The Stamp
The stamp was issued in Yemen in 1967. It was part of a series of stamps showing Asian paintings. Its value was 3 Yemeni buqsha.
The image of Dioscorides teaching a student is from an Arabic manuscript of Dioscorides, De Materia Medica dated 1229.
The Doctor
Pedanius Dioscorides (c44 – 90 AD) was a Greek doctor, pharmacologist and botanist. He was born in Anazarbus, the capital of Cicilia Secunda, now in modern Turkey.
Whilst a doctor in the Roman army he studied herbs and local medicines as he travelled the world. He wrote about them in his six-volume book De Materia Medica and his two volume De Simplicibius Medicamentis. These contained nearly 1000 drugs from 600 plants as well as animal and mineral substances. It was in use as standard medical text for more than 1,500 years.
Urology Connections
Dioscorides’ Materia Medica contains many remedies for urological and andrological problems. It also includes prescriptions for anaesthetic drugs to ease pain during surgery.
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