From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Embryo
ἔμβρυον
embryonEmbryon names the offspring developing in the womb.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordEmbryon names the offspring developing in the womb.
- In StobaeusThe surviving report associated with Aristotle and Hippocrates contrasts seven-month and nine-month births and connects incomplete nourishment with a weakened umbilical connection.
- In this edition“Embryo” follows the printed noun.
- A place to beginDevelopment is related to nourishment and the duration of gestation.
- English renderings
- embryo; developing offspring
Meaning
Embryon names the offspring developing in the womb. The surrounding notices ask about development, nourishment, and the conditions of birth.
Use in the book
The surviving report associated with Aristotle and Hippocrates contrasts seven-month and nine-month births and connects incomplete nourishment with a weakened umbilical connection. Its compressed explanation is preserved as an ancient report. A separate heading asks whether the embryo is a living creature, but the accompanying text is missing: the question survives without the answer that once followed it.
Places to read
- I.42.13.1Development is related to nourishment and the duration of gestation.
- I.42.11.headingThe question of animal life survives in a restored heading.
Translation in this edition
“Embryo” follows the printed noun. The missing chapter cannot be used to assign Stobaeus or his sources a conclusion about its status.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 296.
From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Embryo
ἔμβρυα (embrya); βρέφη (brephē); τῶν ἐμβρύων (tōn embryōn)
Embrya are developing offspring; brephē can denote unborn or very young children according to context.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordEmbrya are developing offspring; brephē can denote unborn or very young children according to context.
- In this workThe embryo appears in several explanatory relations.
- In this editionThe edition's modern anatomical evaluations should be kept separate from what each ancient witness actually attributes.
- A place to readUses the embryo–womb relation as a model for plant–earth dependence.
Meaning
Embrya are developing offspring; brephē can denote unborn or very young children according to context. The vocabulary crosses boundaries that modern clinical terminology marks more strictly, so one English developmental label will not fit every passage.
Use in the book
The embryo appears in several explanatory relations. A702 compares a growing plant's dependence on earth with embryos as parts of the womb. A79 describes nourishment conveyed through umbilical vessels and assigns their implantation into the liver to Empedocles. A83 supplies times for articulation and completion of bodily parts, while A84 gives the heart developmental priority. These claims concern relation to the maternal setting, material supply, differentiation, and organ order respectively. They do not combine automatically into an observed day-by-day embryology. The numerical reports differ, and the anatomical setting includes Soranus' own explanatory framework. A75's seven- and ten-month gestational terms and primordial-day theory add another time-scale, not a ready solution to those differences.
Places to read
- A 70 (testimony)2Aëtius. Uses the embryo–womb relation as a model for plant–earth dependence.
- A 79 (testimony)Soranus, Gynaecology. Discusses nutritive vessels and assigns liver insertion to Empedocles.
- A 83 (testimony)Aëtius; Oribasius, from Athenaeus. Give different accounts of the timing of differentiation.
- A 84 (testimony)Censorinus, On the Birthday. Attributes first formation to the heart.
- A 81 (testimony)23Aëtius, maternal-imagination notice. Uses brephē for offspring alleged to receive their form from the woman's imagination at conception.
Translation in this edition
The edition's modern anatomical evaluations should be kept separate from what each ancient witness actually attributes. “Embryo,” “fetus,” and “infant” in translation do not establish modern developmental cut-offs.