Soranus

In Latin, Soranus is an adjectival toponym indicating origin from the town of Sora.

Name

The name Soranus may refer to:

Pen-name

Soranus of Ephesus

Soranus (Greek: Σωρανός; fl. 1st/2nd century AD) was a Greek physician from Ephesus. He practiced in Alexandria and subsequently in Rome, and was one of the chief representatives of the Methodic school of medicine. Several of his writings still survive, most notably his four-volume treatise on gynaecology, and a Latin translation of his On Acute and Chronic Diseases.

Life

Little is known about the life of Soranus. According to the Suda (which has two entries on him) he was a native of Ephesus, was the son of Menander and Phoebe, and practised medicine at Alexandria and Rome in the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian (98–138). He lived at least as early as Archigenes, who used one of his medicines; he was tutor to Statilius Attalus of Heraclea; and he was dead when Galen wrote his work De Methodo Medendi, c. 178.

He belonged to the Methodic school, and was one of the most eminent physicians of that school. Little else is known about his life, except that he passed some time in Aquitania for the purpose of treating some skin diseases which were very prevalent there at the time.

Soranus (mythology)

Soranus was a Sabine god adopted into ancient Roman religion. He was worshipped on Mt. Soracte in Etruria. The area was sacred to underworld gods, such as Dis Pater.

The worshippers of Apollo Soranus, after his cult had been subsumed by Apollo, were called Hirpi Sorani ("wolves of Soranus", from Sabine hirpus "wolf"). They were firewalkers and carried about the entrails of the victims during ceremonies.

Soranus was identified with Dis, the Roman god of the underworld, or with Apollo, a Greek god adopted by the Romans, and had a female partner, Feronia, whose sanctuary was located next to his.

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