A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

(Ἀπολλωνίδης).

1. A Greek physician and surgeon, was born at Cos, and, like many other of his countrymen, went to the court of Persia, under Artaxerxes Longimanus, B. C. 465 --425. Here he cured Megabyzus, the king's brother-in-law, of a dangerous wound, but was afterwards engaged in a sinful and scandalous amour with his wife, Amytis, who was herself a most profligate woman. For this offence Apollonides was given up by Artaxerxes into the hands of his mother, Amestris, who tortured him for about two months, and at last, upon the death of her daughter, ordered him to be buried alive. (Ctesias, De Reb. Pers. §§ 30, 42, pp. 40, 50, ed. Lion.)