Pedanius Dioscorides (Ancient Greek:Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης,Pedánios Dioskourídēs;c. 40–90 AD), "the father ofpharmacognosy", was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author ofDe materia medica (in the originalAncient Greek:Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς,Peri hulēs iatrikēs, both meaning "OnMedical Material") , a 5-volume Greek encyclopedicpharmacopeia on herbal medicine and related medicinal substances, 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.[2][3]
A native ofAnazarbus,Cilicia,Asia Minor, Dioscorides likely studied medicine nearby at the school inTarsus, which had a pharmacological emphasis, and he dedicated his medical books to Laecanius Arius, a medical practitioner there.[a][5][6] 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.[7][5] The name Pedanius is Roman, suggesting that an aristocrat of that name sponsored him to become a Roman citizen.[8]
Between AD 50 and 70[9] Dioscorides wrote a five-volume book in his native Greek,Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς (Perì hylēs íatrikēs), known in Western Europe more often by its Latin titleDe materia medica ("On Medical Material"), which became the precursor to all modernpharmacopeias.[10]
In contrast to many classical authors, Dioscorides' works were not "rediscovered" in theRenaissance, because his book had never left circulation; indeed, with regard to Westernmateria medica through the early modern period, Dioscorides' text eclipsed theHippocratic corpus.[11]
In the medieval period,De materia medica was circulated in Greek, as well as Latin and Arabic translation.[12]
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's commentary on Dioscorides'De materia medica, entitledTafsīr Kitāb Diāsqūrīdūs:تفسير كتاب دياسقوريدوس, has been used by scholars to identify many of the flora mentioned by Dioscorides.[13]
A number of illustrated manuscripts ofDe materia medica survive. The most famous of these is the lavishly illustratedVienna Dioscurides, 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 ofMount Athos.[14]
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 theDacian,[15]Thracian,[16] 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,[17] 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",[18] while some of the botanical identifications of Dioscorides' plants remain merely guesses.
The genusDioscorea includes different species ofyam.
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".[11]
The plant genusDioscorea, which includes theyam, was named after him byLinnaeus.
A butterfly, the bush hopper,Ampittia dioscorides which is found from India southeast towards Indonesia and east towards China, is named after him.[21]
^The dedication, translated by Scarborough and Nutton,[4] began "At your insistence I have assembled my material into five books, and I dedicate my compendium to you in fulfilment of a debt of gratitude for your sentiments towards me".[5]
^Borzelleca, Joseph F.; Lane, Richard W. (2008). "The Art, the Science, and the Seduction of Toxicology: an Evolutionary Development". In Hayes, Andrew Wallace (ed.).Principles and methods of toxicology (5th ed.). Taylor & Francis. p. 13.
^Nutton, Vivian. Ancient medicine. Routledge, 2012. p. 178
^Tobyn, Graeme; Denham, Alison; Whitelegg, Midge (2016).The Western Herbal Tradition: 2000 Years of Medicinal Plant Knowledge (illustrated ed.). Singing Dragon. p. 4.ISBN9780857012593.
^"Greek Medicine". National Institutes of Health, USA. 16 September 2002. Retrieved1 July 2013.
^abDe Vos (2010) "European Materia Medica in Historical Texts: Longevity of a Tradition and Implications for Future Use",Journal of Ethnopharmacology 132(1):28–47
^Zohar Amar,Agricultural Produce in the Land of Israel in the Middle Ages (Hebrew title:גידולי ארץ-ישראל בימי הביניים), Ben-Zvi Institute: Jerusalem 2000, p. 270ISBN965-217-174-3 (Hebrew);Tafsīr Kitāb Diāsqūrīdūs - commentaire de la "Materia Medica" de Dioscoride de Abū Muḥammad ʻAbdallāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Bayṭār de Malaga (ed. Ibrahim Ben Mrad), Beirut 1989 (Arabic title: تفسير كتاب دياسقوريدوس)
^Murray, J. (1884).The Academy. Alexander and Shephrard.. Page 68.
^Krebs, Robert E.; Krebs, Carolyn A. (2003).Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the Ancient World. Greenwood Publishing Group.. Pages 75–76.
^Isely, Duane (1994). One hundred and one botanists. Iowa State University Press.
Bruins:Codex Constantinopolitanus: Palatii Veteris NO. 1 [3 volume set] Part 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.
Hamilton, J. S. (1986). "Scribonius Largus on the medical profession".Bulletin of the History of Medicine.60 (2):209–216.PMID3521772.
Riddle, John M. (1985).Dioscorides on pharmacy and medicine. Austin: University of Texas Press.ISBN0-292-71544-7.
Sadek, M. M. (1983).The Arabic materia medica of Dioscorides. Québec, Canada: Les Éditions du sphinx.ISBN2-920123-02-5.
Scarborough, J.; Nutton, V. (1982). "The Preface of Dioscorides' Materia Medica: introduction, translation, and commentary".Transactions & Studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.4 (3):187–227.PMID6753260.
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