The Juliana Anicia Codex: 1500 Year Anniversary (512-2012) of a Dioscoridean Recension

The Greek herbal of Pedanios Dioskurides, latinized as Pedanius Dioscorides (20-70 CE), entitled Peri Ylis Ialikis (latinized as De Materia Medica, On Medical Matters) was written about the year 65. It was destined to be one of the most famous books on pharmacology and medicine but is also rich in horticulture and plant ecology.  The oldest and most famous recension of Dioscorides completed in Constantinople about 512 has survived is a magnificent, gloriously illustrated Greek version in an alphabetical arrangement that was prepared and presented to the imperial Princess Juliana Anicia (462 -527), daughter of the Emperor Anicius Olybrius, Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. The bound manuscript stored in Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna is available in facsimile and is now referred to as the Juliana Anicia Codex (JAC) or the Codex Vindobonensis. The JAC contains over 400 paintings of plants including many horticultural crops. An analysis of the illustrations indicates the illustrations were made by numerous artists of varying skills and it is probably that some were derived from  earlier lost versions.  A comparison of illustrations from the JAC with modern photographs indicate surprising similarities with contemporary plants.