Systematic pharmacopoeia (Dioscorides' De materia medica)

What it is

A catalogue of some 600 plants and 1,000 remedies organised by therapeutic affinity, with description, habitat, preparation, dosage and effects. The pharmacological reference of the West and Islam for 1,500 years.

The Chinese (Shennong bencao, 1st-2nd century CE) and Indian (Charaka) treatises are contemporary, independent pharmacopoeias.

What it led to

• Descriptive botany and illustrated herbals (Codex Vindobonensis, 512)
• The profession of pharmacist and gardens of medicinal plants
• Arabic and Latin translations that preserved ancient pharmacology
• The basis of modern pharmacognosy

Built on

• Written medical and surgical treatisec. 1600 BCE
• Hippocratic medicinec. 420 BCE
• Bound codexc. 100 CE
• Pharmacy (apothecary shop)754
• Hippocratic medicine
• Theophrastus's History of Plants

Made possible

• Pharmacy (apothecary shop)754
• Ibn al-Baytar's Compendium of Simplesc. 1240
• Badianus manuscript (Aztec herbal)1552
• Colóquios dos simples e drogas da Índia (García de Orta)1563
• Illustrated herbal
• Pharmacy as a profession
• Botanical garden

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