Editing Dioscorides

{{short description|Greco-Roman physician and pharmacologist, prominent writer on plant drugs (AD c.40–90)}}
{{for|other people named Dioscorides|Dioscorides (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox person
 | name        = Pedanius Dioscorides
 | image       = ViennaDioscoridesAuthorPortrait.jpg
 | alt         =
 | caption     = Dioscorides receives a [[mandrake (plant)|mandrake]] root, an illumination from the 6th century ({{c.|512}}) Greek [[Juliana Anicia Codex]]
 | birth_name  =
 | birth_date  = {{Circa|40 AD}}<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| encyclopedia= [[Encyclopaedia Britannica]]| date= September 27, 2013| title= Pedanius Dioscorides| url= https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pedanius-Dioscorides| via= britannica.com| access-date= July 4, 2020}}</ref>
 | birth_place = [[Anazarbus]], [[Cilicia]], [[Asia Minor]]
 | death_date  = {{Circa|90 AD}}
 | death_place =
 | nationality = 
 | other_names = Dioscurides
 | known_for   = ''[[De Materia Medica (Dioscorides)|De Materia Medica]]''
 | occupation  = Army [[physician]], [[pharmacologist]], [[botanist]]
}}

'''Pedanius Dioscorides''' ({{langx|grc|Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης}}, {{Lang|grc-Latn|Pedánios Dioskourídēs}}; {{c.}} 40–90 AD),  "the father of [[pharmacognosy]]", was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of {{Lang|la|[[De materia medica]]}} (in the original {{langx|grc|Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς}}, {{Transliteration|grc|Peri hulēs iatrikēs}}, both meaning "On [[Materia medica|Medical Material]]") , a 5-volume Greek encyclopedic [[pharmacopeia]] 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bauer Petrovska |first1=Biljana |title=Historical review of medicinal plants' usage |journal=Pharmacognosy Reviews |year=2012 |volume=6 |issue=11 |pages=1–5 |doi=10.4103/0973-7847.95849|pmid=22654398 |pmc=3358962 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Osbaldeston |first1=Tess Anne |title=De Materia Medica - Pedanius Dioscorides - |url=http://www.cancerlynx.com/dioscorides.html |access-date=11 November 2022 |date=2008}}</ref>

==Life==
A native of [[Anazarbus]], [[Cilicia]], [[Asia Minor]], Dioscorides likely studied medicine nearby at the school in [[Tarsus, Mersin|Tarsus]], which had a pharmacological emphasis, and he dedicated his medical books to Laecanius Arius, a medical practitioner there.{{efn|The dedication, translated by Scarborough and Nutton,<ref>Scarborough and Nutton, 1982</ref> 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".<ref name=Stobart/>}}<ref name=Stobart>{{cite book |last=Stobart |first=Anne |title=Critical Approaches to the History of Western Herbal Medicine: From Classical Antiquity to the Early Modern Period |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7SseAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA193 |year=2014 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-4411-8418-4 |page=193}}</ref><ref name=Wallace>{{cite book | title=Principles and methods of toxicology | editor-first=Andrew Wallace | editor-last=Hayes | page=13  | author1=Borzelleca, Joseph F. | author2=Lane, Richard W. | contribution=The Art, the Science, and the Seduction of Toxicology: an Evolutionary Development | edition=5th | year=2008 | publisher=Taylor & Francis}}</ref> 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.<ref>Nutton, Vivian. Ancient medicine. Routledge, 2012. p. 178</ref><ref name="Stobart" /> The name Pedanius is Roman, suggesting that an aristocrat of that name sponsored him to become a Roman citizen.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Western Herbal Tradition: 2000 Years of Medicinal Plant Knowledge |author1=Tobyn, Graeme |author2=Denham, Alison |author3=Whitelegg, Midge |edition=illustrated |publisher=Singing Dragon |year=2016 |isbn=9780857012593 |page=4}}</ref>

==''De materia medica''==
{{main|De materia medica}}
[[File:ViennaDioscoridesPlant.jpg|right|thumb|upright|[[Blackberry]] from the 6th-century ''[[Vienna Dioscurides]]'' manuscript]]
Between 50 and 70 AD<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/greek/greek_dioscorides.html | title=Greek Medicine | publisher=National Institutes of Health, USA | date=16 September 2002 | access-date=1 July 2013}}</ref> Dioscorides wrote a five-volume book in his native Greek, {{lang|grc|Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς}} (Perì hylēs íatrikēs), known in Western Europe more often by its Latin title {{Lang|la|De materia medica}} ("On Medical Material"), which became the precursor to all modern [[pharmacopeia]]s.<ref>{{cite book |title=The History of Medicine |author=Rooney, Anne|author-link=Anne Rooney |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group |year=2012 |isbn=9781448873708 |page=121}}</ref>

