The people from the ancient island that was once known as Kos, (Cos, Coos, Ceus, Zia etc) are 
mentioned in the time of Alexander the Great has some of some of the powerful people in the Mediterranean Sea. In fact, Alexander the Great’s personal physician named Critodemus was from this same island. They are known by a name under such spellings as the Koan, Coan, Cohen, Kohen or Kohain Hebrew: כֹּהֵן, which is a Hebrew word that simply means priest. For this article, I will just call them by the name of the ‘Kohen’ and the island they originally hail from, ‘Kos.’ An ancient priestly family that has produced some of the most influential people who have ever graced the pages of history.
In fact, there are not many families in the history of the world that can compare to the Kohens of Kos that have produced so many healers, medicine men, inventors, artists, kings and priests. A learned people who were often hired by kings, and queens from all around the world as their tutors. But also a people who were often martyred just as much they were praised because of their extreme wealth, power, and at times arrogance that had threatened almost all up and coming war lords. Hence, they were often at the center of some of the world’s bloodiest battles, and grandest stories that have ever been told.
THE GREEK KOHEN JEWISH PRIESTHOOD JOINS THE GENTILE ROMANS IN THE BUILDING OF A NEW TEMPLE OF SOLOMON
The 1st century geographer, Strabo was a native of Crete, and he speaks of the Kohens having erected a temple in honor of Asklepios (Æsculapius), the God of Healing and Medicine of the island of Kos. He said, “it was enriched with offerings and presents of great value; but the chief ornament of the place was a Venus rising out of the sea, done by the Kohen artist, Apelles, and reckoned one of his best performances. Apelles is esteemed as one of the greatest of Greek Kohen painters who had ever lived.
This Kohen priesthood with
their learning, medicine and the artwork of Kos was held in high esteem by the conquering Romans. Often when a people or tribe such as the Kohen is conquered by another tribe like the Romans, they are not entirely wiped out and the best people and even arts are taken over and incorporated by the conquerors such as in this case of this unique relationship that was built between Rome and the Kohen priesthood that may still last to this day. The symbolic story that relays this event is the one in which Augustus Caesar had taken the Kohen’s chief ornament of Venus rising from the sea from Kos to Rome and in doing so, he had given the Kohen special citizen status in the Roman Empire.
Both Augustus and Julius had claimed Venus as their mother and hence, the mother of the Julian family. It is said that in order to make some amends to the Kohen of Kos for the loss of such a valuable treasure of their island, Augustus had given them special taxation status and would forgive a considerable part of their annual tribute to Rome. This had also occurred in the time of Emperor Claudius who in 53 A.D., granted the Kohens immunity from taxes. Hence, the Kohen priesthood would be the first chosen people and Tribe of the Old Covenant for Rome to assist them in the building the New Covenant under the new law of the New Testament in which they would all be living stones in the building of the Temple of Solomon that would now include both Gentiles and Jews.
WHO WERE THE SOME OF THE KOHEN PRIESTS AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM?
Unfortunately, because of their wealth, power and intelligence, the Kohen were always the target of various war lords around the world who simply had the power in the sword in which the Kohen of Kos would become frequent victims to these pirates who invaded their island. Events that would most likely cause them to move from Kos and abandon their well-known original home once and for all.
Below I will list many of these priests of the Kohens that I have compiled in the course of my research which some of you will recognize many of these name. Men who would influence all the arts, trade, religion, war, laws, games, and who would be pioneers in the field of medicine, such as the world-famous Father of Medicine, Hippocrates who was a Kohen born on the Island of Kos. His sons Drakon, Thessalus, and son in law, Polybus, were Kohen trained doctors as well. Kos is the very place where he had formed his famous School of Medicine that had lasted for many centuries producing some of the earth’s best natural cures and also some of the most adept and sought out medicine men the world has ever seen. Health and medical procedures that are still used to this very day.
Kos would also be the birthplace to Pharaohs such as the Greco-Egyptian, Ptolemy II, and it also had produced many men of literary talents like the poets Simonides of Kos (Cos or Ceos), Prodicus of Kos (Cos or Ceos), and medicine men who also had a sense of humor like the comedian, Epicharmus. All of them being from the Kohen priesthood from the Island of Kos (Dia).
Two decrees of the third century A.d. have been found, expressing the gratitude of other cities for the services of doctors who had come to them from Kos. This shows that the medical school of Kos maintained the position of importance to which it was elevated by Hippocrates. In Pliny (N.H. 29.4) we read: “The subsequent history (of medicine), strange to say, was enveloped in darkest night until the Peloponnesian War, when it was brought into the light of day by Hippocrates, who was born in Cos, a powerful and famous island, sacred to Aesculapius.
