Western herbalism evolved out of the knowledge, experience and philosophies of various cultures. The earliest evidence of the use of medicine in the West seems to be found at the time of Pharaoh Zoser at around 2980 BC.  Imhotep, an architect astrologer and magician was also known for his healing powers.  His reputation lived on after his death and the legends that grew around his work eventually elevated him to the god of healing and very different from the portrayal of Imhotep in the popular ‘The Mummy’ movies.

The evolution of herbalism in the Western World became clearer with the discovery of the Ebers Papyri in 1862.  These documents were found in Egypt in 1862 by German archaeologist G.M. Ebers.  They date back to between 2000 and 1800 BC and contain, besides remedies of mineral and animal origin, remedies based on vegetable matter, indicating the use of herbal medicines.  These herbal remedies make up about 85% of the documents.  The Ebers papyri also mention, for the first time, detoxification of the body as a cure of disease. You can read some of the English translation here.

Hippocrates (460-377 BC) is the most important physician of the classical world.  He was born and practiced on the island of Kos.  Hippocrates is regarded as the father of medicine as he was the first person to establish and set down a scientific system of medicine.  Hippocrates took his teachings from Egyptian sources, but he dropped the elements of mystery and magic, recognising disease as a natural phenomenon.  He was the first to establish the system of diagnosis and prognosis. He used about 400 drugs, mostly of vegetable origin, but he never wrote an herbal.

Galen (131-201 AD) may be the greatest physician after Hippocrates.  He was a Greco-Roman physician appointed to Marcus Aurelius. Galen gathered his medical knowledge from all parts of the world.  He developed the system of humoural pathology. Galen’s philosophy centred on the belief that four primary elements, earth, fire, water and air, and their qualifies of dry, hot, moist and cold, could be found in all living organisms.  He reasoned that disease was an imbalance in one or more of the elements and to restore health one had to return the system to a state of balance.

Galen’s next step was to systematically classify plants and minerals according to their basic qualities.  The knowledge he gained and his doctrine of the humoural system enabled him to establish a system of pharmacology that allowed the ancient physician to mix drugs as indicated by their primary qualities.

Dioscorides ( ~30 –  90 AD) wrote the first comprehensive materia medica (De Materia Medica), a 5 volume monster. The De Materia Medica listing medicinal plants according to their actions, as well as how they grew, when to harvest them, prepare them, discusses their medicinal properties and use them. The ‘De Materia Medica’ is the precursor of all modern pharmacopoeias and is still as valid and useful today as it was nearly 2000 years ago. You can read and download the English translations in .pdf format from here.

Avicenna (980 – 1037 AD) was born near Bukhoro in what is now Uzbekistan and is another important figure in the development of herbalism and medicine.  His book “Canon Medicinae” brought together information about the diseases, drugs and medical theories known to the Arab world.  This book is a systemic classification and summary of medical and pharmaceutical knowledge up to and including Avicenna’s time.  This text was first translated into Latin in the 12′h century, a Hebrew version appeared in 1491, and the Arabic text in 1593 – only the second text ever to be printed in Arabic.

With the development of the natural sciences during the Renaissance, the old traditions started to be questioned.  Though no abrupt change of medical thought occurred during the Renaissance, there was mounting criticism directed against medical practised based Galen and Avincenna.

We will have a look at that next time.