History of Herbs - Part 1

In the age of medical specialisation in which an expert in one field, knows little about the latest developments in the other field of specialisation, it is difficult to imagine the practices of an earlier time, when healing was holistic in nature and heavily reliant on herbal medicines. Herbs have been an essential factor in health care through all ages and cultures.

The earth is more than 4.6 billion years old. The first plant appeared on the earth 3 billion years ago and the modern man ‘Homo sapiens’ evolved around a hundred thousand years ago. What we can assume is that herbs have been a part of civilisation since our ancestors first walked on the earth. In 1970’s the grave of a man who was buried 60,000 years ago was excavated from Neanderthal burial sites in Iraq and it was found to contain bouquets of seven different herbs; the local people are still using these herbs. The evidence that Australian aborigines were using herbs as medicine dates back to 20,000 to 40,000 years. From the earliest times, herbs have played a crucial role in sustaining the health and well being of mankind. In some cultures, plants are considered to have souls. Aristotle, the 4th century BC Greek philosopher, thought that plants had a psyche. In Hinduism, many plants are considered sacred, for example, the bael tree 'Aegle marmelos' is said to shelter ‘Lord Shiva’, the god of physicians.

The knowledge of herbs has been handed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. As civilisation grew from 3,000 BC onwards in Egypt, Middle East, India & China, the use of herbs became more sophisticated and the first written accounts of medicinal plants were made. The earliest written evidences of medicinal plants are more than 4,700 years old. The 'Pen T'sao' was compiled during the reign of Emperor Shen Nung, known as father of Chinese herbal medicine between 3,000 and 2,700 BC. The detailed herbal prescriptions of Pen T'sao are still used by Chinese doctors. Sumerian and Babylonian physicians wrote about medicinal plants around 2,500 BC. The 'Ebers papyrus', which dates back to circa 1,500 BC, mentions several popular herbs of the ancient Egyptians.

In India, the ‘Vedas’ written in circa 1,500 BC, contain rich material on herbal lore. Lord Brahma is the original propounder of Ayurveda ‘The science of life’. From him, the knowledge passed to Daksa Prajapati, then to the Aswinikumaras who taught it to Indra, who in turn, transmitted the knowledge to his disciple Bharadwaja who taught it to Punarvasu Atrey, who had 6 disciples named Agnivesa, Bhela, Jatukarna, Parasara, Harita and Ksarapani. All the six wrote Samhitas. The work of Agnivesa has come down to us as 'Charaka Samhita' after so many revisions. The Charaka Samhita was written by physician Charaka in 700 BC. This medical treatise includes details of around 350 herbs. Among them are Ammi visnaga, Centella asiatica, Inula racemosa, Terminalia chebula, Zingiber officinale, Emblica officinalis, Ferula assa-foetida, Aegle marmelos and Tinospora cordifolia, which have been in use since then. Similarly, Terminalia arjuna has been used in Indian medicine for at least 3,000 years as a remedy for the heart diseases and its use has been confirmed by modern pharmacological research.

Hippocrates (460-377 BC), the Greek father of medicine, served the mankind with his knowledge of herbal medicine. The Egyptian goddess 'Isis', was the font of all medicinal knowledge. Both Hippocrates and Isis relied on herbal medicines. Similarly, the earliest Chinese medical text the ‘Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine’ narrates much about the herbs. Theophrastus authored a number of manuscripts dealing with plants in third century BC; the Historia Plantarum being the most famous.

Herbal traditions flourished from 300 BC to AD 600. During this period trade of herbs was well established between Europe, Middle East & Asia and various writers made systematic record of herbs and their known medicinal action. In China the ‘Divine Husbandmans Classic’ was written in 1st century AD. In the same era Greek physician Dioscorides wrote the first European herbal, ‘De Materia Medica’. Roman emperor’s physician Galen, inspired by Hippocrates gave the ‘Theory of four humours’ i.e., blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm. Elaborate medical systems developed in India and China during this era. Even the Bible lists over forty herbs which are still widely used.

During AD 600 to 1,500, Arabic & Indian medicine served the mankind, while Western scholastic medicine suffered greatly with the decline of Roman empire. Thanks to Arabic culture, the herbal medical knowledge of Greek and Roman period was preserved and elaborated. The spread of Islamic culture along North Africa and into present day Italy, Spain & Portugal led to the foundation of renowned medical schools, notably at Cordoba in Spain.