Galen as Read and Perceived by Medieval Islamic Medicine
Keywords:
Galen, Islam, Greek medicine, Islamic medicine, anatomy, history of medicineAbstract
The influence of Galen in Islamic countries is linked to the extensive contribution of Greek scientific knowledge during the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods. As a religion and political force, Islam—competing with Christianity and the Byzantine Empire—played a key role in spreading the heritage of Greek medicine. Islam originated in a geographical and cultural sphere close to Hellenistic civilization, and the development and distribution of "non-Islamic" science and knowledge were necessary for its growth.
The dominance of Greek medical thought in Islamic culture was likely possible because the integration of Greek intellectual heritage was part of the ideological process during the formation of Islam itself. However, Greek medicine, as it was perceived by Islam, was no longer a body of knowledge that could develop independently; it needed to be interpreted in a way that aligned with Islamic requirements.
While theoretical teaching in Hellenistic medicine was based on anatomical observations, this practice was neglected starting in the second half of the third century BC, until Galen revived it in the second century AD. However, theoretical innovation based on anatomy did not occur in Islamic medicine. A lack of clear understanding of the practical relevance of anatomy to the development of medical knowledge led to it becoming exclusively descriptive in medieval Islam. This underestimation does not fully explain why dissection and surgery did not develop in Islamic medicine; religious and theoretical factors played a more significant role.
The author attempts to show how Galen was perceived in the Islamic world and based on an analysis of Islamic readings of his works, reveals the reasons for the gap between the Christian West and the Islamic East in their approaches to ancient Greek medicine.
Downloads
References
Voelpel J. Descartes’ Bête Machine, the Leibnizian
Correction and Religious Influence. Graduate Theses
and Dissertations. 2010. P. 30‒31.
Jouanna J. Hippocrate. Paris: Fayard, 1992.
Jouanna J. La naissance de l’art médicale occidental.
In: Mirko D. Grmek (ed). Histoire de la pensée médicale
en Occident. Vol. 1. Antiquité et Moyen Age. Paris: Edi-
tions du Seuil, 1995. P. 25‒66.
Guerrini A. Experimenting with Humans and Animals
From Galen to Animal Rights. Baltimore and London:
The John Hopkins University Press, 2003.
Sarton G. Galen of Pergamon. Lawrence, Kansas:
University of Kansas Press, 1954.
Encyclopaedia of New Pauly, Brill’s New Pauly, Vol. 5.
d. by Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider. English ed.:
h.F. Salazar. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2004.
Dols M. Medieval Islamic Medicine: Ibn Ridwan’s Treatise
“On the Prevention of Bodily Ills in Egypt”. Berkeley, Los
Angeles, London: Univercity of California Press, 1984.
Savage-Smith E., Pormann P. Medieval Islamic
Medicine. Edinburgh, Edinburg University Press, 2007.
Campbell D. Arabian medicine and its influence on the
Middle Ages. London : Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner,
vols. Vol. 2.
Nutton V. (ed). The Unknown Galen. London: Institute
of Classical Studies, School of Advanced Study
University of London, 2002. P. 121‒138.
Montgomery S.L. Science in Translation: Movements
of Knowledge through Cultures and Time. Chicago and
London: The University of Chicago Press, 2000.
Strohmaier G. Galen in Arabic: Prospects and Projects.
In: Galen: Problems and Prospects. Ed. V. Nutton.
London: The Wellcome Institute for the History of
Medicine, 1981.
Tâle’Namah ye Jâlinus (attributed to Galen). London,
Wellcome Trust Library, WMS., Per. 417 (A).
Shahrazuri, Shams al-Din Mohammad b. Mahmud.
Nozhat al-arvâh va rawzat al-afrâh (Târikh al-hokamâ),
written in the second part of the 13th century, translated by
Maqsud ‘Ali Tabrizi in 1011/1602. Ed. by Mohammad Taqi
Dânesh-Pajuh, Mohammad Sarvar Mawlâyee. Tehran:
Sherkat-e enteshârât-e ‘elmi va farhangi, 1365/1986.
Onsor al-Ma’âli Kaykâvus b. Eskandar. Qâbus-Nâma.