In contrast to many classical authors, Dioscorides' works were not "rediscovered" in the [[Renaissance]], 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]].<ref name="Vos 2010">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</ref>

In the medieval period, {{Lang|la|De materia medica}} was circulated in Greek, as well as Latin and Arabic translation.<ref>Some detail about medieval manuscripts of ''De Materia Medica'' at pages xxix–xxxi in [http://www.cancerlynx.com/FRONTsection.PDF Introduction to Dioscorides Materia Medica] by TA Osbaldeston, year 2000.</ref>[[File:1554Arnoullet.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Cover of an early printed version of {{Lang|la|[[De materia medica]]}}, [[Lyon]], 1554]]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' {{Lang|la|De materia medica}}, entitled {{lang|ar-Latn|Tafsīr Kitāb Diāsqūrīdūs}}: {{lang|ar|تفسير كتاب دياسقوريدوس}}, has been used by scholars to identify many of the flora mentioned by Dioscorides.<ref>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. 270 {{ISBN|965-217-174-3}} (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)</ref>

A number of illustrated manuscripts of {{Lang|la|De materia medica}} survive. The most famous of these is the lavishly illustrated ''[[Vienna 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 of [[Mount Athos]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kt9DIY1g9HYC&q=dioscorides+%22mount+athos&pg=PA1077 | title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures | publisher=Springer | author=Selin, Helaine | year=2008 | page=1077| isbn=9781402045592 }}</ref>

{{Lang|la|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 language|Dacian]],<ref>{{cite book | last = Nutton |first=Vivian | title = Ancient Medicine | publisher = Routledge | year = 2004}}. Page 177.</ref> [[Thracian language|Thracian]],<ref>{{cite book | last = Murray |first=J. | title = The Academy | publisher = Alexander and Shephrard | year = 1884}}. Page 68.</ref> 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,<ref name=Krebs>{{cite book | last1 = Krebs |first1=Robert E. |first2=Carolyn A. |last2=Krebs | title = Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the Ancient World | publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group | year = 2003|ref=CITEREFKrebs2003}}. Pages 75–76.</ref> 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",<ref>Isely, Duane (1994). One hundred and one botanists. Iowa State University Press.</ref> while some of the botanical identifications of Dioscorides' plants remain merely guesses.

[[John Goodyer]] translated the work into English in 1655, and bequeathed it to [[Magdalen College, Oxford]]; it was published by the Oxford University Press in 1934.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/133231a0 |journal=Nature |pages=231–233 |language=en |doi=10.1038/133231a0 |date=February 1934|volume=133 |issue=3355 |bibcode=1934Natur.133..231. }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The John Goodyer Collection of Botanical Books |url=https://www.magd.ox.ac.uk/blog/the-john-goodyer-collection-of-botanical-books/ |website=Magdalen College}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
[[File:Dioscorea communis RF.jpg|thumb|The genus ''Dioscorea'' includes different species of [[Dioscorea alata|yam]].]]
{{Lang|la|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".<ref name="Vos 2010" />

The plant genus ''[[Dioscorea]]'', which includes the [[yam (vegetable)|yam]], was named after him by [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]].

A butterfly, the bush hopper, ''[[Ampittia dioscorides]]'' which is found from India southeast towards Indonesia and east towards China,  is named after him.<ref>{{cite book |title=Florida Ethnobotany |author=Austin, Daniel F. |edition=illustrated |publisher=CRC Press |year=2004 |isbn=9780203491881 |page=267}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Uc2.ark 13960 t8rb76g72-seq 449 (cropped Dioscorides).jpg|Portrait of an old man; perhaps the physician Dioscorides, whose name is cut in front of it. Antique paste
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 {{Lang|la|De materia medica}}
File:Dioscorides De Materia Medica Spain 12th 13th century.jpg|{{Lang|la|De materia medica}} in [[Arabic]], [[Spain]], 12th–13th century
File:Arabic herbal medicine guidebook.jpeg|Cumin and dill from an Arabic [[Herbalism#Middle Ages|book of simples]] (c. 1334) after Dioscorides ([[British Museum]])
File:Dioscorides De Materia Medica Byzantium 15th century.jpg|[[Byzantine]] {{Lang|la|De materia medica}}, 15th century
File:Arabischer Maler des Kräuterbuchs des Dioskurides 004.jpg|Folio from an Arabic manuscript of Dioscorides, {{Lang|la|[[De materia medica]]}}, 1229
</gallery>

