Pedanius Dioscorides ( grc-gre, Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης, ; 40–90 AD), “the father of pharmacognosy”, was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of ''
De materia medica
(Latin name for the Greek work , , both meaning "On Medical Material") is a pharmacopoeia of medicinal plants and the medicines that can be obtained from them. The five-volume work was written between 50 and 70 CE by Pedanius Dioscorides, ...
'' (, On Medical Material) —a 5-volume Greek encyclopedia about herbal medicine and related medicinal substances (a
pharmacopeia
A pharmacopoeia, pharmacopeia, or pharmacopoea (from the obsolete typography ''pharmacopœia'', meaning "drug-making"), in its modern technical sense, is a book containing directions for the identification of compound medicines, and published by ...
), that was widely read for more than 1,500 years. For almost two millennia Dioscorides was regarded as the most prominent writer on plants and plant drugs.
Life
A native of
Anazarbus,
Cilicia
Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...
,
Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, Dioscorides likely studied medicine nearby at the school in
Tarsus, which had a pharmacological emphasis, and he dedicated his medical books to Laecanius Arius, a medical practitioner there.
Though he writes he lived a "soldier's life" or "soldier-like life", his pharmacopeia refers almost solely to plants found in the Greek-speaking eastern Mediterranean, making it likely that he served in campaigns, or travelled in a civilian capacity, less widely as supposed.
The name Pedanius is Roman, suggesting that an aristocrat of that name sponsored him to become a Roman citizen.
''De materia medica''
![ViennaDioscoridesPlant](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/ViennaDioscoridesPlant.jpg)
Between AD 50 and 70 Dioscorides wrote a five-volume book in his native Greek, (Perì hylēs íatrikēs), known in Western Europe more often by its Latin title ''De materia medica'' ("On Medical Material"), which became the precursor to all modern
pharmacopeia
A pharmacopoeia, pharmacopeia, or pharmacopoea (from the obsolete typography ''pharmacopœia'', meaning "drug-making"), in its modern technical sense, is a book containing directions for the identification of compound medicines, and published by ...
s.
![1554Arnoullet](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/1554Arnoullet.jpg)
In contrast to many classical authors, Dioscorides' works were not "rediscovered" in the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
, because his book had never left circulation; indeed, with regard to Western ''materia medica'' through the early modern period, Dioscorides' text eclipsed the
Hippocratic corpus
The Hippocratic Corpus (Latin: ''Corpus Hippocraticum''), or Hippocratic Collection, is a collection of around 60 early Ancient Greek medical works strongly associated with the physician Hippocrates and his teachings. The Hippocratic Corpus cove ...
.
[De Vos (2010) "European Materia Medica in Historical Texts: Longevity of a Tradition and Implications for Future Use", ''Journal of Ethnopharmacology'' 132(1):28–47]
In the medieval period, ''De materia medica'' was circulated in Greek, as well as Latin and Arabic translation.
While being reproduced in manuscript form through the centuries, it was often supplemented with commentary and minor additions from Arabic and Indian sources.
Ibn al-Baitar
Diyāʾ al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Mālaqī, commonly known as Ibn al-Bayṭār () (1197–1248 AD) was an Andalusian Arab physician, botanist, pharmacist and scientist. His main contribution was to systematically record ...
's commentary on Dioscorides' ''De materia medica'', entitled : , has been used by scholars to identify many of the flora mentioned by Dioscorides.
A number of illustrated manuscripts of ''De materia medica'' survive. The most famous of these is the lavishly illustrated ''
Vienna Dioscurides
The Vienna Dioscurides or Vienna Dioscorides is an early 6th-century Byzantine Greek illuminated manuscript of an even earlier 1st century AD work, '' De materia medica'' (Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς : Perì hylēs iatrikēs in the ori ...
'', produced in Constantinople in 512/513 AD. Densely illustrated Arabic copies survive from the 12th and 13th centuries, while Greek manuscripts survive today in the monasteries of
Mount Athos.
''De materia medica'' is the prime historical source of information about the medicines used by the Greeks, Romans, and other cultures of antiquity. The work also records the
Dacian,
Thracian
The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...
