Pedanios Dioscurides

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Author's picture of Dioscurides from the Codex Medicina antiqua (around 1250) fol. 133 recto
Left title page of an Arabic copy of De materia medica

Pedanios Dioskurides ( ancient Greek Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης Pedánios Dioskurídēs , Latin Pedanius Dioscurides ) from Anazarbos near Tarsos in the Roman province of Cilicia (today landscape in Asia Minor ) was a Greek doctor who lived in the 1st century - 68 in the epoch of the emperor Nerote (54) . He is one of the most famous doctors of antiquity and is considered a pioneer in pharmacology .

Life

Little is known about the person and life of Dioscorides. References to this can be found in his preface to his materia medica , a treatise on medicines . Educated (by the doctor Laecanius Areios von Tarsos ) in Tarsos , the most important center of botanical-pharmacological research in the Roman Empire, and well traveled (or having lived a "soldier-like" life), Dioscurides wrote on the basis of an autopsy and drawing on extensive older literature in Greek his main work Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς Perí hýlēs iatrikḗs , Latin De materia medica "About remedies". This medicine theory, which has also been available in Latin editions since the 6th century ( e.g. Cassiodorus ) (no later than 540 with the so-called Dioscorides longobardus , the first surviving copy of which was made in the 9th century), is divided into five books, which were already published by Galenus (129-199 ) recognized as the authoritative manual in terms of completeness and thoroughness. The second work handed down under the name of Dioscurides, Περὶ ἁπλῶν φαρμάκων Perí haplṓn pharmákōn (Latin Simplicia "About the simple remedies"), is now mostly regarded as genuine; other texts operating under Dioscurides' name deserve a more detailed examination of their authenticity.

De materia medica

The " Materia Medica " of the Dioscorides, dedicated to the Areios of Tarsos, comprises around 1000 medicinal products (813 herbal, 101 animal and 102 mineral origin) and offers 4740 medical applications. De materia medica ("On medicinal substances") is divided into five main parts ("books"):

  1. Aromatic herbs or spices, oils , ointments; Vegetable saps, gums, resins and fruits from trees and bushes
  2. Animals, parts of animals, animal products (including honey, milk and fat), grain, potted herbs and vegetables as well as herbs “gifted with a spiciness”
  3. Roots, juices, herbs and seeds, "which serve both common and medicinal use"
  4. Roots and herbs not mentioned before, sponges and mushrooms
  5. Types of wine, minerals and other inorganic substances such as ores, stones and earths.

In contrast to the previously usual treatment of the entire medicinal substance alphabetically or according to external characteristics, Dioskurides uses a systematic for the first time according to the qualitative relationship, the medical effectiveness or pharmacological effect of the individual medicinal products, whereby veterinary, (cited distant) magical and non-medical (above all Household and cosmetic uses) are not missing. Dioscurides' method of describing plants was a model for later herbal books (such as that of Rufinus) up to the early modern period: the name of the plant and synonyms, origin, botanical description, medicinal properties, times of harvest (still valid in the 20th century) , Preparation and use, possibly also information on storage, detection of falsifications , etc. Already the oldest and most important surviving Dioscurides manuscript, the magnificently illustrated " Wiener Dioskurides " (Cod. Med. Gr. 1, ÖNB ) from 512/3 AD. Chr., Also offers (as well as later manuscripts) art-historically important illustrations of the medicinal plants discussed . However, it is disputed whether Dioscurides himself added illustrations to his work, a process that goes back to Krateuas (approx. 100 BC) - next to Sextius Niger (approx. 30 AD), the main source of Dioscurides - and the success of Dioscurides in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance . Regardless of this, the modern identification of the plants described by Dioscurides raises considerable problems.

The medicine science of Dioscorides, in countless, constantly new adaptations, paraphrases and translations (Latin, Syrian, Arabic, English, Hebrew, Turkish and more), maintained its authoritative validity in the West and the Orient in the field of the Pharmacy , plant and drug science and is to be regarded as one of the most influential works in the history of medicine and pharmacology . The rise of organic chemistry in the 19th century pushed its use out of the everyday practice of herbalism, pharmaceutical production and application.

Honor in botanical taxonomy

Charles Plumier named the genus Dioscorea of the yam family of plants (Dioscoreaceae) in his honor . Carl von Linné later took over this name. The plant genera Discoreophyllum Engl. And Dioscoreopsis Kuntze of the family of menispermaceae (Menispermaceae) and Dioscoridea Bronner from the family grapevine family (Vitaceae) was named in his honor.

