Lily Y. Beck, trans. De materia medica by Pedanius Dioscorides. Hildesheim, Germany, Olms-Weidmann, 2005. 540 pp. €78.00.

Abstract

Pedanius Dioscorides of Anazarbus in Cilicia wrote his book, known as an herbal or materia medica, about the middle of the first century CE. It was copied repeatedly throughout Europe, with some variations, over the next 1500 years. From 1906 to 1914, Dioscorides’ Greek text was published in a definitive edition by Max Wellmann from various extant versions. Now Lily Y. Beck has rendered Wellmann’s Greek edition into English. This is the only English translation of Dioscorides’ remarkable book since the seventeenth century. About 1655, the botanist John Goodyer wrote an English translation from one of the Greek manuscripts. His version, edited by Robert T. Gunther, was not published until 1933. The most famous today of the early editions of Dioscorides is the Juliana Anicia Codex, now in Vienna, which was published about 512 CE. The edition prepared by Max Wellman, following Dioscorides’ original organization, is divided into five “books”: the first on medicinal plants affecting the senses of olfaction and taste; the second on animals or animal parts used for their medicinal value; the third on roots, juices, and seeds; the fourth containing more roots and herbs; and the fifth on various kinds of medicinal wines and minerals. The unique aspect of Dioscorides’ method of presentation was that he listed plants not alphabetically by name, as did many herbals, but in groups with similar pharmacologic actions in the body, listing together types of plants such as those with sedative or anti-inflammatory properties. While Dioscorides did not follow this system for many of his remedies, his few instances show a sophisticated appreciation of the effects of plants beyond the Hippocratic/Galenic philosophy that all diseases and treatments were based on understanding the four humors of the body. This unique contribution of Dioscorides has been described in detail by John Riddle (Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine, Austin, University of Texas Press, 1985).