How to pronounce pedanius dioscorides biography

Greco-Roman physician and pharmacologist, prominent writer on plant drugs (AD c.40–90)

"Dioscorides" redirects here.

For other uses, see Dioscorides (disambiguation).

Pedanius Dioscorides (Ancient Greek: Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης, Pedánios Dioskourídēs; c. 40–90 AD), "the father of pharmacognosy", was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of De materia medica (in the original Ancient Greek: Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς, Peri hulēs iatrikēs, 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.^[2][3]

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 Lae