Pseudo-Dioscorides is the name given to an unknown author or authors from the Roman era, likely active in the 1st century CE or later. This figure is not the famous physician Dioscorides but rather a later writer whose works were falsely attributed to that renowned authority. The practice of attaching a famous name to a new work, known as pseudepigraphy, was common in ancient technical and medical writing to lend the text credibility.

The genuine Dioscorides was a Greek physician and pharmacologist who served in the Roman army. His major work, De materia medica, became the most important book on herbal medicine and pharmacology for over a thousand years. Capitalizing on this authority, later writers composed their own texts on pharmacy and toxicology under his name. The works of Pseudo-Dioscorides are believed to include treatises on topics like venomous animals and poisons, written in straightforward, technical Greek. The exact number and titles of these pseudonymous works are uncertain, but they represent later additions to the corpus of ancient medical knowledge.

According to modern scholars, the significance of Pseudo-Dioscorides lies in demonstrating the powerful legacy of the original Dioscorides and the common practice of pseudepigraphy in ancient science. These later texts helped transmit and expand knowledge of poisons and antidotes through the Greco-Roman, Byzantine, and Arabic medical traditions. They were often accepted as genuine for centuries, showing how authoritative names shaped the preservation and study of scientific literature throughout history.