Nicander
(
Νίκανδρος).
1.
A king of Sparta, father of Theopompus. He reigned about B.C. 809-770.
2.
A Greek poet, born at Colophon, in Asia, about B.C. 150. He was an hereditary priest of
Apollo, as well as a physician, and lived a great deal in Aetolia as well as later in
Pergamum. He wrote numerous works, such as those on agriculture, of which considerable
fragments are still preserved, and on mythological metamorphoses (used by the Roman poet
Ovid). Two of his poems, written in a dull and bombastic manner, are still extant: the
Θηριακά, on remedies against the wounds inflicted by
venomous animals; and the
Ἀλεξιφάρμακα, on poisons taken
in food and drink, with their antidotes. These poems are edited by Schneider, and revised by
Keil
(1856).