Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Abascantus

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ABASCANTUS (Ἀβάσκαντος), a physician of Lugdunum (Lyons), who probably lived in the second century after Christ. He is several times mentioned by Galen (De Compos. Medicam. secund. Locos, ix. 4. vol. xiii. p. 278), who has also preserved an antidote invented by him against the bite of serpents. (De Antid. ii. 12. vol. xiv. p. 177.) The name is to be met with in numerous Latin inscriptions in Gruter's collection, five of which refer to a freedman of Augustus, who is supposed by Kühn (Additam. ad Elench. Medic. Vet. a J. A. Fabricio in " Bibl. Gr." Exhib.) to be the same person that is mentioned by Galen. This however is quite uncertain, as also whether Παρακλήτιος Ἀβάσκανθος in Galen (De Compos. Medicam. secund. Locos. vii. 3. vol. xiii. p. 71) refers to the subject of this article. [W. A. G.]