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Pedanius Dioscorides

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Pedanius Dioscorides

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Also known as Dioscorides

Pedanius Dioscorides (, ; 40–90 AD), "the father of pharmacognosy", was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of (in the original , , both meaning "On 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.

AI overview

Pedanius Dioscorides was a Greek physician and botanist (40–90 AD) who wrote an influential encyclopedia of medicinal plants and herbs that remained the leading reference on the subject for over 1,500 years. His work earned him recognition as "the father of pharmacognosy" because it established him as the most authoritative writer on plant-based medicines for nearly two thousand years.

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Person · Open Library

Born
ca. 40
Died
ca. 90
Works
106

Top works

  • Leechdoms, Wortcunning, And Starcraft Of Early England
  • Plantas Y Remedios Medicinales/ Medical Plants and Remedies
  • Acerca de la materia medicinal y de los venenos mortíferos
  • Eupórista Ped. Dioscoridis Anazarbei ad Andromachum, hoc est De curationibus ...
  • Pedanii Dioscoridis Anazarbei De medica materia libri sex: his accesit ...

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Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

  1. In hoc volumine continentur Valerii Cordi ... Annotationes in Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbei De medica materia libros V : longè aliae quàm ante hac sunt evulgatae. Ejusdem Val. Cordi Historiae stirpium Lib. IIII. posthumi, nunc primùm in lucem editi, adjectis etiam stirpium iconibus, & brevissimus annotatiunculis. Sylva, qua rerum fossilium in Germania plurimarum, metallorum, lapidum & stirpium aliquot rariorum notitiam brevissimè persequitur, nunquam hactenus visa. De artificiosis extractionibus liber. Compositiones medicinales aliquot, non vulgares. His accedunt Stocc-Hornii et Nessi in Bernatium Helvetiorum ditione montium, & nascentium in eis stirpium, descriptio Benedicti Aretii ... Item Conradi Gesneri De hortus Germaniae, liber recens, unà cum descriptione tulipae turcarum, chamaecerasi montani, chamaemespili, chamaenerii, & conozoidis ... Omnia summa studio atque industria ... Conr. Gesneri ... collecta, & praefationibus illustrata

    · 1561 · cited 11x

  2. I discorsi di M. Pietro Andrea Matthioli ... nelli sei libri di Pedacio Dioscoride Anazarbeo della materia medicinale : hora di nuouo dal suo istesso autore ricorretti, & in più di mille luoghi aumentati : con le figure grandi tutte di nuouo risatte, & tirate dalle naturali & uiue piante, & animali, & in numero molto maggiore che le altre per auanti stampate : con due tauole copiosissime spettanti l'una à ciò, che in tutta l'opera si contiene, & l'altra alla cura di tutte le infirmità del corpo humano ...

    · 1568 · cited 10x

  3. Petri Andreae Matthioli Senensis serenissimi Principis Ferdinandi Archiducis Austriae & c., Medici, Commentarii secundo aucti : in libros sex Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbei de medica materia. Adiectis quàm plurimis plantarum, & animalium imaginibus quae in priore editione non habentur, eodem authore : his accessit eiusdem apologia adversus Amathum Lusitanum cum censura in eiusdem enarrationes

    · 1558 · cited 5x

  4. Petri Andreae Matthioli ... Commentarii secvndo avcti, in libros sex Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbei, de medica materia : adiectis quamplurimis plantarum, & animalium imaginibus, quæ in priore editione non habentur, eodem auctore. His accessit eivsdem Apologia adversvs Amathum Lusitanum

    · 1560 · cited 4x

  5. Historia plantarum et vires ex Dioscoride, Paulo Aegineta, Theophrasto, Plinio, & rece[n]tioribus Graecis, iuxta elementoru[m] ordine[m]

    · 1541 · cited 3x

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Key facts

Person.name
Pedanius Dioscorides
Person.image
Dioscorides Vienna (detail) (cropped).jpg
Person.caption
Dioscorides receives a mandrake root, an illumination from the 6th century () Greek Juliana Anicia Codex (detail)
Person.birth_place
Anazarbus, Cilicia, Asia Minor
Person.other_names
Dioscurides
Person.known_for
De Materia Medica
Person.occupation
Army physician, pharmacologist, botanist

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Image
Dioscorides Vienna (portrait).jpg
Show 7 more facts
date of birth
0040-01-01
date of death
0090-01-01
Commons category
Pedanius Dioscorides
floruit
0100-00-00
name in native language
Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης
P13311
metrology
Commons Creator page
Pedanius Dioscorides
Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

~6 min read

Article

10 sections
Contents
  • Life
  • ''De materia medica''
  • Legacy
  • Gallery
  • Translations
  • See also
  • Notes
  • References
  • Sources
  • External links

Pedanius Dioscorides (, ; 40–90 AD), "the father of pharmacognosy", was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of (in the original , , both meaning "On 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.

==Life== A native of Anazarbus, Cilicia, Asia Minor, Dioscorides likely studied medicine nearby at the school in Tarsus, which had a pharmacological emphasis, and he dedicated his medical books to Laecanius Arius, a medical practitioner there. 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 than supposed. The name Pedanius is Roman, suggesting that an aristocrat of that name sponsored him to become a Roman citizen.

Gallery (17)

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