History

Greek text: M. Wellmann (ed.), Pedanii Dioscuridis De materia medica libri quinque, 3 volumes. Berlin, 1907-1914, vol. 2, p. 81.

3.70. μάραθον· τούτου ἐσθιομένη ἡ πόα δύναται γάλα κατασπᾶν, καὶ τὸ σπέρμα δὲ πινόμενον ἢ συνεψόμενον πτισάνῃ. τὸ δὲ ἀφέψημα τῆς κόμης ποθὲν νεφριτικοῖς καὶ τοῖς περὶ κύστιν <πάθεσιν> ἁρμόζει διουρητικὸν ὑπάρχον, ἑρπετοδήκτοις δὲ δίδοται σὺν οἴνῳ καὶ καταμήνια ἄγει, ἐν πυρετοῖς τε ναυσίαν καὶ καῦσον στομάχου παραιτεῖται μετὰ ψυχροῦ ὕδατος πινόμενον. αἱ δὲ ῥίζαι λεῖαι σὺν μέλιτι καταπλασθεῖσαι κυνοδήκτους θεραπεύουσιν. ὁ δὲ χυλὸς ἐκθλιβέντων τῶν καυλῶν καὶ τῶν φύλλων ἐν ἡλίῳ ξηρανθεὶς εἰς τὰ ὀφθαλμικά, ὅσα πρὸς ὀξυδερκίαν, σκευάζεται χρησίμως· χυλίζεται δὲ πρὸς τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ τὸ σπέρμα χλωρὸν ἔτι <ὂν> σὺν τοῖς φύλλοις καὶ τοῖς ἀκρεμόσι καὶ ἡ ῥίζα κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ἐκβλάστησιν. ἐν δὲ τῇ πρὸς ἑσπέραν Ἰβηρίᾳ καὶ ὀπὸν ἀνίησιν ὅμοιον κόμμει, ἀποθεριζόντων ἐν τῇ ἀνθήσει μέσον τὸν καυλὸν τῶν ἐπιχωρίων καὶ πυρὶ παρατιθέντων, ἵνα ὑπὸ τῆς θερμασίας οἷον ἀφιδρῶσαν ἐξιπώσῃ τὸ κόμμι· ἔστι δὲ ἐνεργέστερον τοῦ χυλοῦ πρὸς τὰ ὀφθαλμικὰ τοῦτο.

English translation: based on LY Beck, Pedanius Dioscorides of Anazarbus, De materia medica. 3rd edition. Hildesheim, 2017, pp.  210-211.

Fennel: this herb can draw down milk when eaten, as can also its seed when drunk or when cooked together with barley gruel. The decoction of its foliage, being diuretic, is suitable for kidney and bladder disease; it is given with wine to people bitten by reptiles, it brings on the menstrual period, and when patients have fever, it relieves nausea and heartburn when drunk with cold water. The roots, smeared on ground up with honey, treat those bitten by dogs. The juice, expressed from the stalks and leaves and dried in the sun, is prepared advantageously for such eye medications as are made for sharpening the vision. For the same purposes juice is extracted from its seed, while it is still green together with the leaves and branches, and from the root when it first grows. In Spain, to the west, it releases also a juice that is similar to gum. The locals cut the stem in the middle at the time the plant is in bloom and place it near the fire so that by sweating, as it were from the heat, it may release the gum. This is more active for eye preparations than the juice.