Kampouroglou (1852–1942), a writer, journalist and member of the Academy of Athens, discussed the traders in his book History of the Athenians: Ottoman Rule, First Period, 1458–1687. The work spans roughly two and a half centuries, from the Fall of Constantinople to the late 17th century, but does not date the episodes about the healers more precisely. The word’s etymology remains disputed.
Kampouroglou cautioned against dismissing them only as charlatans. He portrayed the travelling sellers as collectors of inherited medical knowledge, closely connected to local plants and herbs. He recounted an elderly descendant of herb sellers saying that God would not put a fever in Athens and its cure in China.
The healer walked the streets solemnly with a case of medicines while an assistant called out that remedies and herbs were available for every illness. The account describes their distinctive clothing and a metal ointment box often marked with the Byzantine double-headed eagle. Some carried a heavy staff topped with a white bone or carved with a snake.
Historian Satha is cited as saying that many came from Zagori and used an obscure private jargon, “korakistika,” when speaking among themselves. He also proposed that the term came from the Greek verb kompono, “to deceive,” but Kampouroglou said that explanation was plausible rather than established. Local herb sellers gathered plants from Mount Hymettus, described as Athens’ great pharmacy.