Library › Greek: Science & Medicine › Idiophyē (Fragments and Testimonia)
Ancient writers credited Orpheus, the legendary singer, with writings on the powers of plants. Pliny the Elder names him as the first to write with care about herbs, and cites 'Orpheus, who wrote the Idiophyē'. The work is lost. This short set contains Pliny's testimonies and two quoted fragments: a note on the love-charm properties of a plant, and a passage from the medical writer Aetius on remedies made from calamint for burns and headache.
Though brief, the fragments show that the name of Orpheus was attached to practical pharmacology as well as to poetry and mystery religion. They are a small window on the large ancient literature of plant lore, magic and healing that circulated under legendary authors.
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