Dioscorides Pedanius°
DIOSCORIDES PEDANIUS°
DIOSCORIDES PEDANIUS ° (first century c.e.), pharmacologist from Anazarba in Cilicy, author of De Materia Medica. Dioscorides has a few references to materials of medical use found in Judaea, notably the balsam, the resin of the terebinth tree, asphalt (presumably from the Dead Sea), oil made from Ban (Balanites aegyptica), and scammony. He also makes reference to an item called the "Jewish stone," which, when dissolved and drunk with hot water, was thought to cure stones in the bladder. Dioscorides later exercised a great influence on medieval medicine. Ḥisdai ibn Shaprut took part in the revision of the Arabic translation of his work and Maimonides may have utilized it.
bibliography:
M. Stern (ed.), Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism, vol. 1 (1974): 422–25.
[Shimon Gibson (2nd ed.)]