Dioscorides
was a Greek physician who lived in the first century
of the Christian era. He became a military surgeon
under the Roman Emperor Nero and was a contemporary of
Pliny. He wrote De Materia Medica (about 77
A.D.) which gave medicinal properties and some
botanical information for about 600 plants. This book
was not scientific as were those of Theophrastus.
However, for about 1500 years, it was the supreme
authority due to the practical nature of its contents,
and it has been called the "most successful botanical
textbook ever written." Dioscorides was believed to
have had his medical training in Alexandria. He
traveled widely and made observations on plants from
the standpoint of their medical uses.
He described roots, stems, leaves and sometimes
flowers. His work was in reality a herbal and was the
first one to be illustrated. For centuries no drug
plant was considered genuine unless it could be
identified by the descriptions given by
Dioscorides.
The earliest copies of De Materia Medica
were probably not illustrated but a magnificent
manuscript dated about 512 A.D. called the Juliana
Anicia Codex of Dioscorides (Codex Vindobonensis),
contained in the Vienna State Library has been called
"a splendid monument of botanical art" (Blunt). The
plant drawings contained therein were not surpassed in
quality for about 1,000 years. This work was
presumably written in Constantinople. It is of
greatest importance for the interpretation of plant
names used by Dioscorides and it contains almost 400
full-page paintings of plants and small ones of birds.
These plant drawings are believed to have been derived
much earlier at least as far back as the 2nd Century
A.D. They resemble the actual designs of Krateuas, the
great early plant illustrator. Many other illustrated
Greek manuscripts of Dioscorides have survived, one of
the most important of which is the 7th Century Codex
Neapolitanus in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Naples,
Italy.
Gunther, Robert T. The Greek Herbal of
Dioscorides. Haftner Publishing Company, 1959.
Examine this classical work "compiled during the lst
Century A.D. by Dioscorides of Anazarba in Cilicia."
Read preface pages V-VII. Note reference to Krateuas.
Examine contents in order to note type of information
presented for the various plants. Select certain
species or types in which you may be interested - as
for example: turnip, page 147; radish, page 148;
shrubs and trees, pages 61-67; roses, pages 69-70;
fruit trees, pages 79-87. No reference given in
this course has any greater importance than this
one.
