Ancient Greece & Dittany of Crete...
Hippocrates
Ancient tradition has it is that Hippocrates (469 - 399 BC), the famous Greek physician prescribed plant cures to aid all manner of ailments and considered Dittany of Crete useful for the stomach, gall bladder, the lungs and as a poultice for healing wounds.
Aristotle
The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) in his work The History of Animals (612a4) wrote:
"Wild goats in Crete are said, when wounded by arrow, to go in search of dittany,
which is supposed to have the property of ejecting arrows in the body."
Theophrastus
The Greek scholar and philosopher Theophrastus (370 - c.287 BC) was the successor to Aristotle and agreed with him about the healing properties of Dittany. Theophrastus was known as the "father of botany," and greatly influenced medieval science. In his famous work Enquiry into Plants he notes that Dittany was peculiar to Crete, and that it was:
"Said to be true, that, if goats eat it when they have been shot, it rids them of the arrow" (9.16.1).
Enquiry into Plants (Historia Plantarum)
The frontispiece to an illustrated 1644 edition of the Enquiry into Plants (Historia Plantarum) by the ancient Greek scholar Theophrastus.
Other scholars of Ancient Greece have made reference to Dittany but probably referred to Dictamnus albus known as False Dittany or White Dittany.