Adamantius (physician)

Adamantius (Ancient Greek: Ἀδαμάντιος) was an ancient physician, bearing the title of iatrosophist (ἰατρικῶν λόγων σοφιστῆς; broadly, "professor of medicine"). Little is known of his personal history, except that he was Jewish by birth, and that he was one of those who fled from Alexandria at the time of the expulsion of the Jews from that city by the Patriarch Cyril of Alexandria in 415. He went to Constantinople, was persuaded to convert to Christianity, apparently by Archbishop Atticus of Constantinople, and then returned to Alexandria. Quotes Εἰ δέ τισι τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν καὶ ᾿Ιωνικόν γένος ἐφυλάχθη καθαρῶς, οὗτοί εἰσιν αὐτάρκως μεγάλοι ἄνδρες, εὐρύτεροι, ὄρθιοι, εὐπαγεῖς, λευκότεροι τὴν χρόαν, ξανθοί, σαρκός κρᾶσιν ἔχοντες μετρίαν εὐπαγεστέραν, σκέλη ὀρθά, ἄκρα εὐφυῆ, κεφαλὴν μέσην τὸ μέγεθος, περιαγῆ, τράχηλον εὔρωστον, τρίχωμα ὑπόξανθον ἁπαλώτερον οὖλον πράως, πρόσωπον τετράγωνον, χείλη λεπτά, ῥίνα ὀρθήν, ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑγροὺς χαροπούς γοργούς φῶς πολὺ ἔχοντας ἐν ἑαυτοῖς· εὐοφθαλμότατον γὰρ πάντων (τῶν) ἐθνῶν τὸ Ἑλληνικόν. Any who have guarded the Hellenic and Ionic race and kept it pure are sufficiently large men, rather broad, upright, strong, with a rather white colour, pale, having a moderate and rather firm mixture of flesh, straight legs, shapely extremities, a round head of medium size, a strong neck, rather pale and soft hair that curls gently, a square face, thin lips, a straight nose and moist, dark blue, fierce eyes with plenty of light in them; for the Hellenic race has the best eyes of all races. Φυσιογνωμονικά (Physiognomy), bk. 2, b32 (Περὶ εἴδους Ἑλληνικοῦ, 'On the Greek appearance'). Simon Swain, ed., Seeing the Face, Seeing the Soul: Polemon's Physiognomy from Classical Antiquity to Medieval Islam (Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 533 External links Category:People from Alexandria