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A Literary History of Medicine
The ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah. Volume 3-2: Annotated English Translation and Appendices
An
online, Open Access version of this work is also available from Brill.
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.
Emilie Savage-Smith, FBA, was Professor of the History of Islamic Science, University of Oxford. Publications include
A New Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, I: Medicine (2012) and, with Y. Rapoport,
Lost Maps of the Caliphs (2019)
Simon Swain, FBA, is Professor of Classics, University of Warwick. Publications include Hellenism & Empire (1996), Seeing the Face, Seeing the Soul: Polemon’s Physigonomy from Classical Antiquity to Medieval Islam (2007), Economy, Family and Society from Rome to Islam (2013).
Geert Jan van Gelder, PhD Leiden 1982; Lecturer in Arabic, University of Groningen, 1975–1998; Laudian Professor of Arabic, University of Oxford, 1998–2012. Fellow of the KNAW and the British Academy; author of many publications on Classical Arabic literature.
Contributors: Ignacio Sánchez, N. Peter Joosse, Alasdair Watson, Bruce Inksetter, Franak Hilloowala
Simon Swain, FBA, is Professor of Classics, University of Warwick. Publications include Hellenism & Empire (1996), Seeing the Face, Seeing the Soul: Polemon’s Physigonomy from Classical Antiquity to Medieval Islam (2007), Economy, Family and Society from Rome to Islam (2013).
Geert Jan van Gelder, PhD Leiden 1982; Lecturer in Arabic, University of Groningen, 1975–1998; Laudian Professor of Arabic, University of Oxford, 1998–2012. Fellow of the KNAW and the British Academy; author of many publications on Classical Arabic literature.
Contributors: Ignacio Sánchez, N. Peter Joosse, Alasdair Watson, Bruce Inksetter, Franak Hilloowala
"This edition will hopefully become the standard basis for research on the
ʿUyūn, especially in the Arab world. The fact that it is published open access may assist in this. The same can be said for the translation, which finally makes Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah’s text available in full to historians of medicine as well as other scholars who do not have access to the Arabic text. [...] All in all, the edition is a great contribution to scholarship, to be received with gratitude by a wide range of scholars." Remke Kruk, in
Bulletin of the School and Oriental and African Studies 84/1 (2021)
"Cette publication qui est amenée à devenir la nouvelle édition et traduction de référence des ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ d’Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa, témoigne de l’importance du travail collectif pour renouveler l’approche de sources connues depuis longtemps mais dont il reste encore beaucoup à apprendre. Le principal apport de cette équipe a été de reprendre l’étude de la tradition manuscrite et d’obtenir des résultats nouveaux et utiles à l’histoire du livre médiéval." Audrey Caire, in Codicologie
"Cette publication qui est amenée à devenir la nouvelle édition et traduction de référence des ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ d’Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa, témoigne de l’importance du travail collectif pour renouveler l’approche de sources connues depuis longtemps mais dont il reste encore beaucoup à apprendre. Le principal apport de cette équipe a été de reprendre l’étude de la tradition manuscrite et d’obtenir des résultats nouveaux et utiles à l’histoire du livre médiéval." Audrey Caire, in Codicologie
Volume 3-2 Annotated English Translation
11 Physicians in the Lands of the Persians (Bilād al-ʿajam)
Alasdair Watson, N. Peter Joosse and Geert Jan van Gelder (poetry)
12 Physicians of India
Bruce Inksetter and Emilie Savage-Smith
13 Physicians Who Were Prominent in the Western Lands and Settled There
Ignacio Sánchez and Geert Jan van Gelder (poetry)
14 Famous Physicians amongst Those in Egypt
Franak Hilloowala, Emilie Savage-Smith and Geert Jan van Gelder (poetry)
15 Famous Syrian Physicians
N. Peter Joosse and Geert Jan van Gelder (poetry)
The Biography of Amīn al-Dawlah in Version 1
Appendix 1: Ibn al-Nafīs
Ignacio Sánchez
Appendix 2: Additional Marginalia
Ignacio Sánchez and Geert Jan van Gelder
Anyone interested in the Greco-Roman legacy in Islam; in ancient and medieval healthcare; in Arabic literature and poetry; in Christians and Jews in Islamic culture; in medieval history and society.