Apollonides (Ancient Greek: Ἀπολλωνίδης) was a Greek physician and surgeon from Cos. Like many other of his kinsmen, he went to serve at the court of the Persian Empire, then ruled by Artaxerxes Longimanus (465–425 BC).
At the court he cured Megabyzus, the king's brother-in-law, of a dangerous wound, but was afterwards engaged in a sinful and scandalous amour with his wife, Amytis, who was herself a most profligate woman. For this offence Apollonides was given up by Artaxerxes into the hands of his mother, Amestris, who tortured him for about two months, and at last, upon the death of her daughter, ordered him to be buried alive.[1]
Notes
References
- Brosius, M (1998): Women in Ancient Persia, pp. 73, 74, 113, 114.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Greenhill, William Alexander (1870). "Apollonides". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 237.