In 1544 Mattioli published a translation of De materia medica by the Greek physician and naturalist Dioscorides. This work was an encyclopedic treatise describing hundreds of species of plants, animals and minerals, and their medicinal properties.
Mattioli's version contained, along with the translation, an extensive comment and abundant iconographic material, facilitating identification of the various species for readers interested in passing from the image to reality. Mattioli corrected the errors he found in Dioscorides' text. At the dawn of the Scientific Revolution, it was clear that the classical texts could no longer serve as the only guide to a knowledge of nature.