Ed. by Gholamhosein Yusefi. Tehran: Amir-Kabir,
/1983.
Ahmad b. Omar b. ‘Ali-ye Nezâmi-ye ‘Aruzi-ye
Samarqandi. Chahâr Maqâlah (Four Discourses). Ed.
by Mohammad Mo‘in. Tehran, Ketâbforushi Zavvâr. 3rd
ed., 1333/1954.
Savage-Smith E. Galen’s Lost Ophthalmology and The
Summaria Alexandrinorum. Bulletin of the Institute of
Classical Studies. 2002. Suppl. 77. P. 121‒38.
Ibn al-Qifti. Târikh al-Hokamâ. Persian translation of
Ed. by Bahman Dârâyî (Tehran, Enteshârât-e dâneshgâh-e Tehran: 1371/1992).
Ullmann M. Islamic Medicine. Edinburgh University
Press, 1997. 136 p.
Russell G.A. Greek Medicine in Persia. In: Encyclopedia
Iranica. Ed. E. Yarshater. Center for Iranian Studies,
Columbia University, 2002. Fasc. 4, No X. New York/
London: Routledge. P. 342‒357.
Gutas D. Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-
Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early
‘Abbâdid Society (2nd-4th/8th-10th centuries). London,
New York: Routledge, 1998.
Richter-Bernburg L. Iran’s Contribution to Medicine
and Veterinary Science in Islam. AH 100-900/ AD
-1500. In: J.A.C. Greppin, E. Savage-Smith,
J.L. Gueriguian (eds.). The Diffusion of Greco-Roman
Medicine into the Middle East and the Caucasus. Delmar,
New York: Caravan Books, 1999. P. 139‒168.
Naficy A. La medicine en Perse des origins à nos jours: Ses
fondements théoriques d’après l’Encyclopédie médicale de
Gorgani. Paris: Les Editions Véga, 1033.
Meyerhof M., Schacht J. The Medico-Philosophical
Contoversy between Ibn Butlan of Baghdad and Ibn
Ridwan of Cairo. Cairo: Egyptian University Press, 1937.
Ebrahimnejad H. The Development of Galenico-Islamic
Medicine: Assimilation of Greek Sciences into Islam.
Disquisition on the Past and Present. 2005. N 13.
‒140.
Makdisi G. Ibn ‘Aqil, Religion and Culture in Classical
Islam. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1977.
Pomian K. Ibn Khaldun au prisme de l’Occident. Paris,
Gallimard, 2006.
Garcia-Ballester L. Galen and Galenism: theory
and medical practice from antiquity to the European
Renaissance. Ed. by J. Arrizabalaga et al. Aldersshot:
Ashgate, 2002. Variorum collected studies, various
paging, Chapter I: Galen’s medical works in the context
of his biography. P. 1‒53.
Nutton V. Ancient Medicine. London, New York:
Routledge, 2004.
Temkin O. Galenism: Rise and Decline of a Medical
Pholosophy. Ithaca and London: Cornell University
Press, 1973.
Daremberg Ch. (ed., translat.) Oeuvres anatomiques,
physiologiques et médicales de Galien. Paris: Chez J. B.
Baillière, 1854. In 2 vols. Vol. I.
Vegetti M. Entre le savoir et la pratique: la mèdecine hel-
lénistique. In: Mirko D. Grmek (ed). Histoire de la pen-
sée médicale en Occident, vol. 1: Antiquité et Moyen
Age. Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1995.
Gourevitch D. Le triangle hippocratique dans le monde
greco-romain. Le malade, sa maladie et son medecin.
Paris, 1984.
Ebn Sina. Qânun dar Tebb. Translated into Persian by
Abd al-Rahmân Sharafkandi. Ed. by Mohammad-Reza
Ghaffâri & Abol-Qasem Pakdaman. V ol. IV. Tehran,
Sorush, 1367/1988; Vol. I. Tehran, Sorush, 1968.
Ahmad b. Elyâs. Tashrih-e Mansuri, Persian manuscript,
London, British Library, MS IO Isl. 1379.
Grant E. Science and Religion, 400 B.C. to A.D. 1550.
From Aristotle to Copernicus. Connecticut, London,
Greenwood Press: 2004.