More evidence of the Kohen can be witnessed in the ancient inscriptions at the Esculapius Temple in Kos. It is said to be a long inscription from approximately 278 B.C. that tells of the attack and retreat invaders from Gaul on their sacred precincts of Delphi. These facts were detailed in The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal, Volume 27, edited by Stephen Denison Peet, J. O. Kinnaman. It was found by a German explorer, M. Herzog who relates this translation.
Diodes, son of Philerios, has proposed the following: Be it known that the Barbarians having made an expedition against the Greeks and upon the temple of Delphi. We announce that the agressors of the temple have been chastised by the God and by the men who came to the succour of the temple because of the Barbaric incursions.
That the temple has been saved and is now decorated with the spoils of the enemy: that the various aggressors have for the most part perished in the combats against the Greeks: in order that it may be apparent to the citizens of Cos that they should share in the joy of the Greeks because of the victory, and that they should render thanks to (Apollo} the God for his apparition daring the peril which assailed the temple and for the salvation* of the Greeks.
It then proceeds to proclaim that when the Coan deputation arrived at Delphi they shonld “sacrifice to the Pythian Apollo an ox with gilded horns, in recognition of the rescue of the Greeks; that they should offer prayers to the deity for the good fortune of the people of Cos and for happy concord in their democratic government, and that the Greeks who hurried to the temple’s defence should enjoy perpetual felicity. That the Prostatai should equally offer (at Cos) a sacrifice to the Pythian Apollo, to Zeus Soter and to Nike; that they sacrifice to each of these an adult victim; that the day upon which they render these offerings shall be a lucky day. Upon this day, also, the citizens and metics, and other persons then resident at Cos, shall carry crowns; that the holy herald shall proclaim ‘that the people offer the sacrifice upon this day by reason of the salvation and victory of the Greeks; that all those bearing crowns may be fortunate and prosperous; that the treasurers give 400 drachmas for the sacrifice at Delphi and 160 for that at Cos; that the prostatai see to it that the cash is sent to the theoroi, as the sacrifices duly take place- at Cos. That the engraving of this decree be upon a marble slab, which is to be displayed in the temple of Asklepios.”
There have also been found, Kohen coins with names of their magistrates, various Kohen names, the Kohen Calendar and the Sepulchral Inscriptions with Fines that have been left behind documenting these people. These texts left behind indicate that there were three Doric tribes that had comprised the Kohen Tribe and the Isle of Kos. These tribes were, the Hylleis, Dymanes, Pamphyli or, as otherwise written, Pamphyleis. This is their official order (see Nos. 39 and 65).
In my previous article, Dragon Isle: The Kohen of the Lost Island of Dia, I had listed a small example of the any great men who were either born on this island, or had become masters in their chosen arts at one of the world’s greatest schools that has ever been known. Here is a much larger list of Kohen priests that were born or had lived on the island of Kos (Dia) at some point before the 1st century AD. These names were compiled by Gnosis and open source material available on the internet such as Wikipedia and Google books which some are linked to in yellow or can be found via a Google search. This list will also be updated periodically when I come across other Kohen names I may have missed in this research.
ANCIENT KOHEN PRIESTHOOD LIST:
Simonides of Ceos (Kos, Cos or Coos) (Ancient Greek: Σιμωνίδης ὁ Κεῖος) (c. 556–468 BC) was a Greek lyric poet, born at Ioulis on Ceos. The scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria included him in the canonical list of nine lyric poets, along with Bacchylides (his nephew) and Pindar (reputedly a bitter rival). Both Bacchylides and Pindar benefited from his innovative approach to lyric poetry and he was more involved than either of them in the major events and personalities of their times.[3] His fame owes much to traditional accounts of his colourful life, as one of the wisest of men, as a greedy miser, as an inventor of a system of mnemonics and also of some letters of the Greek alphabet (ω, η, ξ, ψ). Aristotle reported that the wife of Hieron once asked Simonides whether it was better to be wealthy or wise, to which he apparently replied: “Wealthy; for I see the wise spending their days at the doors of the wealthy.” Plato, in The Republic, numbered Simonides with Bias and Pittacus among the wise and blessed, even putting into the mouth of Socrates the words “it is not easy to disbelieve Simonides, for he is a wise man and divinely inspired,” but in his dialogue Protagoras, Plato numbered Simonides with Homer and Hesiod as precursors of the sophist.
