Ctesias

Ctesias

▪ Greek physician and historian
born late 5th century BC, Cnidus, Caria [now in Turkey]

      Greek physician and historian of Persia and India whose works were popular and influential in antiquity. In 405 BC Ctesias traveled to the Persian court, where he remained as physician under the rulers Darius II (Darius II Ochus) and Artaxerxes II. He claimed to have treated Artaxerxes for wounds inflicted by his brother, Cyrus (Cyrus The Younger), at the Battle of Cunaxa (Cunaxa, Battle of) in 401 (an episode related by Xenophon in Anabasis, Book I).

      Ctesias returned to Greece in 398 and began writing his Persica, a history of Assyria-Babylonia in 23 books. Books I–VI included a history of Assyria and the Medes, and the last 10 books were a more detailed account from the death of Xerxes (465) to 398. Although Ctesias claimed that his history was based on Persian archives and state records and therefore was far superior to Herodotus's history, what survives is full of romantic stories, exotic anecdotes, court gossip, and lists that are of dubious reliability. The work no longer exists, except in an abstract compiled by the patriarch Photius (Photius, Saint) of Constantinople (flourished c. AD 860). Ctesias also wrote a history of India (Indica) that was based on reports of Persian visitors and of Indian merchants and envoys to the Persian court. Although legendary and fabulous, it was the only systematic account of India until Alexander the Great's invasion of that country.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Ctesias — Ctésias Ctésias (en grec ancien Κτήσιας / Ktếsias), né à Cnide au Ve siècle av. J. C., mort après 398 av. J. C., médecin grec au service d Artaxerxès II, historien de la Perse et de l Inde. Sommaire …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Ctésias — (en grec ancien Κτήσιας / Ktếsias), né à Cnide au Ve siècle av. J.‑C., mort après 398 av. J. C., médecin grec au service d Artaxerxès II, historien de la Perse et de l Inde. Sommaire 1 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Ctesias — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Ctesias de Cnido (Caria) (griego Κτησίας) fue un historiador y médico griego que nació alrededor del inicio de la segunda mitad del siglo V a. C. Fue hecho prisionero por los persas en un momento y… …   Wikipedia Español

  • CTESIAS — Atheniensis, Sycophanta celeberrimus, de quo Aristoph. Acharn. 3. sc. 4 …   Hofmann J. Lexicon universale

  • Ctesias — For the beetle genus, see Ctesias (beetle). Ctesias of Cnidus (Greek Κτησίας) was a Greek physician and historian from Cnidus in Caria. Ctesias, who lived in the 5th century BC, was physician to Artaxerxes Mnemon, whom he accompanied in 401 BC on …   Wikipedia

  • Ctesias — (flourished late fifth and early fourth centuries b.c.)    A Greek physician and historian who wrote extensively about the Achaemenid Persians when they controlled Mesopotamia and most of the rest of the Near East. Ctesias (TEE see us, or TEE… …   Ancient Mesopotamia dictioary

  • Ctesias (beetle) — Ctesias Ctesias serra Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia …   Wikipedia

  • Ctésias de Cnide — appartient à la famille des Asclépiades. Il aurait été fait prisonnier par les Perses et, emmené à la cour du roi Artaxerxès Memnon, il devint son médecin. Ctésias se trouvait à la bataille de Cunaxa (401 av. J. C.) aux côtés d Artaxerxès. Il… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • CTESIAS —    Greek physician and historian of Persia; was present with Artaxerxes Mnemon at the battle of Cunaxa, 401 B.C., and stayed afterwards at the Persian court, where he got the materials for his history, of which only a few fragments are extant …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • КТЕСИЙ —    • Ctesias,          Κτησίας, современник Ксенофонта, родился в Книде, городе Карий, прибыл, вероятно, около 416 г. до Р. X. к персидскому двору. Сопровождал царя Артаксеркса Мнемона в походе против Кира Младшего и лечил царя, когда тот был… …   Реальный словарь классических древностей

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