Andromachus
Ἀνδρόμαχος
(Ἀνδρόμαχος).
1. Commonly called " the Elder," to distinguish him from his son of the same name, was born in Crete, and was physician to Nero, A. D. 54-68. He is principally celebrated for having been the first person on whom the title of " Archiater" is known to have been conferred (Dict. of Ant. s. v. Archiater).
Works
Medicinal Formula in a Greek Elegiac poem
He is known for having been the inventor of a very famous compound medicine and antidote, which was called after his name " Theriaca Andromachi," which long enjoyed a great reputation, and which retains its place in some foreign Pharmacopoeias to the present day. (Dict. of Ant. s. v. Theriaca.) Andromachus has left us the directions for making this strange mixture in a Greek elegiac poem, consisting of one hundred and seventy-four lines, and dedicated to Nero. Galen has inserted it entire in two of his works (De Antid. 1.6, and De Ther. ad Pis. 100.6. vol. xiv. pp. 32-42), and says, that Andromachus chose this form for his receipt as being more easily remembered than prose, and less likely to be altered.
Editions
The poem has been published in a separate form by Franc. Tidicaeus, Tiguri, 1607, 4to., with two Latin translations, one in prose and the other in verse; and again by J. S. Leinker, Norimb. 1754, fol. It is also inserted in the first volume of Ideler's Physici et Medici Graeci Minores, Berol. 8vo. 1841.
Translations
There is a German translation in E. W. Weber's Elegische Dichter der Hellenen, Frankfort, 1826, 8vo.
Work on Pharmacy attributed to him
Some persons suppose him to be the author of a work on pharmacy, but this is generally attributed to his son, Andromachus the Younger.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.