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Donkey milk knowledge archive · Historical source
Theodorus Priscianus (c. 400): ass’s milk in three recipes of the “Euporiston”
Around AD 400 the late antique physician Theodorus Priscianus mentions ass’s milk in three quite different places in his Latin handbook “Euporiston”. It serves as the base of a depilatory, against toothache and as a boiled food in dysentery.
- Author
- Theodorus Priscianus, called “archiater” (court physician) in the tradition (active c. 400)
- Work
- Euporiston libri III (Faenomenon, Logicus, Gynaecia), edition by Valentin Rose, Leipzig: Teubner 1894
- Passage
- Book I, ch. 4, § 11 (p. 11); book I, ch. 16, § 46 (p. 49); book II, ch. 31, § 101 (p. 201) of Rose’s edition
- Time & place
- c. AD 400 · Roman Empire (Latin West)
- Type of source
- Medical handbook (recipes and treatment)
In the original words
What the original says
aut si marrubii sucum lacti asinino commisceas et similiter loca confrices.
Or [hair is removed] if you mix horehound juice with ass’s milk and rub the areas with it in the same way.
et si aeris florem in oleo tritum dentibus admoveas, et lac asinae recens tepidum constringit et mitigat continuo.
And [it helps] if you apply flower of copper ground in oil to the teeth; fresh, lukewarm ass’s milk, too, is astringent and soothes at once.
caseus vetustus proderit, sive recens libuerit. lac asinae in diploangio coctum facit
Old cheese will be of use, or fresh if preferred. Ass’s milk boiled in a double vessel works [as well].
English rendering: our own translation by the DON DONKEY’S editorial team, following the sense of the text.
A look at the original
What the passage looks like
Page 201 of Valentin Rose’s edition (Leipzig 1894): dietary rules for dysentery with “lac asinae in diploangio coctum” (line 8), with the critical apparatus below.
The page comes from a freely accessible digitised copy. Click to open the passage at the library.
West Virginia University Libraries, Digitalisat via Internet Archive; gemeinfrei
Background
Who, when, what kind of text
Theodorus Priscianus was a physician writing in Latin around AD 400; the tradition calls him “archiater”, a physician holding an official title. He dedicated his handbook to his brother Timotheus. According to Valentin Rose’s preface, he says himself that he first wrote the work in Greek. The title “Euporiston” means roughly “easily obtainable remedies”.
The “Euporiston” has three books: “Faenomenon” on visible, external complaints from hair to skin, “Logicus” on acute and chronic internal diseases, and “Gynaecia” on women’s complaints. The standard edition is still that of Valentin Rose (Teubner, 1894), which records the variants of the manuscripts and earlier printed editions alongside the text.
Content
What the source reports about donkey milk
In the first book, ass’s milk appears first among the “psilotra”, i.e. depilatories: horehound juice mixed with ass’s milk is to be rubbed onto areas meant to stay free of hair. Directly before it stands a recipe with bat brains in human milk – the list mixes simple herbs with folk-medicine ingredients.
In the chapter on toothache, ass’s milk follows remedies such as cedar oil and the roots of pellitory: fresh, lukewarm ass’s milk is said to be astringent and to soothe at once.
In the second book it appears in the dietary rules for dysentery. Drying foods such as eggs cooked in vinegar, fish and cheese are recommended; ass’s milk is to be boiled in a “diploangium”, a double vessel similar to a water bath. Cow’s milk is to be treated with river stones.
At a glance
Figures & facts from the source
Timeline
Where this source stands in the history of donkey milk
Each dot is a source from our knowledge archive – from Greek antiquity to the present day.
Critical assessment
How reliable is this source?
Source value
Rose’s edition can be checked page by page as a scan; the apparatus shows that the manuscripts differ slightly in several places, while the passages on ass’s milk are transmitted consistently. Theodorus is a practitioner who writes briefly, in the style of recipes.
A broad range of uses
The range is remarkable: ass’s milk appears as the carrier of a skin preparation, as a mouth remedy and as invalid food. Giving it boiled in dysentery fits the ancient idea that milk had to be prepared for a weakened bowel.
Today’s assessment
The recipes are historical documents, not recommendations. Toothache and diarrhoeal diseases belong in dental or medical care; the depilatories of the time also included ingredients that nobody would put on their skin today.
Our assessment
Theodorus shows ass’s milk not as an exotic remedy but as an everyday ingredient in the physician’s toolkit around 400. We are particularly interested in its cosmetic use as the base of a skin preparation – it is older than many later stories about donkey milk and beauty.
References
Sources to check
- Primary sourceTheodori Prisciani Euporiston libri III, ed. Valentin Rose, Leipzig: Teubner 1894, p. 201 (Logicus, chapter 31; Internet Archive, copy of West Virginia University Libraries)
https://archive.org/details/theodoripriscian00theo/page/n236/mode/1up - SupplementarySame edition, p. 11: section “Psilotra” (depilatories) with ass’s milk
https://archive.org/details/theodoripriscian00theo/page/n46/mode/1up - SupplementarySame edition, p. 49: chapter on toothache with fresh, lukewarm ass’s milk
https://archive.org/details/theodoripriscian00theo/page/n84/mode/1up
More sources and studies in the research archive. Summarised by the DON DONKEY’S editorial team, as of November 2026.