==Translations==

* {{cite book| url=http://www.cancerlynx.com/dioscorides.html |title=De Materia Medica: Being an Herbal with many other medicinal materials| translator=Tess Anne Osbaldeston |others=Based on the 1655 translation of [[John Goodyer]] |date=2000| publisher=Ibidis Press| place=Johannesburg| isbn=| via=cancerlynx.com |author=Dioscorides |author-mask=0 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |title=De Materia Medica | translator=Lily Y. Beck |date=2005| publisher=Olms-Weidmann |location=Hildesheim, Germany| isbn=|author=Dioscorides|author-mask=0 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |title=The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides |translator=John Goodyer |orig-year=1655| editor-first=R. W. T.| editor-last=Gunther |editor-link=Robert Gunther| year=1933|author=Dioscorides |author-mask=0 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |title=De Materia Medica : libri V Eiusdem de Venenis Libri duo | translator=Iano Antonio Saraceno Lugdunaeo (aka: Janus Antonius Saracenus)| year=1598| url=https://digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb10994207 | via=digitale-sammlungen.de |author=Dioscorides |author-mask=0 |ref=none}}

==See also==

* [[Materia medica]]
* [[Dioscorea]]

==Notes==

{{notelist}}

==References==

{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==

* {{cite book |last=Allbutt |first=T. Clifford |title=Greek medicine in Rome |url=https://archive.org/details/greekmedicineinr00allbuoft |year=1921 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |isbn=1-57898-631-1}}
* 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.
* {{cite journal |last=Hamilton |first=J. S. |title=Scribonius Largus on the medical profession |journal=Bulletin of the History of Medicine |year=1986 |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=209–216 |pmid=3521772}}
* {{cite journal |last=Lazris |first=J. |author2=Stavros, V. |title= L'image paradigmatique: des Schémas anatomiques d'Aristote au De materia medica de Dioscoride |journal=Pallas |year=2013 |volume=93 |issue=93 |pages=131–164 |doi=10.4000/pallas.1400 |url=http://pallas.revues.org/1400|doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal |last=Lazris |first=J. |author2=Stavros, V. |title= The medical illustration in Antiquity |journal= Reality Through Image |pages=18–23 (abstract) |url=https://www.academia.edu/1387283}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Riddle |first1=John |title=Dioscorides|journal=[[Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum]] |date=1980 |volume=4 |page=1 |url=http://catalogustranslationum.org/PDFs/volume04/v04_dioscorides.pdf |access-date=25 August 2015}}
* {{cite book |last=Riddle |first=John M. |title=Dioscorides on pharmacy and medicine |year=1985 |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=Austin |isbn=0-292-71544-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Sadek |first=M. M. |title=The Arabic materia medica of Dioscorides |year=1983 |publisher=Les Éditions du sphinx |location=Québec, Canada |isbn=2-920123-02-5}}
* {{cite journal |last=Scarborough |first=J. |author2=Nutton, V. |title=The Preface of Dioscorides' Materia Medica: introduction, translation, and commentary |journal=Transactions & Studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia |year=1982 |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=187–227 |pmid=6753260}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikisource author}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=42073| name=Dr. Dioscorides}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Pedanius Dioscorides}}
* [https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%28dioscorides%29 Works by Dioscorides]
* [http://www.cancerlynx.com/dioscorides.html Dioscorides ''Materia Medica'', in English]—the full book downloadable in PDF fileformat.
* {{cite web |title=Dioscurides Neapolitanus: Codex ex Vindobonensis Graecus 1 |url= http://digitale.bnnonline.it/index.php?it/113/dioscurides-neapolitanus |publisher=Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli |language=it, la |access-date=18 February 2010}}
* {{cite web |title=Medic: Catalogue des textes en ligne: Dioscoride/Dioscodirides, Pedanius |url=http://web2.bium.univ-paris5.fr/livanc/?cote=00821&do=chapitre|publisher=Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de médecine et d'odontologie, Université Paris Descartes |language=fr, la |format=pdf |access-date=18 February 2010}}
* [http://bdh.bne.es/bnesearch/detalle/228705 ''Pedacio Dioscorides anazarbeo: Acerca de la materia medicinal y de los venenos mortiferos''], Antwerp, 1555, digitized at [[Biblioteca Digital Hispánica]], [[Biblioteca Nacional de España]]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=d0o8AAAAcAAJ&q=orpiment ''Les VI livres de Ped. Diosc. de la materie medicinale'', Lyon (1559), French edition]
* [https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pdfs/ch5203.pdf The 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.&nbsp;9–15]

{{ancient anaesthesia-footer}}
{{Natural history}}
{{History of biology}}{{Ancient Roman medicine}}{{Authority control}} <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Authority control]]. -->

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dioscorides, Pedanius}}
[[Category:40s births]]
[[Category:90 deaths]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek pharmacologists]]
[[Category:1st-century Greek physicians]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek botanists]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman botanists]]
[[Category:Herbalists]]
[[Category:1st-century Greek writers]]
[[Category:Pedanii|Dioscorides]]
[[Category:1st-century agronomists]]