Ancient Egyptian Herbals
According to a papyrus in the British Museum, (number 10051, Salt) 825 vegetable substances were considered divine in origin. The blood, sweat & tears of Horus, Ra, Osiris & other Deities, upon falling on the ground, turn magically into plants - especially those held in reverence as medicines or used to make incense.
The Egyptians were known to use plant oils at least as early as 2500 BCE. The names of 7 holy oils are listed on tablets in the British Museum & the oils were used in tombs of the Old Kingdom (around 2500 BC.)
Several oils are mentioned in the Ebers papyrus, including olive oil, however the exact identity of the others appears to have been lost. The use of medicated oils appears to have been well known at this period - & the Ebers mentions over a dozen prescriptions for salves & ointments. Herbs were boiled in honey & oil, or in oil alone in order to extract their ingredients. Also, both men & women of the period used perfumed oils to anoint their bodies.
"Ebers Papyrus" (c.1550 BCE) Egyptian Papyrus. The largest known record of ancient Egyptian medical practice. Astonishingly, some of the remedies advised by the Ebers Papyrus are still in use today - although some sound quite strange to us. Not only herbal treatments are covered but also remedies of various other kinds. Other ancient Egyptian papyri, some even older, also contained plant-based medical prescriptions.
Extant versions:
The great medical papyrus at Berlin [number 3032].
The medical papyrus in the British Museum [number 10059].
The Hearst papyrus, published by Wreszinski in 1912.
The Kahun papyrus, published by Griffith.
The Edwin Smith papyrus (described at length in Recueil d'Etudes Egyptologiques, Paris, 1922, p.386 ff.
Sumerian & Assyrian Herbals
A medical tablet, found in the library of Ashurbanipal, & now in the British Museum (K 4023), includes a footnote stating that it was copied from a tablet which had been written "in the 2nd year of the reign of Enlil-bani, King of Isin, circa 2201-2177." There is also a reference given to a medicinal plant tradition from the time of "the ancient rulers before the flood which was in Shurippak."
Copies of medical tablets have also been found at Ashur - & these are reported to be several centuries older than those of Nineveh. There is no way of knowing whether the Sumerians were indeed the discoverers of the medical arts which they were using. There could be the possibility of an earlier civilization whose works have been lost in the mists of time.
Many of the clay tablets found at Nineveh by Layard appeared in both Sumerian & Assyrian forms. Ashurbanipal was a great scholar & boasted that he had "even learned the ancient language of the Sumerians" - which by his day was considered antique & rare. Much of our knowledge of these ancient people rests upon the lifetime of devoted scholarship of Ashurbanipal.
In the early part of the 20th century various attempts were made to translate the numerous Assyrian tablets found at Nineveh. Assyrians used around 250 plants in medicine. To this number is added around 120 mineral drugs, alcohols, honey, various kinds of milk & around 180 other substances not identified.
The Assyrians made an attempt at botanical classification of plants, grouping for example grasses together. Examples of plants used in herbalism by the Assyrians include apricot, asafoetida, saffron, galbanum, turmeric, flax, mandrake, almond, poppy, sesame & many more. In those times however the herbalist was also a magician-priest who drove out evil spirits from the bodies of the afflicted.
Mesopotamian people probably had herb gardens: A tablet in the British Museum (# 46226), describes 73 aromatic plants in the garden of King Merodach-Baladan II of Babylon (721-710 & 703-702 BC.)
See:
Assyrian medical texts from the originals in the British Museum (PDF)
Sourcebook for Ancient Mesopotamian Medicine (Writings from the Ancient World) - JoAnn Scurlock (2014)
Ancient Greek Herbals
Not only for Sumerians & Egyptians considered their medicine systems to have been given to them by their Gods, but the Greeks held a similar view. The original Greek god of medicine was Asklepios, reported to be the son of Apollo & Coronis. Asclepius is said to have lived around 1250 BC. He carried a staff with a serpent coiled around it. This symbol of life was known as the Rod of Asclepius & is still associated with medicine.
Many of the ancient Greek physicians learned their craft from the Egyptians. Most notable among them was Hippocrates (c.460-370 BCE) who has been called the father of Western medicine. He was the first to separate the craft of medicine from the magical & ritual elements which had always been intertwined with the practice up until that time. He is credited with the concept that diseases were of natural cause, as opposed to being influenced by deities & other spirits. Hippocrates' methods were methodical, precise & gentle where possible. Between 300 & 400 medicines were known to Hippocrates - & that most of these well plant-based.
