Antonius Musa

Who is Antonius Musa?

Antonius Musa was a Greek botanist and the Roman Emperor Augustus's physician; Antonius was a freedman who received freeborn status along with other honours. In the year 23 BC, when Augustus was seriously ill, Musa cured the illness with cold compresses and became immediately famous.

Musa, the plant group which includes the banana, the plantain and numerous other species, was apparently named after him. However, Musa may be a Latinization the Arabic mauz name for the fruit. Mauz meaning Musa is discussed the 11th century Arabic encyclopedia The Canon of Medicine, which was translated to Latin in medieval times and well known in Europe.

Musa's brother was Euphorbus, physician to king Juba II of Numidia, after whom the plant Euphorbia, which has given its name to a scientific genus, was originally named.

A short medical treatise called De herba vettonica and speaking of the properties of this herb has been transmitted under his name, but is thought instead to have been written in the 4th century. It seems to have been a source for the Roman medical writer Theodorus Priscianus.