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[4] N. of Colophon Poet

His dating was long uncertain because a poet of this name is mentioned in an
honorary inscription from Delphi (3rd cent. BC; Syll.3 452; cf. N. [3], while the
evidence relating to the author of the Thēriaká and Alexiphármaka partially
place him into the period of Attalus I (241-197 BC), partially of Ptolemy V (205-
180), and partially of Attalus III (138-133)). Five verses of a hymn to Attalus
preserved with the name of N. speak in favour of the first dating [6]. It is
probable that two authors of that name existed: one in the 3rd cent. and another
around the turn of the 3rd to the 2nd cent.

We have little more than the title or at most a few verses of the (historical?)
geographical epics Εὐρωπία (Eurōpía, Europe?, at least 5 books) and Σικελία
(Sikelía, about Sicily, in several books: 7, 8 or 10?), the historical epic Θηβαϊκά
(Thēbaïká, on Thebes, at least 3 books) and the following works (it is not known
if they are poetry or prose): Αἰτωλικά (Aitōliká, on Aetolia), Κιμμέριοι
(Kimmérioi, on the Cimmerians), Κολοφωνιακά (Kolophōniaká, on Colophon),
Γλῶσσαι (Glôssai, Rare Words). It is difficult to determine if the two titles On
Poets/On the Poets of Colophon refer to the same work or two separate works.

Most of the historical works are often attributed to the older N., a ‘travelling
poet’, while the two preserved short poems Thēriaká and Alexiphármaka are
attributed to the younger N., an author of didactic poems. However, A.
Cameron [6] assigned both (together with the majority of the works listed
above) to the older N. and, therefore, followed (if one believes the Aratus vitas)
the ancient assumption that Aratus [4] and the author
of Alexiphármaka and Theriaká were contemporaries.

Thēriaká (Θηριακά, 958 verses) discusses venomous animals, the effects of

various poisons and antidotes; the Alexiphármaka (Ἀλεξιφάρμακα, 630 verses)
discusses poisons, poisonous draughts and their antidotes. Both document a
type of didactic poem, which resembles the Phainómena of Aratus to the extent
that there was no special significance to the content; the main goal was to
rewrite two prose treatises by a certain Apollodorus (early 3rd cent. BC) in
hexameter (according to the scholia, Thēriaká also used the thematically
identical didactic poem of Numenius [1]). Another, lost work of the same
N., Prognōstiká (Prognostics), is according to the Suda a hexametric
paraphrase of the ps.-Hippocratic treatise of the same name.

The other didactic poems to which N.'s name is attached, some of which are
only known from fragments or their title, clearly show the author's ambition to
create a verse encyclopaedia: Geōrgiká (at least 2 books) on arable cultivation
and gardening (a novelty?), surely a source of
the Georgica of Vergilius; Melissourgiká, on
apiculture; Heteroioúmena, Transformations (at least 4 or 5 books, the content
can approximately be made out by means of excerpts in Antoninus
Liberalis); Oitaïká (at least 2 books), a geographical work on the region around
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Mount Oete or (at least partially) the death of Hercules on Mount

Oete; Ophiaká (on snakes, possibly using mythological figures that were bitten
by snakes). Two additional titles are Περὶ χρηστηρίων πάντων (On Useful
Medicines) and Ἰάσεων συναγωγή (A Collection of Therapies). There is also
evidence of two additional works that must respectively have discussed hunting
and minerals.

The effect of the Thēriaká and Alexiphármaka in the ancient world was
remarkable: It was due to their usefulness to a large public, the perfection of
their verse (N. was one of the most faithful recreators of the much sought-after
harmonic principles of the Callimachean hexameter), and his able and
innovative handling of language. N. skilfully put the most obscure zoological
and toxicological terms into Homeric language and metre (as a result, the hapax
legomena of the two short poems became a favourite hunting ground of the
grammarians; N. himself created a collection of Glôssai). Among others, Theon
and Plutarch commented on N.' works.

Reading the two poems is aesthetically frustrating for modern readers: N.

received the catalogue-like uniformity of the model with indifference and even
intensifies it in his versified treatises (characteristics of the poison,
symptomology of its effect, antidote in the Alexiphármaka; in the Theriaká a
description of the identification marks of various snakes and the symptoms of
the effect of their bite). Digressions lose their effect as an enlivening aesthetic
element and almost always only have a technical function (e.g., transition from
one ‘chapter’ to the next).

Fantuzzi, Marco (Florence)

Bibliography

Editions:

1 O. S , 1856 (with scholl.)

2 A.S.F. G , A.F. S , 1953 (Thēriaká, Alexiphármaka, selected frr.)

3 A. C , 1971 (scholl. on Thēriaká)

4 M. G , 1974 (scholl. on Alexiphármaka).

Literature:

5 A. C , La lingua poetica di Nicandro, in: Acme 14, 1961, 119-152

6 A. C , Callimachus and His Critics, 1995, 194-207

7 I. C , L'Inno di Nicandro ad Attalo I, in: PdP 27, 1972, 369-396

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8 B. E , Der Aufbau von Nikanders Theriaka und Alexipharmaka, in: RhM

117, 1974, 53-66

9 Id., Dichtung und Lehre, 1977, 56-65

10 J.M. J , Nicandre de Colophon poète et médecin, in: Ktèma 4, 1979,

133-149

11 P. J , Aus Vergils Dichterwerkstätte, in: RhM 60, 1905, 361-387

12 G. P , I due Nicandri, in: SIFC 20, 1913, 55-111

13 H. S , Vergleichende Untersuchungen zur sprachlichen Struktur der

beiden erhaltenen Lehrgedichte des N. von Kolophon, 1962

14 W. V , Nikander und Ovid, 1909.

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