page_title: Herbal
section_title: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome
hierarchical_section_title: Herbal / Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome
caption_attribution_description: Teofrasto Ancient greek philosopher and botanist. Orto botanico di Palermo
context_page_description: An herbal is a book containing the names and descriptions of plants, usually with information on their medicinal, tonic, culinary, toxic, hallucinatory, aromatic, or magical powers, and the legends associated with them. A herbal may also classify the plants it describes, may give recipes for herbal extracts, tinctures, or potions, and sometimes include mineral and animal medicaments in addition to those obtained from plants. Herbals were often illustrated to assist plant identification.
  Herbals were among the first literature produced in Ancient Egypt, China, India, and Europe as the medical wisdom of the day accumulated by herbalists, apothecaries and physicians. Herbals were also among the first books to be printed in both China and Europe. In Western Europe herbals flourished for two centuries following the introduction of moveable type.
  In the late 17th century, the rise of modern chemistry, toxicology and pharmacology reduced the medicinal value of the classical herbal.
context_section_description: By about 2000 BCE, medical papyri in ancient Egypt included medical prescriptions based on plant matter and made reference to the herbalist's combination of medicines and magic for healing.
caption: Statue of Theophrastus c. 371 – c. 287 BCE, Orto botanico di Palermo
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