No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
An Early Fragment of Ibn Jazlah's Tabulated Manual “Taqwīm al-Abdān” from the Cairo Genizah (T-S Ar.41.137)
Abstract
Ibn Jazlah was born and raised as a Christian in Karkh (Baghdad) and died in the year 1100. He acquired his medical education in Baghdad, worked at the ʿAḍuḍi hospital, and was appointed as a registrar and physician for the court at the ʿAbbāsid capital and later became a court physician of Caliph al-Muqtadī. Ibn Jazlah wrote several books on various subjects, mainly on medicine. During the process of reconstructing the medical library of the medieval Jewish practitioners in Cairo, a Genizah fragment of a unique tabular medical book in Arabic was identified as Ibn Jazlah's tabulated manual “Taqwīm al-abdān”, which is most probably part of the earliest known copy of the text. A study of the T-S Ar.41.137 clearly shows that it was an uncompleted draft, and can therefore teach us how the medieval copier worked. The image of the fragment is presented here, as well as its transliteration, translation and analysis.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
The manuscripts of the Cairo Genizah are a unique source for medieval medical history. In this study, Lev and Chipman offer an insight into the everyday practical medicine of medieval Egypt, as revealed by the prescriptions in the Genizah.
The reconstruction of the library of Eastern medieval Jewish scholars and medical practitioners according to the Cairo Genizah is a long-term project. In the course of the work a Judaeo-Arabic fragment of a unique tabular medical book by Ibn Biklārish (T-S Ar.44.218) was identified by the authors of this article.
The fragment is unique in several respects, particularly (a) very few medieval Arabic tabular medical works are known, (b) only few works by Andalusian Jewish authors of the late 11th or early 12th century have been found in the Genizah so far, (c) only one Judaeo-Arabic fragment of Ibn Biklārish's Kitāb al-Mustaʿīnī is known to date.
The main importance of our find is that it is the first time that a rare Spanish medical book has appeared in the Cairo Genizah collection. Dozens of the Genizah's fragments have been identified as medical books, but none by a Spanish Jewish author, written in Judaeo-Arabic, and tabulated!
Minhāj al-dukkān wa-dustūr al-a'yān fī a'māl wa-tarākīb al-adwiya al-nāfi'a lil-insān (‘The management of the [pharmacist's]
shop and the rule for the notables on the preparation and composition of medicines beneficial to Man’) is a manual for pharmacists
composed in the year 658/1260 in Cairo by the otherwise unknown Abū 'l-Munā Dāwūd b. Abī Naṣr al-Kūhīn al-'Aṭṭār al-Hārūnī
al-Isrā'īlī, from his name a Jewish druggist. Minhāj al-dukkān was composed in the period covered by the Genizah, but hitherto no such manuscript has been identified. We were able to identify
T-S Ar. 40.91 as a fragment of chapter two of Minhāj al-dukkān. In this article we will present a transcription and translation of T-S Ar. 40.91, followed by a description of the sources
and materia medica referred to. Finally, we will show that this fragment is a remnant of one of the earliest manuscripts of Minhāj al-dukkān found so far.
Al-Dustūr al-bīmāristānī by Ibn Abī 'l-Bayān forms an important part of the Arabic tradition of hospital dispensatories and has remained well-known
to the traditional practitioners of the Middle East. So far, eleven fragments of the Dustur have been identified in the Taylor-Schechter
Genizah Collections at the Cambridge University Library, of which eight are in Arabic script and three are in Judaeo-Arabic.
This article discusses the significance of these fragments, particularly those in Judaeo-Arabic. We also provide editions
and translations of two of the fragments.
Sābūr b. Sahl's Al-aqrābādhīn al-scombining dot belowaghīr is the earliest Arabic pharmacopoeia known to have survived. We present here an edition of Cambridge University Library MS Or. 1081 1.6, a Judaeo-Arabic fragment of that pharmacopoeia from the Cairo Genizah, together with a translation and commentary. Finding a fragment of Sābūr's pharmacopoeia in the Cairo Genizah shows that it was used by the medical practitioners of the Jewish community of Cairo, possibly long after it is supposed to have been superseded by other works.
The medical texts in the Genizah have been analyzed mainly as part of other subjects, like the various professional classes within the Jewish community in Old Cairo. Until now few have studied these documents in their own right, despite the fact that they offer valuable insights into the medieval economy of the Eastern Mediterranean and beyond. Focussing on saffron and myrobalan, this article offers a tentative investigation of the significance of medical drugs for the study of Mediterranean trade in the Middle Ages on the basis of practical medical fragments found mainly at the Taylor-Schechter collection in Cambridge.
The literature on medicine in medieval Muslim countries in general and in Egypt in particular is vast and detailed. Yet study and assessment of the practical aspects of medicine in the Mediterranean society of the Middle Ages requires examination of authentic, practical medical knowledge. At present this can be extracted mainly from the prescriptions found in the Cairo Genizah; these supply a different and valuable dimension. On the importance and the potential of research into the medical aspects of the Genizah documents, mainly prescriptions, Goitein wrote in 1971 that “these prescriptions have to be examined by experts in the history of medicine”.