, Roman,
ancient Egyptian and North African (Carthaginian) names for some plants, which otherwise would have been lost. The work presents about 600 plants in all,
[. Pages 75–76.] although the descriptions are sometimes obscurely phrased, leading to comments such as: "Numerous individuals from the Middle Ages on have struggled with the identity of the recondite kinds", while some of the botanical identifications of Dioscorides' plants remain merely guesses.
''De materia medica'' formed the core of the European pharmacopeia through the 19th century, suggesting that "the timelessness of Dioscorides' work resulted from an empirical tradition based on trial and error; that it worked for generation after generation despite social and cultural changes and changes in medical theory".
The plant genus ''
Dioscorea'', which includes the
yam, was named after him by
Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
. A butterfly, the Bush hopper, ''
Ampittia dioscorides
''Ampittia dioscorides'', the common bush hopper or simply bush hopper, is a butterfly found in India, China, Indochina, Cambodia and on to Borneo, Sumatra and Java belonging to the family Hesperiidae.
Description
Subspecies
*''A. d. diosco ...
'' which is found from India southeast towards Indonesia and east towards China, is named after him.
Gallery
File:Dioscorides01.jpg, Later representation of Dioscorides
File:Portrait_of_Dioscorides_from_De_Materia_Medica_cropped.jpg, Dioscorides as depicted in a 1240 Arabic edition of ''De materia medica''
File:Dioscorides De Materia Medica Spain 12th 13th century.jpg, ''De materia medica'' in Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
, Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, 12th-13th century
File:Arabic herbal medicine guidebook.jpeg, Cumin and dill from an Arabic book of simples (''ca.'' 1334) after Dioscorides (British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
)
File:Dioscorides De Materia Medica Byzantium 15th century.jpg, Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
''De materia medica'', 15th century
File:Arabischer Maler des Kräuterbuchs des Dioskurides 004.jpg, Folio from an Arabic manuscript of Dioscorides, ''De materia medica
(Latin name for the Greek work , , both meaning "On Medical Material") is a pharmacopoeia of medicinal plants and the medicines that can be obtained from them. The five-volume work was written between 50 and 70 CE by Pedanius Dioscorides, ...
'', 1229
Translations
*
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See also
*
Materia medica
*
Dioscorea
Notes
References
Sources
*
* Bruins: ''Codex Constantinopolitanus'': Palatii Veteris NO. 1
volume setPart 1: Reproduction of the Manuscript; Part 2: Greek Text; Part 3: Translation and Commentary Bruins, E. M. (Ed.)
* Forbes, Andrew; Henley, Daniel; Henley, David (2013). 'Pedanius Dioscorides' in: ''Health and Well Being: A Medieval Guide''. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books.
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External links
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Works by Dioscoridesthe full book downloadable in PDF fileformat.
*
*
''Pedacio Dioscorides anazarbeo: Acerca de la materia medicinal y de los venenos mortiferos'' Antwerp, 1555, digitized at
Biblioteca Digital Hispánica,
Biblioteca Nacional de España
The Biblioteca Nacional de España (''National Library of Spain'') is a major public library, the largest in Spain, and one of the largest in the world. It is located in Madrid, on the Paseo de Recoletos.
History
The library was founded by ...
''Les VI livres de Ped. Diosc. de la materie medicinale'', Lyon (1559), French editionThe 1500th Anniversary (512-2012) of the Juliana Anicia Codex: An Illustrated Dioscoridean Recension. Jules Janick and Kim E. Hummer. Chronica horticulturae. 52(3) 2012 pp. 9-15
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dioscorides, Pedanius
40 births
90 deaths
Ancient Greek writers
Ancient Greek pharmacologists
1st-century Greek physicians
Pre-Linnaean botanists
Ancient Greek botanists
Herbalists
1st-century writers
Dioscorides
Pedanius Dioscorides ( grc-gre, Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης, ; 40–90 AD), “the father of pharmacognosy”, was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of '' De materia medica'' (, On Medical Material) —a 5-vo ...
1st-century agronomists