"Preparing Medicine from Honey," from a 13th century manuscript of an Arabic translation of De Materia Medica of Dioscorides. Calligrapher: Abdullah ibn al-Fadl. Baghdad, Iraq. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper. One of the most influential medical treatises handed down to Muslims was De Materia Medica, by a first-century AD Greek physician in Cilicia (southern Anatolia). This page concerns making medicine from honey and water, prescribed to cure weakness and loss of appetite. A doctor holds a gold cup while stirring the boiling honey and water in a cauldron as he prepares to scoop it up for the seated patient. The architectural setting suggests that the drugs are being produced in a pharmacy like those attached to hospitals in the Seljuq lands.