Biography
Although history does not record a time when man did not employ herbs for treatment, the history of ancient pharmacology has been largely neglected, until well into the twentieth century (Koppanyi 1935: 316). Pedanius Dioscorides (ca. AD 50-70) was the first who tried to put together a scientific study of certain medical substances and produce what would become for centuries the standard work of pharmacology, a study of five books, Materia Medica (Koppanyi 1935: 36; Elliot 1914: 88; King 2001: 50). Many prescriptions recorded in his work were already known, and most of them were not written by specialized doctors; still, they formed the basis for Dioscorides’ work (King 2001: 50).
Although history does not record a time when man did not employ herbs for treatment, the history of…
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Citation: Malapani, Athina. "Pedanius Dioscorides". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 October 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13619, accessed 31 October 2024.]