Dioscorides: Early Pharmacology

Dioscorides of Anazarbus was a Greek physician born in southeast Asia Minor in the Roman Empire in the first few decades C.E. During his lifetime, Dioscorides traveled extensively seeking medicinal substances from all over the Roman and Greek world. He benefited greatly from the ease of travel across wide stretches of territory under the control of the Roman Empire at the height of its growth.

Between about 50-70 C.E., he wrote his fundamental work, Peri ulhV iatrikhV, known in Latin as De materia medica. This five book study focused upon "the preparation, properties, and testing of drugs" and became the most central pharmacological work in Europe and the Middle East for the next sixteen centuries.

As was the case with many Greek medical texts, De materia medica was treated as dogma for many years. By the mid-16th century, however, his message that investigation and experimentation were crucial to pharmacology began to emerge and modern research into medicines began.

Dioscorides. Peri ulhV iatrikhV (Codex Vindobonensis - Med Gr. 1, ca. 1400, facsimile, Graz: Akademische Druck - u. Verlagstalt, 1965-1970)

This early 15th-century manuscript of Dioscorides has Arabic glosses beside the plant.

Dioscorides. Peri ulhV iatrikhV. (Venice: Aldus Manutius, Romanus, July 1499).

This first Greek edition of Dioscorides was printed by Aldus Manutius, as was the case for so many Greek authors.

Dioscorides. Acerca de la materia medicinal, y de los venenos mortiferos. (Salamanca: Mathias Gast., 1566).

This Spanish edition of Dioscorides is one of the many illustrated editions which came out in the 16th century. Dioscorides included animal products in his medicines along with plants and minerals.