Pedanius Dioscorides
192515
211337406
2008-05-09T21:07:13Z
Michael Devore
44833
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[[Image:Dioscorides01.jpg|frameless|left|thumb|Pedanius Discorides.]]
'''Pedanius Dioscorides''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: Πεδάνιος Διοσκορίδης; ca. [[40]]-ca. [[90]]) was an ancient [[ancient Greece|Greek]] [[physician]], [[pharmacologist]] and [[botanist]] from [[Anazarbus]], [[Cilicia]], [[Asia Minor]], who practised in [[ancient Rome]] during the time of [[Nero]]. He had the opportunity to travel extensively seeking medicinal substances from all over the [[History of Rome|Roman]] and [[History of Greece|Greek world]].
Dioscorides is famous for writing a five volume book ''De [[Materia Medica]]'' that is a precursor to all modern [[pharmacopeia]]s, and is one of the most influential herbal books in history. In fact it remained in use until about CE [[1600]]. Unlike many classical authors, his works were not "rediscovered" in the [[Renaissance]], because his book never left circulation. The ''Materia Medica'' was often reproduced in manuscript form through the centuries, often with commentary on Dioscorides' work and with minor additions from [[Arabic language|Arabic]] and [[India]]n sources, though there were some advancements in herbal science among the Arabic additions.
The ''Materia Medica'' is important not just for the history of herbal science: it also gives us a knowledge of the herbs and remedies used by the Greeks, Romans, and other cultures of antiquity. The work also records the [[Dacian]] and [[Thracian]] names for some plants, which otherwise would have been lost. The work presents about 500 plants in all, although the descriptions are obscurely phrased, and as Duane Isely puts it "numerous individuals from the Middle Ages on have struggled with the identity of the recondite kinds", and characterizes most of the identifications of Gunther et al as "educated guesses".
[[Image:Arabic herbal medicine guidebook.jpeg|thumb|right|250px|Arabic Book of Simple Drugs from Dioscorides’ ''Materia Medica''. Cumin & dill. c. 1334 By Kathleen Cohen in London's [[British Museum]].]]
A number of illustrated manuscripts of the ''Materia Medica'' survive, some of them from as early as the 5th through 7th centuries. The most famous of these early copies is the ''[[Vienna Dioscurides]]'' (512/513).
==See also==
*[[Vienna Dioscurides]]
*[[List of Dacian plant names]]
==References==
* Duane Isely, ''One hundred and one botanists'' (Iowa State University Press, 1994), pp. 10-13.
* R.T. Gunther, ed. ''The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides'' (Oxford University Press, 1933).
==External links==
{{Commons|Vienna_Dioscurides|Dioscorides}}
*[http://www.tiscalinet.ch/materiamedica German translation of Materia Medica, 1902]
*[http://www.bnnonline.it/biblvir/dioscoride/index.htm Plates showing many pages from an original illuminated Greek manuscript of the Materia Medica]
*[http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/histmed/medica/dioscoride.htm Dioscoride: Digitized Editions]
*[http://www.ibidispress.scriptmania.com/box_widget.html Free downloads of all 5 books of Dioscorides in modern english, with indexes, not for resale. Also copyright-free botanical illustrations to download]
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[[Category:40 births]]
[[Category:90 deaths]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek writers]]
[[Category:Pharmacologists]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek physicians]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman physicians]]
[[Category:Pre-Linnaean botanists]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek botanists]]
[[Category:Herbalists]]
[[Category:Roman-era Greeks]]
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