excerpts from BOOK ONE of the new DIOSCORIDES

1. [home page] DIOSCORIDES TRANSLATED 2. DIOSCORIDES now and then 3. about the MANUSCRIPTS 4. about the PRINTED BOOKS 5. historical assessments 6. reviews and commentary 7. HOW TO ORDER 8. excerpts from BOOK ONE of DIOSCORIDES 9. excerpts from BOOK TWO of DIOSCORIDES 10. about the illustrators and illustrations 11. FREE DOWNLOADS [entire book] pdf files [not for resale] & ILLUSTRATIONS

CAUTION: only trained herbalists and similarly qualified healers should attempt these remedies

1-1. IRIS

SUGGESTED: Iris germanica [Fuchs, Brunfels, Linnaeus]
Iris vulgaris Germanica sive sylvestris [Bauhin]
German Iris, Blue Flower de Luce, Flowering Ring
professional use only

Iris is named because of its resemblance to the rainbow in heaven. It bears leaves like little daggers but bigger, broader and fatter [or thicker]: the flowers on the stalk are bent in one over against another and have varied colours for they are white, pale, black, purple or azure [blue]. It is because of the variety of colours that it is compared to the heavenly rainbow. The roots underneath are knotty and strong [or sound] with a sweet taste. These when cut should be dried in the shade and stored with a linen thread put through them. The best is from Illyria and Macedonia and the best of these has a thick stumpy root, hard to break, of a faint yellow colour with an especially good scent and very bitter to the taste. It has a sound smell and does not incline to nastiness or cause sneezing when pounded. The second is from Libya. It is white in colour, bitter to the taste, next in strength (to the former), and when these grow old they are worm-eaten yet then they smell even sweeter.
They are all warming and reduce the intensity of symptoms. They are suitable against coughs and reduce the intensity of thick mucus that is hard to get up. Seven teaspoonfuls of a decoction (taken as a drink in honey water) purge thick mucus and bile. They also cause sleep, provoke tears, and heal suffering in the bowels. Taken as a drink with vinegar they help those bitten by venomous creatures, the splenetic, those troubled with convulsive fits or chilled and stiff with cold, and those who drop their food. Taken in a drink with wine they bring out the menstrual flow. A decoction of them is suitable for women's warm packs that soften and open their private places; for sciatica (taken as an infusion); for fistulas, and all sores and wounds that it fills up with flesh. Applied as an eye salve with honey they draw out particles. Chewed and applied as a poultice they soften swellings and old hard swellings, and dried they fill up ulcers and clean them. With honey they fill up bare bones with flesh. They are good for headaches applied as a poultice with vinegar and rosaceum [1-53]. Daubed on with white hellebore and twice as much honey they clean off freckles and sunburn. They are also mixed with suppositories, warm compresses and fatigue removers, and in general they are of considerable use. This is also called iris illyrica, thelpida, urania, catharon, or thaumastos; the Romans call it radix marica, some, gladiolus, others, opertritis or consecratrix, and the Egyptians call it nar.

1-9. ASARON

SUGGESTED: Asarum europaeum, Asarabacca, Cabaret, Wild Nard, Hazelwort
poisonous

Asarum has leaves like cissus but much thicker and rounder, with a flower between the leaves near the root that is an azure [blue] colour like cytinus [1-127] or hyoscyamus [4-69], in which lies seed like the kernels of grapes. The many roots underneath smell like cinnamon. It loves rough, dry ground. The root of this helps hernia, convulsions, old coughs, difficulty in breathing, and difficulty in urinating. It expels the menstrual flow, and taken as a drink with wine it is good for those poisoned by animal bites. The leaves are astringent, and are applied to help inflammation, pains in the head, new ulcers of the eyes, breasts inflamed after childbearing and erysipela [inflammatory skin disease]. The smell induces sleep. Crateuas the herbalist concurs. Many roots lie underneath -- knotty, slender and crooked like grasses, yet a great deal slenderer and smelling good, heating, and biting the tongue considerably. They are diuretic and warming. They cause vomiting and are good for dropsy and obstinate ischuria [hip pains?, urine retention?], and they bring down the menstrual flow. Six teaspoonfuls of the roots (taken as a drink with honey and water) purge like white hellebore. They are mixed with ointments. It grows on shady mountains and is common in Pontus, Phrygia, Illyricum and Vestinum, Italy. It is also called nardus sylvestris, the Magi call it sanguis martis, the Osthenes, thesa, the Egyptians, cereera, the Romans, perpensa. It is also called baccharis, the Thuscans (or Etruscans) call it succinum, some call it nardus rustica, and the Gauls call it baccar.

DIOSCORIDES DE MATERIA MEDICA - five books in one volume: New Modern English Translation. A few of the printed books are still available. See HOW TO ORDER page.

The translator holds copyright on the text but all illustrations are copyright-free.