Bacchylides (/bəˈkɪlɨˌdiːz/; Ancient Greek: Βακχυλίδης) (5th century BC) was a Greek lyric poet. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of nine lyric poets which included his uncle Simonides. The elegance and polished style of his lyrics have been noted in Bacchylidean scholarship since at least Longinus (De Sublimitate 33,5). Some scholars, however, have characterized these qualities as superficial charm. According to Strabo, he was born in Ioulis, on the island of Ceos, and his mother was the sister of Simonides. According to Suda, his father’s name was Meidon and his grandfather, also named Bacchylides, was a famous athlete,yet according to Etymologicum Magnum his father’s name was Meidylus.
Prodicus of Ceos (Kos or Cos) (Greek: Πρόδικος, Pródikos; c. 465 BC – c. 395 BC) was a Greek philosopher, and part of the first generation of Sophists. He came to Athens as ambassador from Ceos, and became known as a speaker and a teacher. Plato treats him with greater respect than the other sophists, and in several of the Platonic dialogues Socrates appears as the friend of Prodicus. Prodicus made linguistics and ethics prominent in his curriculum. The content of one of his speeches is still known, and concerns a fable in which Heracles has to make a choice between Virtue and Vice. He also interpreted religion through the framework of naturalism.
The island of Kos (Dia) is where the Father of Medicine, Hippocrates (Greek: Ἱπποκράτης; Hippokrátēs; c. 460 BC – c. 370 BC) was born and also where he had operated his world-famous school of medicine. Soranus said that Hippocrates learned medicine from his father and grandfather, and studied other subjects with Democritus and Gorgias. (Wikipedia) This learning of grandfather, father to son would follow in the ancient Kohen family tradition. Pliny had written Hippocrates learned medicine by writing down the successful cures that had been recorded by patients on the walls of Asklepios’s Kohen (Koan) temple.
To Hippocrates is accorded the honorable title of Father of Medicine, and even in those early days the “oath of Hippocrates” was a solemn obligation to be taken by all who undertook the study or practice of medicine. He wrote much in regard to dental maladies and their remedial measures, among which were considered extraction and cauterization. He was the inventor of certain crude dental forceps and other dental instruments. He practiced the extraction of loose teeth and cauterization of those that ached but were not loose. He also recognized that the first teeth are formed before birth by the nourishment of the fetus in the womb.
Drakon, the son of Hippokrates of Kos and his nephew of the same name, and the Alexandrian grammarian from Stratonikeia,
Eugenio Amato Drakon of Kos (400 — 350 BCE) GALEN, commenting on two Hippokratic treatises, mentions Drakon the son of HIPPOKRATES, and brother of THESSALoS OF KoS, and suggests that some claimed that Drakon authored them:
The comedian Epicharmus of Kos was another well-known man of medicine from Kos who was also known as someone who had a great sense of humor. Plato mentions Epicharmus in his dialogue Gorgias and in Theaetetus. In the latter, Socrates refers to Epicharmus as “the prince of Comedy”, Homer as “the prince of Tragedy”, and both as “great masters of either kind of poetry”.More references by ancient authors can be found discussed in Pickard-Cambridge‘s Dithyramb, Tragedy, Comedy and they are collected in Greek in Kassel and Austin’s new edition of the fragments in Poetae Comici Graeci, (2001).(Wikipedia)
Philitas (Philetas) of Kos (340 – c.?285 BC) was a scholar and poet during the early Hellenistic period of ancient Greece. A Greek associated with Alexandria, he flourished in the second half of the 4th century BC and was appointed tutor to the heir to the throne of Ptolemaic Egypt. His reputation continued for centuries, based on both his pioneering study of words and his verse in elegiac meter. His vocabulary Disorderly Words described the meanings of rare literary words, including those used by Homer. His poetry, notably his elegiac poem Demeter, was highly respected by later ancient poets. However, almost all his work has since been lost. He was thin and frail; Athenaeus later caricatured him as an academic so consumed by his studies that he wasted away and died. Little is known of Philitas’ life. Ancient sources refer to him as a Coan, a native or long-time inhabitant of Cos,[3] one of the Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea just off the coast of Asia. His student Theocritus wrote that Philetas’ father was Telephos and his mother, assuming the manuscript is supplemented correctly, Euctione.[6] From a comment about Philitas in the Suda, a 10th-century AD historical encyclopedia, it is estimated he was born in 340 BC.