Editions and translations

Editions

  • Max Wellmann : Pedanii Dioscuridis Anazarbei De materia medica libri quinque. 3 volumes. Weidmann, Berlin 1906-1914; Reprinted there in 1958.
  • Kurt Sprengel : Pedanii Dioscoridis Anazarbei De Materia Medica libri quinque, part 1. – 2. Cnobloch, Leipzig 1829/30 (Greek text).
  • Karl Gottlob Kühn (Ed.): Pedanius Dioscurides Anazarbeus. I – II, Leipzig 1829/30.

Facsimile / commentary

  • Dioscurides: Codex Vindobonensis med. Size 1 of the Austrian National Library (= Codices selecti. Vol. 12). Commented by Hans Gerstinger . 2 volumes. Academic Printing and Publishing Company, Graz 1970.
  • Otto Mazal : Plants - Roots - Juices - Seeds. Ancient healing art in miniatures by the Viennese Dioscurides. Academic Printing and Publishing Company, Graz 1981, ISBN 3-201-01169-X .
  • De materia medica. Codex Neapolitanus, Napoli, Biblioteca nazionale, Ms. Ex. Vindob. Size 1. Commented by Carlo Bertelli , Salvatore Lilla, Guglielmo Cavallo . 2 volumes. Salerno Editrice, Rome / Academic Printing and Publishing Company, Graz 1988/1992.

translation

  • Dioscoridis De materiali Medicina. Translated (into Latin) by Hermolaus Barbarus. Gregorii, Venetiis 1516 ( digitized version )
  • Des Pedanios Dioskurides from Anazarbos Medicines Doctrine in five books. Translated and provided with explanations by Julius Berendes . Ferdinand Enke, Stuttgart 1902 ( full text ; digitized digitized version ); Reprints: Sendet, Wiesbaden 1970; Sänd, Schaan 1983; Sendet, Vaduz 1987; Sendet, Vaduz 2005.
  • Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbaei herb book [...]. Translated into German by Johannes Danzius, Frankfurt am Main (Petrus Uffenbach) 1610; Reprint Grünwald near Munich 1964.
  • Jutta Kollesch and Diethard Nickel : Ancient healing art. Selected texts. Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 978-3-15-009305-4 .
  • Robert T. Gunther (Ed.): The greek herbal of Dioscorides, illustrated by a byzantine AD 512, englished by John Goodyer AD 1655. Robert T. Gunther, New Yorl 1934; Reprinted there in 1959.

literature

  • Christina Becela-Deller: Ruta graveolens L. A medicinal plant in terms of art and cultural history. (Mathematical and natural scientific dissertation Würzburg 1994) Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1998 (= Würzburg medical-historical research. Volume 65). ISBN 3-8260-1667-X , pp. 33-72 and 219 f.
  • Franz Daxecker : Medicinal plants for eye diseases in the Vienna Dioscorides (Codex Constantinopolitanus, Codex Julianae Anikiae). In: Communications from the Julius Hirschberg Society for the History of Ophthalmology , Vol. 5, 2003, pp. 9-17 (2006).
  • Franz Daxecker: Medicinal Herbs in the Viennese Dioscurides. In: Klin Mbl Augenheilkunde 224, 2007, p. 611 f.
  • Franz Daxecker: Medicinal plants of ophthalmology in the manuscript Macer floridus and a comparison with De Materia medica of the Dioscurides, Codex medicina antiqua and Wiener Dioscurides. In: Klin Mbl Augenheilkunde 225, 2008, pp. 308-311.
  • CE Dubler: La 'Materia Medica' de Dioscórides. Transmisión medieval y renacentista. 6 volumes, 1952/59.
  • Otto Mazal : Plants, Roots, Juices, Seeds. Ancient healing art in miniatures by the Viennese Dioscurides. Akademische Druck- und Verlags-Anstalt, Graz 1981, ISBN 3-201-01169-X , here: pp. 16-19 ( Dioscurides Pedanios and his work ).
  • John Marion Riddle: Dioscurides. In: FE Kranz (Ed.): Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum 4 , Washington 1980, pp. 1-143.
  • John Marion Riddle: Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine. With a foreword by John Scarborough , Austin (Texas) 1985 (= History of science series. Volume 3).
  • MM Sadek: The Arabic Materia Medica of Dioscorides. 1983.
  • John Scarborough , Vivian Nutton : The preface of Dioscorides' De materia medica: Introduction, translation, commentary. In: Transactions and studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Volume 4, No. 3, 1982, pp. 187-227.
  • Ulrich Stoll: Dioskurides, Pedanios, 1st century AD. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (ed.): Encyclopedia of Medical History. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , pp. 308-315.
  • Alain Touwaide : Pedanios Dioscurides. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 9, Metzler, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-476-01479-7 , Sp. 462-465.
  • Alain Touwaide: L'identification des plantes du Traité de médicale de Dioscoride: un bilan méthodologique. In: Klaus Döring , Georg Wöhrle (Hrsg.): Ancient natural science and its reception. I-II, Bamberg 1992, pp. 253-274.
  • Max Wellmann : The plant names of the Dioscurides. In: Hermes . Volume 33, Number 3, 1898, pp. 360-422, JSTOR: 4472649 .
  • Max Wellmann: Dioscurides 12 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume V, 1, Stuttgart 1903, Col. 1131-1142.

