Since these are so highly regarded, let's look at the story of herbalism, which highlights the plant's role in recorded history.
This body of knowledge was so vital to the well being of early humans that it was ultimately entrusted only to a selected and honored group of practitioners, the priest-physicians. Originally, it was an integral part of magic, astronomy, and religious rites.
A great place to begin is in ancient Sumeria. Sumerian cuneiform tables over 4000 years old gave lists of ingredients to be used for the preparation of salves and medicine.
About 2500 to 2250 B.C. the legendary Chinese emperor Shen-Nung was responsible for the Yellow Emperor's Classic. It featured directions for treating a wide variety of human illnesses using plants, and astrology. This also incorporated philosophical as well as religious ideas into herbalism.
An Egyptian papyrus manuscript called the Ebers papyrus, dates from 1500 B.C. It gave a list of over 800 plant prescriptions. The ancient Egyptians respected the god Anubia as the chief compounder of prescriptions for the other deities, who in turn transmitted the knowledge to the temple priests.
Of the gifts attributed to the three wise men, two of these were used for herbal remedies, frankincense and myrrh.
The ancient Greeks and Romans used herbal remedies extensively. Hippocrates, often referred to as the father of modern medicine, listed all of the known plants of the time by their uses to treat different sicknesses.
The separation of herbal practice from magic really began the more formal practice of holistic medicine. In other words, the herbalist considered each patient as an individual. He/she fitted the treatment to the individual's needs.
In 68 A.D., Dioscorides, a great Greek physician serving the Emperor Nero, wrote his well known work, "De Materia Medica." In that, he carefully prescribed about 600 plants of medicinal use at that time. The information in this book, with changes and errors made when new copies were transcribed by hand, was the mainstay of herbalism in Europe for the next 15 centuries.
Theophrastus, another great Greek physician, was active during this period too. He began a very systematic and detailed study of medicinal or herbal plants.
Go To Page: 1 2
