Dioscorĭdes in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities

（Διοσκορίδης). A Greek physician and man of science. He flourished about the middle of the first century A.D., and was the author of a work De Materia Medica (Περὶ Ὕλης Ἰατρικῆς) in five books. For nearly 1700 years this book was the chief authority for students of botany and the science of healing. Two short essays on specifics against vegetable and animal poisons (Alexipharmaca and Theriaca) are appended to it as the sixth and seventh books; but these are probably from the hand of a later Dioscorides of Alexandria. A work on family medicine is also attributed to him, but is not genuine. The Materia Medica has been edited by Sprengel (1829-30).

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