Web links

Wikisource: Pedanios Dioskurides  - Sources and full texts
Commons : Pedanius Dioscorides  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christina Becela-Deller: Ruta graveolens L. A medicinal plant in terms of art and cultural history. (Mathematical and natural scientific dissertation Würzburg 1994) Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1998 (= Würzburg medical-historical research. Volume 65). ISBN 3-8260-1667-X , p. 34 f.
  2. ^ John Scarborough , Vivian Nutton : The preface of Dioscorides' De materia medica: Introduction, translation, commentary. In: Transactions and studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Volume 4, 1982, No. 3, pp. 187-227.
  3. ↑ Max Wellmann: Areios 13 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 1, Stuttgart 1895, Sp. 626 .; John Marion Riddle: Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine. 1985, p. 7.
  4. ↑ John Marion Riddle: Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine. 1985, pp. 2-4.
  5. ↑ Hermann Stadler : The Latin Dioscorides of the Munich Court and State Library and the importance of this translation for part of medieval medicine. In: Janus. Volume 4, 1899, pp. 548-550.
  6. ^ Hermann Stadler (Ed.): Dioscorides Longobardus. (Cod. Lat. Monacensis 337). The Lombard Dioscorides of Marcellus Virgilius . Edited from TM Auracher's estate by Konrad Hofmann and supplemented by Hermann Stadler. In: Romanesque research . Volume 1, 1883, pp. 49-105 and 413 f. (by Hermann Rönsch); Volume 10, 1899, pp. 181-247 and 369-446; Volume 11, 1900, pp. 1-121; Volume 13, 1902, pp. 161-243; and Volume 14 (index volume), 1903, pp. 601-636 (cf. also www.worldcat.org .)
  7. ↑ Christina Becela-Deller: Ruta graveolens L. A medicinal plant in terms of art and cultural history. 1998, pp. 81-85.
  8. ↑ Jutta Kollesch , Diethard Nickel : Ancient healing art. Selected texts from the medical writings of the Greeks and Romans. Philipp Reclam jun., Leipzig 1979 (= Reclams Universal Library. Volume 771); 6th edition ibid 1989, ISBN 3-379-00411-1 , p. 11.
  9. ↑ Christina Becela-Deller: Ruta graveolens L. A medicinal plant in terms of art and cultural history. (Mathematical and natural scientific dissertation Würzburg 1994) Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1998 (= Würzburg medical-historical research. Volume 65). ISBN 3-8260-1667-X , p. 39.
  10. ↑ Ulrich Stoll: Dioskurides, Pedanios, 1st century AD 2005, pp. 309–312 ( 'De materia medica' - content and structure ).
  11. ↑ Christina Becela-Deller: Ruta graveolens L. A medicinal plant in terms of art and cultural history. Pp. 38-51.
  12. ↑ Lynn Thorndike , Francis S. Benjamin Jr. (Ed.): The herbal of Rufinus [= Liber De virtutibus herbarum ...], edited from the unique manuscript. Chicago 1945; anastatic reprints ibid in 1946 and 1949 (= [only the reprints] Corpus of mediaeval scientific texts. Volume 1).
  13. ↑ Varro E. Tyler, LR Brady, JE Robbers: Pharmacognosy. 8th edition. Philadelphia 1981.
  14. ↑ See also John M. Riddle: Dioscurides in the Middle Ages. In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Volume 3, 1986, Col. 1095-1097.
  15. ^ Charles Plumier: Nova Plantarum Americanarum Genera . Leiden 1703, p. 9.
  16. ↑ Carl von Linné: Genera Plantarum . Leiden 1742, p. 479.
  17. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Dioscurides, Pedanios
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek doctor
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century
PLACE OF BIRTH unsure: anazarbos
DATE OF DEATH 1st century