Crateuas' Herbal (c.80-63BCE) Craeuas was body physician to Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus (120-63 BC). He was a herbalist & rhizomist ("root cutter") & created his own illustrated herbal. This work has now been lost, though it is reported that Crateuas' illustrations of plants were the most lifelike of his time: He has been called the "father of plant illustration." It was mentioned by Dioscorides in the preface to his De Materia Medica (see below), & also quoted in the Codex Vindobonensis, which includes illustrations believed to be copies of those of Crateuas.
Dioscorides (40CE - 90CE) - "De Materia Medica" (c.65 AD). One of the most famous of all herbals, Pedanius Dioscorides' De Materia Medica is considered by many to be the most influential herbal ever written. It was the principal source drawn upon by herbalists for some 1500 years. The original has been lost, however numerous translations exist. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these is the highly illustrated Byzantine copy of around 512 A.D., known as the Codex Vindobonensis.
In mediæval times, manuscripts were hand-copied (printing had not yet arrived). Notes extended commentaries were often added to Dioscorides.: Copies were working manuals for physicians of those times. In some editions of Dioscorides, commentaries became long & elaborate - often including the opinions of several other herbalists. Some of these may never have been translated into English.
Dioscorides was first translated ino English by John Goodyer, who between 1652 & 1655 hand-wrote the entire Greek text with an interlinear translation. This ran to 4,540 quarto pages. This translation was never printed & lay forgotten at Magdalen College, Oxford until 1933, when it was edited & printed by Robert T. Gunther.
Pliny - "Naturalis Historia" (c.77-79 AD). Pliny's Natural History is comprised of 37 books, of which seven describe medicinal plants. Pliny's work has been famous & widely consulted ever since, & is very often cited by mediaeval writers. Pliny's work was first translated into English by Philemon Holland (1552-1637). Several books of Pliny's N.H. deal with plants & trees; books 20, 24,26 & 27 deal in particular with plant remedies.
Galen (129-c.199 CE) is known to have written on the subject of plant remedies. A 10th century copy of one of 129 works of Galen translated into Arabic by Hunayn ibn Ishaq (c.830-870) contains descriptions of over 150 formulations of both herbal & animal origin.
Hippocrates did not leave us a herbal, however a body of work comprising some 70 medical texts from around the 3C BC has come to be known as the Hippocratic Corpus. It was attributed to him in antiquity, & its teachings followed his principles. Greek herbals & medical works of this period (300-30 BC.) were based on lists of plants & medical works made by the Egyptians.
Diocles Carystius (c.400-c.450 BCE) The earliest recorded Greek Herbal was said to be that of Diocles Carystius. it was a list of plants & their habitats together with short statements describing their medicinal properties.
Roman Bust of Aristotle-Greek
Aristotle, the famous philosopher, is thought to have created a list of over 500 plants ("De Plantis") but it may been the work of a later writer.
Theophrastus (c. 371 - c. 287 BCE)
Theophrastus - "Enquiry into Plants". Theophrastus (c. 371 - c. 287 BCE) was a Greek philosopher of the time of Plato & Aristotle. Theophrastus wrote 2 books on botany. Over 500 plants are described in his Historia Plantarum. Some of his statements are based on first-hand knowledge of the plants, others are based on information supplied by traveling merchants. His work was ( at the time of Budge) considered the earliest extant Greek herbal. Considered the most important contribution to botany of ancient times, this work systemized & classified plants according to locality, size & uses. Herbs & some medical uses of plants are mentioned although this was primarily a botanical work.
Herophilus, a native of Chalcedon in around the 3rd century BC created a work on plants which was mentioned by Pliny (XXV #5) but seems to no longer exist. Having spent most of his life in Alexandria, Herophilus gave lectures that attracted a large number of medical students, and his research and work as a doctor brought him great prestige. Herophilus is considered the first scientist to lay the foundations of the scientific method.
Andreas of Carystus, physician to Ptolemy IV, also wrote a work on plants in the early 3rd C BCE. He is was a physician of ancient Greece who is supposed by some to be the same person as Andreas of Carystus. Other scholars have concluded this to be a mistake which has arisen from earlier writers reading "Andron" in the works of Pliny the Elder instead of "Andreas." - also lost.
Niger (the Sextius Niger of Pliny), alive around 30 BC, wrote a Herbal - also lost.
Galen Said to have been the author of nearly 400 works. 83 extant. De Simplicibus - Concerning the simples.
Ethiopian Herbal
This work, in the British Museum, consists of only 14 folios. (MS Add. 20741) James Bruce, travels, London 1805. ( Book 7) describes some plants of Abyssinia.
