Pedanius Dioscorides

Pedanius Dioscorides (Ancient Greek: Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης; c. 40 – 90 AD), or Pedanii Dioscuridis, was a physician, pharmacologist and botanist, the author of De Materia Medica—a 5-volume encyclopedia about herbal medicine and related medicinal substances (a pharmacopeia), that was widely read for more than 1,500 years. Dioscorides wrote De Materia Medica in Greek, his native language. He was employed as a medic in the Roman army.

Life

A native of Anazarbus, Cilicia, Asia Minor, Dioscorides practised medicine in Rome during the reign of the emperor Nero. He was a surgeon with the Roman army, which gave him the opportunity to travel extensively, at the same time seeking medicinal substances (plants and minerals) from all over the Roman Empire.

De Materia Medica

Between AD 50 and 70 Dioscorides wrote a five-volume book in his native Greek, Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς, known more widely by its Latin title De Materia Medica ("On Medical Material") which became the precursor to all modern pharmacopeias.

Dioscorides (Stoic)

Dioscorides (fl. 225 BC), sometimes known as Dioscurides, was a Stoic philosopher, the father of Zeno of Tarsus and a pupil of Chrysippus. All other information has been lost.

Dedication

Chrysippus dedicated the following works to Dioscorides:

References