Hemp in Dioscorides De Materia Medica I was in the middle of trying to go through the definitive classic De Materia Medica by Dioscorides for something else Unfortunately this basic medical work of the world seems to be secret or something near it s nearly 2000 years out of copyright nominated for the UNESCO Memory Hole and on a bajillion Web sites but as far as I can tell there s not one full intact original book scan to be publicly accessed anywhere on the planet The best I can come up with is a no pictures German translation of unknown to me provenance which when autotranslated into English gives me this weirdness which seems awfully short by comparison to what the occasional photo of a page looks like Which is The hemp Some call it Kannabion Other Schoinostrophon Asterion is a plant which used a lot in life is to weave the strongest ropes He has those of the ash similar berlriechende leaves long single stem and a round Fruit which richly enjoyed destroyed procreation Green Green instilled processed into juice and it is a good antidote Ear disease Now this leaves me with some questions like whether the rich enjoyment of the fruit is recreational consumption and if so how far back this can be documented also does the destroys procreation statement truly indicate that Dioscorides knew of the much debated sperm confusing capability and then there s the medicinal use on ear disease Which seems especially scanty given the herb s potential usefulness in surgeries as Susruta knew It would be good if someone can get a better angle on this the information seems worth including