Joannes Actuarius

Johannes Zacharias Actuarius (c. 1275 – c. 1328[1]), son of Zacharias, was a Byzantine physician in Constantinople. He practiced with some degree of credit, as he was honored with the title of Actuarius, a dignity frequently conferred at that court upon physicians.[2][3]

Biography

Very little is known of the events of his life, and his dates are debated, as some reckon him to have lived in the eleventh century, and others place him as recently as the beginning of the fourteenth.[4] He probably lived towards the end of the thirteenth century, as one of his works is dedicated to his tutor, Joseph Racendytes, who lived in the reign of Andronikos II Palaiologos (1282–1328). One of his school-fellows is supposed to have been Apocauchus, whom he describes (though without naming him) as going upon an embassy to the north.[5]

He wrote several books on medicinal subjects, particularly, an extensive treatise about the urines and uroscopy. Around 1299, he considered moving to Thessaloniki, but decided to stay in Constantinople; later, he was appointed chief physician to the Emperor.

Some of his works were translated into Latin, and published in the 16th century.[6]

Works

References

Notes

  1. Diamandopoulos, A. A. (2001). "Joannes Zacharias Actuarius. A witness of late Byzantine uroscopy, closely linked with Thessaloniki" (PDF). Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation 16 (Supplement 6): 23. doi:10.1093/ndt/16.suppl_6.2.
  2. Dict of Ant. p. 611, b
  3. Plinio Prioreschi - A History of Medicine: Byzantine and Islamic Medicine -2001 Page 91 "Johannes Aktuarios, therefore, should be translated into English as “John the court physician.” Of further interest is that in many modern languages (e.g., English, German, French, Italian, Spanish), the same word (actuary, Aktuar, actuaire, ..."
  4. 1 2 Greenhill, William Alexander (1867). "Actuarius". In Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology 1. Boston, MA. pp. 17–18.
  5. De Math. Med. Prnef. in i. ii. pp. 139, 169
  6. Rose, Hugh James (1857). A New General Biographical Dictionary, London: B. Fellowes et al.
  7. Barchusen, Hist. Medic. Dial. 14. p. 338, &c.
  8. See his preface to Galen De Dissect. Musc.
  9. Praef. i. p. 139
  10. Choulant, Handbuch der Bücherkunde für die Aeltere Medicin, Leipzig, 1841

Further reading

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Greenhill, William Alexander (1870). "Actuarius". In Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology 1. pp. 17–18. 

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