From The Herbal Academy: De Materia Medica - The Ancient Text That Changed The World
Dioscorides is seated in the bottom left of this painting. He is shown examining a flower while he takes notes. (“Medicine in the Middle Ages” (1906), by Veloso Salgado.) NOVA Medical School, Public Domain.
This article was published on the Herbal Academy on November 13, 2020.
Excerpt from The Herbal Academy: “There is a grand mystery and pleasure in reading ancient texts that can still fulfill our curiosities about the human experience. Writings about herbalism are no exception, as they give us a sense of how our ancestors lived, survived, and interacted with the natural world around them. De Materia Medica, Latin for “On Medical Material” is a surviving text from the first century written by Pedanius Dioscorides (c. 40-90 CE), a Greek medical botanist and physician who served in the Roman army.
His five-volume manuscript describes approximately 600 plants for more than 1,000 traditional medicines. Centuries after it was written, Dioscorides’ celebrated herbal reference would become the basis of European and Western pharmacopeia.”