Safâ. Zabihollâ. Târikh-e Adabiyyât-e Iran. Tehran:
Enteshârât-e Ferdowsi (4th ed.). Vol. III, 1363/1984.
Savage-Smith E. Attitudes toward Dissection in Medieval
Islam. The Journal of the History of Medicine and
Allied Sciences. 1995. Vol. 50. P. 67‒110.
Abu-bakr Rabi‘ b. Ahmad al-Akhavaini al-Bokhâri.
Hedâyat al-Mote’allemin fi’l-tebb. Ed. by J. Matini.
Mashhad: Mashhad University Press, 1344/1965.
Mohammad Hoseyn b. Hâdi ‘Aqili. Kholâsat al-Hekmat.
Lithograph ed. Bombay, 1261/1845.
Elgood C. Safavid Surgery. Oxford, London, New York:
Pergamon Press, 1966.
Emâd al-Din Mahmud Shirâzi. Resâla-ye chub-e chini.
WMS 293A.
Bahâ’ al-Dowleh Nurbakhshi. Kholâsat al-Tajârob.
Persian manuscript. London, Wellcome Trust Library,
WMS. Per. 602.
Richard. F. (ed). Raphaël du Mans Missionaire en
Perse au XVIIe siècle. Vol. II: Etats et Mémoires. Paris,
L’Harmattan, Société et l’Histoire de l’Orient, 1995.
Leiser G., Al-Khaledy N. (eds., transls). Questions and
Answers for Physicians by Abd al-Aziz al Sulami. Leiden,
Boston, 2004.
Leiser G. Medical Education in Islamic Lands from the
Seventh to Fourteenth Century. JHMAS. 1983. Vol. 38.
‒75.
Anonymous. Khvâss al-ashyâ’. Persian manuscript,
St Petersburg, National Library, п.н.с. 283, undated,
fols. 4, 12).
Keyser P.T. Science and Magic in Galen’s Recipes
(Sympathy and Efficacy). In: A. Debru (ed.). Galen on
Pharmacology: Philosophy, History and Medicine. Proceedings if the 5th International Galen Colloquium,Lille, 16-18 March 1995. Leiden, New York, Koln: Brill,1997. P. 175‒198.
Good B., Good M.-J. Del Vecchio. The Comparative
Study of Greco-Islamic Medicine: The Integration of
Medical Knowledge to Local Symbolic Contexts. In:
Leslie, A. Young (eds.) Paths to Asian Medical Knowledge. Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oxford: University of California Press, 1992. P. 257‒271.
Richter-Bernburg L. Catalogue of Persian Medical
Manuscripts UCLA, 1978.
Elgood C. Safavid Medical Practice or The Practice of
Medicine, Surgery and Gynaecology in Persia between
A.D. and 1750 A.D. London: Luzac & Company Limited, 1970.
Anonymous. Persian manuscript. National Library, St
Petersburg, 285, fols. 122‒130.
Ghanem I. Islamic Medical Jurisprudence. London:
Arthur Probsthain Publishers, 1982.
Soltân Ali Tabib-e Khorâsâni. Dastur al-‘alâj. Persian
manuscript, London, Wellcome Trust Library, WMS.
Per. 159, fol. 13.
Richter-Bernburg L. Abûbakr Muhammad al-Râzi’s
(Rhazes) Works. Medicina nei Secoli. 1994. Vol. 6.
‒392.
Mirzâ Qâzi b. Kâshef al-Din Mohammad Kâshef Yazdi.
Resâlah dar qahwa va chai va pâzahr va chub-e chini.
Persian manuscript, London, Wellcome Trust Library,WMS Per. 293(B).
Savage-Smith E. Drug Therapy of Eye Diseases in
Seventeenth-Century Islamic Medicine: The Influence
of the ‘New Chemistry’ of the Paracelsians. Farmacy in
History. 1987. Vol. 29. N 1. P. 3‒28.
Ebrahimnejad H. Medicine, Public Health and the Qâjâr
State: Patterns of Medical Modernisation in Nineteenth-
Century Iran. Boston, Leiden, Brill, 2004.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notices:
You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation .
No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
