LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
Academy · Biography & Mythology

Magnus

1. A native of Antiochia Mygdonica (called more frequently Nisibis), in Mesopotamia, who studied medicine under Zenon, and was a fellowpupil of Oribasius and Ionicus, in the latter half of the fourth century after Christ. Eunapius, who has given a short account of his life (De Vit. Philos. p. 168, ed. 1568), says that he lectured on medicine at Alexandria, where he enjoyed a great reputation, though not so much for his practical skill as for his eloquence and power of argument. He is probably the person who wrote a work on the Urine, which is mentioned by Theophilus (De Urin. praef. and 100.3, 9) and Joannes Actuarius (De Urin. 1.2). If so, he bore the title Ἰατροσοφιστής (Theoph. l.c.). He is also probably the physician mentioned by Philostorgius (Hist. Eccles. 8.8) as living at Alexandria in great repute, in the time of Valentinian and Valens.

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.