Nicander in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

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).