Pedanius Dioscorides

Greco-Roman physician and pharmacologist (AD c.40-90)

Fame54.3
Momentum0.6
Doctors rank#212

Source-basedStable

Fame54.3
Momentum0.6
Doctors rank#212
Wikipedia6.6K

Lived 40–90, aged 50Turkey

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Wikipedia
49 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
40–90
Aged 50

Summary

Updated 2026-06-10

A Greek physician who wrote the drug reference that ruled medicine for fifteen centuries. His five-volume encyclopedia on plants and remedies became the standard text from Rome to the Renaissance — the book every healer opened first.

Biography

About

Pedanius Dioscorides lived around 40–90 AD, working as a physician, pharmacologist, and botanist. He produced De materia medica, a five-volume Greek encyclopedia cataloging herbal medicines and medicinal substances. The work was widely read for more than 1,500 years after its creation. For nearly two millennia, Dioscorides held the position as the most prominent authority on plants and plant drugs, earning him the retrospective title "the father of pharmacognosy."

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