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A Literary History of Medicine by the Syrian physician Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah (d. 1270) is the earliest comprehensive history of medicine. It contains biographies of over 432 physicians, ranging from the ancient Greeks to the author’s contemporaries, describing their training and practice, often as court physicians, and listing their medical works; all this interlaced with poems and anecdotes. These volumes present the first complete and annotated translation along with a new edition of the Arabic text showing the stages in which the author composed the work. Introductory essays provide important background. The reader will find on these pages an Islamic society that worked closely with Christians and Jews, deeply committed to advancing knowledge and applying it to health and wellbeing.
A Literary History of Medicine by the Syrian physician Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah (d. 1270) is the earliest comprehensive history of medicine. It contains biographies of over 432 physicians, ranging from the ancient Greeks to the author’s contemporaries, describing their training and practice, often as court physicians, and listing their medical works; all this interlaced with poems and anecdotes. These volumes present the first complete and annotated translation along with a new edition of the Arabic text showing the stages in which the author composed the work. Introductory essays provide important background. The reader will find on these pages an Islamic society that worked closely with Christians and Jews, deeply committed to advancing knowledge and applying it to health and wellbeing.
A Literary History of Medicine by the Syrian physician Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah (d. 1270) is the earliest comprehensive history of medicine. It contains biographies of over 432 physicians, ranging from the ancient Greeks to the author’s contemporaries, describing their training and practice, often as court physicians, and listing their medical works; all this interlaced with poems and anecdotes. These volumes present the first complete and annotated translation along with a new edition of the Arabic text showing the stages in which the author composed the work. Introductory essays provide important background. The reader will find on these pages an Islamic society that worked closely with Christians and Jews, deeply committed to advancing knowledge and applying it to health and wellbeing.
Najīb ad-Dīn as-Samarqandī’s (d. 619/1222) Book on Foods and Drinks (Kitāb al-Aghḏiya wa-l-ashriba) is a comprehensive medical encyclopedia with information on more than 500 different food items, dishes, drinks and fragrances. It can be considered to be the last major Arabic monograph on dietetics in the Islamic East and it probably rates among the most widespread premodern Arabic books on the subject of nutrition science. In Nahrungsmittel in der arabischen Medizin, Juliane Müller presents a critical edition of the Kitāb al-Aghḏiya wa-l-ashriba along with a German translation of the text. An extensive contextual study locates the book and its dietetic contents within Arabic medical literature and examines the sources and the reception of as-Samarqandī's food encyclopedia.
Najīb ad-Dīn as-Samarqandī’s (d. 619/1222) Book on Foods and Drinks (Kitāb al-Aghḏiya wa-l-ashriba) is a comprehensive medical encyclopedia with information on more than 500 different food items, dishes, drinks and fragrances. It can be considered to be the last major Arabic monograph on dietetics in the Islamic East and it probably rates among the most widespread premodern Arabic books on the subject of nutrition science. In Nahrungsmittel in der arabischen Medizin, Juliane Müller presents a critical edition of the Kitāb al-Aghḏiya wa-l-ashriba along with a German translation of the text. An extensive contextual study locates the book and its dietetic contents within Arabic medical literature and examines the sources and the reception of as-Samarqandī's food encyclopedia.
The history follows the Indian system’s evolution from its roots in ancient Mesopotamian collections of omen on the human body to modern-day practice in Rajasthan in the north and Tamilnadu in the south. A special feature of the book is Zysk’s edition and translation of the earliest textual collection of the system in the Gargīyajyotiṣa from the 1st century CE. The system of human marks is one of the few Indian textual sources that links ancient India with the antique cultures of Mesopotamia and Greece.
The history follows the Indian system’s evolution from its roots in ancient Mesopotamian collections of omen on the human body to modern-day practice in Rajasthan in the north and Tamilnadu in the south. A special feature of the book is Zysk’s edition and translation of the earliest textual collection of the system in the Gargīyajyotiṣa from the 1st century CE. The system of human marks is one of the few Indian textual sources that links ancient India with the antique cultures of Mesopotamia and Greece.
Generously funded by the Wellcome Trust, this is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC 4.0 License, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
This work is also available as a print set (hardback, 5 volumes).