Science in the Ancient World: from Antiquity Through the Middle Ages by Lawson Russell M.;

Author:Lawson, Russell M.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABC-CLIO, LLC
Published: 2021-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

DIOSCORIDES (C. 40–90 CE)

Dioscorides was an expert on pharmacology who either traded in drugs, practiced medicine, or served as a physician to Roman soldiers. He apparently traveled widely during the reigns of Claudius (41–54) and Nero (54–68). He was born in southeastern Anatolia and traveled throughout the eastern portion of the Roman Empire. Many physicians were itinerants; probably Dioscorides was too. During the reign of Nero, Dioscorides published De Materia Medica, a collection of herbs and their remedies that he had collected and observed over the course of his many travels. De Materia Medica classified drugs according to their respective properties and became a fundamental source during the Byzantine and Roman Empires for knowledge about herbal remedies. Dioscorides discussed how concoctions should be prepared and their efficacy in providing relief for various ailments. De Materia Medica “is an assemblage of data about the medicinal properties of slightly more than 1,000 natural products drugs, mostly from the plant kingdom.” The book “also included drugs derived from animals and minerals. . . . Dioscorides related 4,740 medicinal actions, such as stimulants, antiseptics, and anti-inflammatory agents” (quoted in Riddle, p. xviii).

The Arab commentator Ibn Abi Usaibi’ah, author of History of Physicians, wrote of Dioscorides:

Dioscorides of Anazarba, the man pure of soul, who brought great benefit to the people, the Arabized, the victorious, who toured the land, adopted the science of simple drugs from deserts, islands and seas; who described them, experimented with them and detailed their uses before being questioned about their effect, so that when experiments succeeded and he found that when put to the test they came out with the same results, he proved that and illustrated them according to the pattern. He was the pioneer of all the simples, which were taken up by those who came after him. From him they learned about all they needed to know about these drugs. Blessed is that good soul which strove ceaselessly for the good of all mankind. (Trans. Kopf)

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