A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

(Θεμίσων), the name of probably three physicians.

1. The founder of the ancient medical sect of the Methodici, and one of the most eminent physicians of his time, was a native of Laodiceia in Syria (Pseudo-Gal. Introd. 100.4. vol. xiv. p. 684). He was a pupil of Asclepiades of Bithynia (Pliny, Plin. Nat. 29.5), and must have lived, therefore, in the first century B. C. Augustin, in his Gesch. der Med. in tabellarischer Form, says he was born B. C. 123, and died B. C. 43, which may possibly be quite correct, though he has not stated his reasons for giving such exact dates. Nothing more is known of the events of his life, except that he seems to have travelled a good deal; as he mentions Crete and Milan, apparently as an eye-witness (ap. Cael. Aurel. De Morb. Acut. 3.18, p. 252). Neither is it certain whether

he ever visited Rome, though it is perhaps more probable that he did so. He differed from his tutor on several points in his old age, and became the founder of a new sect called the "Methodici," which long exercised an extensive influence on medical science. (Cels. De Med. i. praef. p. 5 ; Galen, De Meth. Med. 1.4, 7. vol. x. pp. 35, 52 ; Cramer's Anecd. Graeca Paris. vol. i. p. 395, where he is called by an obvious mistake Μεθήσων).