

First Latin translation of the Synopsis or Epitome of his compilations that Oribasius made for his son, Euthasius. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.



Subjects: BYZANTINE MEDICINE
  • 12775

Ta ton Oribasios iatrikon snyagogon ek tou galenou anatomika. Collectaneorum artis medicae liber, quo totius corporis humani sectio explicatur, ex Galeni commentariis.

Paris: Guil. Morel, in Graecis typographum Regium, 1556.

 Editio principes (first printed edition in Greek) of the anatomical portions (Books 24 and 25) of Oribasius's Synagoge, or Encyclopaedia of Medicine. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Greece, ANCIENT MEDICINE › Late Antiquity
  • 12175

Graecorum chirurgici libri Sorani unus de fracturarum signis. Oribasii duo de fractis et de luxatis e collectione Nicetae ab antiquissimo et optimo codice Florentino descripti conversi atque edited ab Antonio Cocchio.

Florence: Ex Typographio Imperiali, 1754.

A scholarly edition of the Nicetas Codex containing various texts on fractures and luxations. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Greece, BYZANTINE MEDICINE, ORTHOPEDICS › Orthopedic Surgery & Treatments › Fractures & Dislocations
  • 31

Oeuvres d’Oribase, texte grec, en grande partie inédit…traduit pour la première fois en français; par les Drs. Bussemaker et Daremberg. 6 vols.

Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 18511876.

Oribasius was a compiler of existing knowledge rather than an original writer. His output was immense; he compiled the Synagoge, an encyclopedic digest of medicine, hygiene, therapeutics, and surgery from Hippocrates to his own times, in 70 volumes. The unwieldiness of the work was probably the reason why he also wrote a synopsis of it. Only 17 volumes survived. Vols. 5 & 6 were completed and issued by Auguste Molinier after the death of Bussemaker and Daremberg. Digital facsimiles of the set from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Greece, ANCIENT MEDICINE › Late Antiquity, BYZANTINE MEDICINE, Medicine: General Works, PUBLIC HEALTH, SURGERY: General , THERAPEUTICS
  • 32

Collectionum medicarum reliquae, libri 1-VIII, libri IX-XVI, libri XXIV-XXV, XLIII-XLVIII, libri XLIX-L, libri incerti ecologae medicamentorum. Synopsis ad Eustathium, Libri ad Eunapium. Edited by Johannes Raeder. 5 vols.

Leipzig & Berlin: B. G. Teubner, 19261933.

Contains selections from the writings of physicians, the originals of some of whose works no longer exist, and who would have been forgotten, but for the compilations of Oribasius. Writers included are Agathinus, Antyllus, Apollonius, Archigenes, Athenaeus, Ctesias, Dieuches, Diocles, Dioscorides, Herodotus, Justus, Lycus, Menemachus, Mnesitheus Atheniensis, Mnesitheus Cyzicenus, Oribasius, Philagrius, Philotimus, Philumenus, Sabinus, Xenocrates, Zopyrus. 

"Born in Pergamum, he [Oribasius] studied medicine at Alexandria under Zeno of Cyprus, and practised in Asia Minor. He became the personal physician of Julian, who took him to Gaul (355). Closely involved in the proclamation of Julian as emperor (361), Oribasius accompanied him until his death in Mesopotamia (363). Banished for a time to foreign courts, Oribasius was soon recalled by the emperor Valens and continued to practise his profession until an advanced age. His principal works are a collection of excerpts from Galen—now lost—and the Collectiones medicae, a vast compilation of excerpts from earlier medical writers, from Alcmaeon of Croton (c.500 bc) to Oribasius' contemporaries Philagrius and Adamantius. Both of these works were written at the behest of Julian. Of the 70 (or 72) books of the Collectiones only 25 survive entire; but the rest can be in part reconstructed from the Synopsis ad Eustathium, and the treatise Ad Eunapium, epitomes of the Collectiones in 9 books and 4 books respectively made by Oribasius himself, and from various excerpts and summaries, some of which are still unpublished. Oribasius was a convinced pagan, and his medical encyclopedia is a product of the vain effort of Julian and his circle to recall the classical past. For the medical historian its importance lies in the large number of excerpts from lost writers—particularly those of the Roman period—which it preserves, usually with a precise reference to the source; Oribasius adds nothing of his own. His work was constantly quoted and excerpted by early Byzantine medical writers, the Synopsis and the Ad Eunapium were twice translated into Latin in Ostrogothic Italy, and Syriac and Arabic translations of portions of Oribasius' work form one of the principal channels by which knowledge of Greek medicine reached the Islamic world" (Robert Browning & Vivian Nutton, Oxford Reference; http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100254300)

Digital facsimiles from Corpus Medicorum Graecorum at this link



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Late Antiquity, ANCIENT MEDICINE › Roman Empire, BYZANTINE MEDICINE
  • 9369

Dieting for an emperor: A translation of books 1 and 4 of Oribasius' Medical Compilations with an introduction and commentary by Mark Grant.

Leiden: Brill, 1997.


Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Late Antiquity, ANCIENT MEDICINE › Roman Empire, BYZANTINE MEDICINE, NUTRITION / DIET