Abstract: This study reconstructs the way Rabelais read Dioscorides, starting from the philological mystery posed by the reference to this ancient botanist and kermes dye in chapter XVIII of the Tiers livre. This case study highlights the way Rabelais interprets De materia medica in the light of the most recent humanist editions of Dioscorides, Mesue, and Serapion, on the one hand, and of the tradition of the Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier, on the other.
