Acron 4497790 220744778 2008-06-21T10:59:50Z Eubot 231599 Hatnote formatting, see [[User:Eubot/Hatnote formatting]] {{for|the other meanings of acron|Acron (disambiguation)}} '''Acron''', son of Xenon, was an eminent [[Medicine in ancient Greece|Greek physician]] born at [[Agrigentum]]. His exact date is not known; but, as he is mentioned as being contemporary with [[Empedocles]], who died about the beginning of the [[Peloponnesian war]], he must have lived in the [[fifth century BC]]. From [[Sicily]] he went to [[Athens]], and there opened a philosophical school ({{polytonic|εσοφίστευεν}}). It is said that he was in that city during the great plague ([[430 BC]]), and that large fires for the purpose of purifying the air were kindled in the streets by his direction, which proved of great service to several of the sick.<ref>[[Plutarch]] ''De Isis et Osiris'' 80</ref><ref>[[Oribasius]] ''Synops.'' vi. 24, p. 97</ref><ref>[[Aëtius Amidenus]], tetrab. ii. serm. i. 94, p. 223</ref><ref>Paul Aegin., ii. 35, p. 406</ref> It should however be borne in mind that there is no mention of this in [[Thucydides]],<ref>[[Thucydides]], ii. 49, &c.</ref> and, if it is true that [[Empedocles]] or [[Simonides]] (who died in [[467 BC]]) wrote the epitaph on Acron, it may be doubted whether he was in Athens at all during the plague. On his return to his native country, the physician asked the senate for a spot of ground where he might build a family tomb. The request was refused at the suggestion of Empedocles, who conceived that such a grant for such a purpose would interfere with the principle of equality he was anxious to establish at Agrigentum. As the sarcastic epitaph on Acron is probably the most complete ''[[jeu de mots]]'' on record, and therefore defies all translation, it will be given in Greek to preserve the [[paronomasia]] of the original: :{{polytonic|Ακρον ιητρον Ακρων' Ακραγαντινον πατρος ακρου}} :{{polytonic|Κρύπτει κρημνός άκρος πατρίδος ακροτάτης}} The second line was sometimes read thus: :{{polytonic|Ακροτάτης κορυφης τύμβος άκρος κατέχει}} Some persons attributed the whole epigram to [[Simonides]].<ref>[[Suda]] ''s.v.'' {{polytonic|Ακρων}}</ref><ref>Eudoc. ''Violar.'' ap. Villoison, ''Anecd. Gr.'' i. 49</ref><ref>[[Diogenes Laërtius]], viii. 65</ref> [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] considers him as the first of the ''Empirics''.<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Naturalis Historia]]'' xxix. 1</ref> But this has been considered an error on the part of the Roman naturalist; for the sect alluded to did not arise until the [[third century BC]], roughly 200 years after the time of Acron. Some scholars consider that the sect of the [[Empirics|Empirici]], in order to boast of a greater antiquity than the Dogmatics (founded by [[Thessalus, son of Hippocrates|Thessalus]], the son, and [[Polybus]], the son-in-law, of [[Hippocrates]], about [[400 BC]]), merely claimed Acron as their founder.<ref>Pseudo-Gal. ''Introd.'' 4. vol. xiv. p. 683</ref> None of Acron's works are now extant, though he wrote several in the [[Doric Greek|Doric dialect]] on medical and physical subjects, of which the titles are preserved by the [[Suda]] and [[Eudocia]].<ref name="DGRBM">{{Citation | last = Greenhill | first = William Alexander | author-link = William Alexander Greenhill | contribution = Acron (2) | editor-last = Smith | editor-first = William | title = [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]] | volume = 1 | pages = 14-15 | publisher = | place = Boston, MA | year = 1867 | contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0023.html }}</ref> ==References== ===Notes=== {{reflist}} ===Other sources=== #{{newgenbio|Acron}} {{SmithDGRBM}} [[Category:Ancient Greek physicians]] [[Category:Ancient Acragantines]] [[hu:Acro Helenius]]