During the Wars of the Diadochi that followed the death of Alexander the Great and divided Alexander’s empire, Ptolemy had captured Cos from his rival successor, Antigonus, in 310 BC; his son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, was born there in 308 BC. It was a favorite retreat for men of letters weary of Alexandria.
Praxagoras of Kos is known in medical history as the preceptor of Herophilus, one of the leaders of the Alexandrian school of medicine, for his philosophical teachings. was an influential figure of medicine in ancient Greece. He was born on the Greek island of Kos in about 340 BC. Both his father, Nicarchus, and his grandfather were physicians. Very little is known of Praxagoras’ personal life, and none of his writings have survived.
Plistonicus of Kos was an ancient Greek physician who therefore lived in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. Some, following Erasistratus, hold that in the belly the food is ground up; others, following Plistonicus, a pupil of Praxagoras, that it putrifies.
3rd Century Greek poet Herodas (Greek: Ἡρώδας) was also a Kohen (Koan) from the island of Kos. An account of Kos down to and during the time of Herodas is given in the book, The Mimes of Herodas by Herodas.
Ptolemy I had become defacto king of Kos during the Wars of the Diadochi that following the death of Alexander the Great and divided Alexander’s empire, Ptolemy had captured Cos from his rival successor, Antigonus, in 310 BC; It was a favorite retreat for men of letters weary of Alexandria. In the year 309BC, Ptolemy I brought Queen Berenike to Kos to give birth to the next king of Ptolemaic Egypt from 283 BCE to 246 BC, Ptolemy II Philadelphus.
Ptolemy II was a Koan or Kohen by way of his mother and had fiercely protected the island of his birth, Kos during his reign which was after the dissolution of the empire of Alexander the Great. Ptolemy II (Philadelphus,), the son of Ptolemy I was born on the island in 308 B.C.
Kos was the birthplace of Apelles, the greatest of Greek painters
Herophilus (325-255 B. C.) is one of the group that has been called the greats who taught at the Hippocrates School of Medicine on the island. Hehad subscribed to humoural theory and was also a medical assistant to Ptolemy I. He was a pupil of Praxagoras.
Kaphisophon was a Kohen doctor who had practiced in Alexandria, who led an Alexandrian theoria to Kos (220—210 BC); see Herzog.
Xenophon of Kos (about B. C. 290) lived before Apollonius of Memphis (B. C. 250), and wrote on botany, the pulse, medicines and diseases of women. He regarded the departure of worms from the body a dangerous sign in diseases. He was Claudius’ personal physician, and virtual ruler in Kos. Hence, the chosen Kohen High Priest.
Philinos of Kos (fl. 250 BCE) is usually credited with being the founder of the Empiricist school of medicine. He was a famous runner who won victories at all four of the panhellenic games in two successive Olympiads (129-130). Philinos was a pupil of Herophilus.
Erasistratus of Kos was a Greek anatomist and royal physician under Seleucus I Nicator of Syria. Along with fellow physician Herophilus, he founded a school of anatomy in Alexandria, where they carried out anatomical research. Greek anatomist and physician in Alexandria, regarded by some as the founder of physiology. Known especially for his studies of the circulatory and nervous ..
Soranus of Kos was a 1st century Kohen physician who had practiced in gynecology.
Makareus, son of Philokleidas, appears in two inscriptions from Kos: (1) as a petitioner at the Delphic oracle his name is preserved in the text of the oracular question . Makareus son of Aratos, arriving from Kos, renewed the familiar ties which exist between the Koans and the Macedonians and gave an account of the goodwill of the city
Aristokrates of Kos was the son of Makareus
Kritodemos was a Kohen physician from Kos
Hermias son of Emmenidas was a Kohen doctory from Kos. Two documents are letterdecrees by Knossos and Gortyna for Hermias who had distinguished himself for his services in a war in which both cities participated on the same side. He had worked on Crete. http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/CSAD/Images/00/Image40.html
Eudemos was then also the name of a priest of Julius Caesar under Augustus at Kos. He was the son of Epikrates, and it is said he was known from a fragmentary Kohen.
Polyrrhenians
Nicanor of Kos wrote a commentary on this Idyll
Theocritus was a Kohen
Delphis, daughter of Philinos, is not attested, but another Delphis is known as a poetess in Kos
Mestra Pharmakis was the Thessalian Sorceress who gave birth to the Kohen king Eurypylus on Kos
SOURCES:
Linked to in Yellow or By Open Source Via Google Books and Non-Copyrighted Books