Criton of Heraclea

For people named Criton or Crito, see Criton (disambiguation).

Criton of Heraclea (Greek: Κρίτων, Latin: Titus Statilius Crito, T. Statilius Crito) was a 2nd century (c.100 AD) Greek chief physician and procurator of Roman Emperor Trajan (98-117) in the campaign in Dacia.^[1]

He wrote a work on Cosmetics in four books, which were very popular in Galen's time and which contained almost all that had been written on the same subject by Heraclides of Tarentum, Cleopatra, and others. The contents of each chapter of the four books have been preserved by Galen, by whom the work is frequently quoted. He wrote also a work on Simple Medicines of which the fourth book is quoted by Galen;^[2] he is also quoted by Aëtius and Paul of Aegina, and may perhaps be the person to whom one of the letters of Apollonius of Tyana is addressed.^[3]

Criton also has a historical work, Getica,^[4] about the history of Daco-Getae. Getica was at the basis of Trajan's own work, Dacica (or De bello dacico), about his Dacian Wars.

He is perhaps the author of a work on Cookery, mentioned by Athenaeus.^[5]

None of his works seem to be extant, except a few fragments preserved by other authors.

As Trajan's medic, Criton created a mixture consumed daily by the emperor.^[6]

He is perhaps the person mentioned by Martial.^[7]

Titles of works

• Cosmetics, a medical treatise
• Simple Medicines
• Getica, a work on the history of the Getae

Notes

1. ^ Galen, De Compos. Medicam. sec. Locos., i. 3, vol. xii.
2. ^ Galen, De Compos. Medicam. sec. Gen., ii. 11, vi. 1, vol. xiii.
3. ^ Apollonius of Tyana, Ep. xvii.
4. ^ Bennett 2001, p. 97.
5. ^ Athenaeus, xii. p. 516
6. ^ Escohotado 2010, p. 310.
7. ^ Martial, Epigr. xi. 60. 6

References

• Bennett, Julian (2001). "VIII Dacicus". Trajan: Optimus Princeps (2nd ed.). Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253214351. http://books.google.com/books?id=gZy1nnNhm4oC&pg=PA92. Retrieved 2010-12-08. 
• Escohotado, Antonio (2010). "The Pagan Era". The General History of Drugs. Valparaiso, Chile: Graffiti Militante Press. ISBN 978-0-98207-873-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=qeIt-1dwCKUC&pg=PA310. Retrieved 2010-12-08. 
• On melancholy by Rufus of Ephesus, Peter E. Pormann

Persondata
Name	Criton Of Heraclea
Alternative names	Titus Statilius Crito; T. Statilius Crito
Short description	2nd century Greek physician and historian to Emperor Trajan
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).