Aim of the study:
To asses the scientific value of the practical medical fragments found in the Cairo Genizah (10th century), as a useful source for ethnopharmacological purposes (in exposing rare and usually inaccessible original medieval practical knowledge of medicinal substances to present-day researchers), and to reconstruct the practical drugs and their uses.
Materials and methods:
A methodology distinguishing between theoretical (about 1500 fragments) and practical medical knowledge (about 230 fragments) was created and used. The information regarding the practical medicinal substances was extracted from prescriptions (140), lists of drugs (70) and few letters of physicians.
Results:
The reconstructed lists of practical (278) and theoretical (414) drugs allow us to recognize and quantify the gap between them in medieval times (136).
Conclusions:
We propose that the data obtained from ancient prescriptions is comparable to ethnopharmacological surveys. The finding of plants such as myrobalan, saffron, licorice, spikenard and lentisk, all of which have scientifically proven anti-microbial/bacterial and anti-fungal activity, sheds a helpful light on the medical decision-making of the medieval practitioners in respect of the plants they applied as drugs. With the wealth of information meticulously assembled from these time capsules we expect to make a significant contribution to contemporary efforts at locating modern drugs in ancient roots and gauging their feasibility.
Săbŭr ibn Sahl's al-Aqrăbdădhĭn al-saghĭr is the earliest Arabic pharmacopoeia known to have survived. Finding fragments of Săbŭr's pharmacopoeia in the Cairo Genizah shows that it was used by the medical practitioners of the Jewish community of Cairo, possibly long after it is supposed to have been superceded by other works. We present here a synoptic edition of two Arabic fragments, T-S Ar. 40.5 and Ar. 41.90. These fragments overlap to a large extent, but are not exactly the same. We suggest that one (T-S Ar. 41.90) may be the work of a professional scribe, while the other (T-S Ar. 40.5) was copied by a practitioner for his personal use.
Complementary, alternative, unconventional, and integrative medicine are types of natural medicine that have been known and practiced ever since the recording of history, and in particular in the Old World. This has been rediscovered in many countries, including the New World and especially in the United States. In this review, the philosophical, cultural, and historical aspects are discussed, and the many types of alternative medical practices are mentioned.
The study of complementary medicine shows that evidence required the medical establishment to take unconventional therapies more seriously, and realize that their use alongside traditional medicine, is rapidly increasing.
Complementary medicine is a formal method of health care in most countries of the Old World and is expected to become integrated in the modern medical system and to be part of the medical curriculum and the teaching programs of medical institutions as well. Issues of efficacy and safety of complementary medicine have become increasingly important and supervision of the techniques and procedures used is required. More research studies are needed to understand and use this type of medicine.
The Taylor-Schechter (T-S) collection at Cambridge University Library is the biggest of all Cairo Genizah collections in the world. The importance and the potential of research into the medical aspects of the Genizah documents were clear to researcher since the early 1960s. A few works have been published since, usually focusing on one subject, or even important single manuscripts. The current research concerned mainly with one aspect of the history of medicine of the Jewish community of Cairo (as a reflection of Eastern medieval societies), namely the practical uses of natural substances for medicine. The most interesting and original information is undoubtedly to be found in the 141 prescriptions, as they reflect the medical reality that actually existed. And indeed, 242 substances were recorded in the prescriptions identified: 195 substances of plants origin (80.6%), 27 inorganic materials (11.2%) and 20 substances of animal origin (8.2%) were recorded as being in practical used for medicinal purposes. The most frequently mentioned substances were the rose, myrobalan, sugar, almonds, and endive. The most prevalent ailments: eye diseases, headache, constipations (purgative), cough, skin diseases, stomach, fever, gynaecological problems, haemorrhoids, liver ailments, lice, swellings, dental trouble, ulcers, and problems of the urinary tract.
The importance of the Genizah for the research of the medieval Mediterranean communities, supplying information on almost every aspect of life, is well known among historian. Less known is that pharmacy was the most popular of all branches of the healing art in the medieval Jewish community of Cairo, according to the Genizah manuscripts. Sources for study of medieval practical drugs are extremely rare since most records naturally vanish over the years, and only some medical books, which contained theoretical pharmacology, have survived to the present day. Drugs lists enable us to understand medieval practical pharmacy and to reconstruct their inventories. This study reports on 71 original drugs lists that were found in the Genizah; they are different from merchants' letters dealing with commerce in drugs and give no instructions for the use or preparation of formulas as usually found in prescriptions. Twenty-six lists are written in Judeo-Arabic and 45 in Arabic, none of the lists is written in Hebrew. The longest list contains 63 identified substances. These lists were apparently used by pharmacists for professional and business purposes as inventories of drugs, records, orders, or even receipts. Two hundred and six different drugs are mentioned in the drugs lists of which 167 are of plant origin, 16 are of animal origin, and the remaining 23 are inorganic. The lists point directly to the place they occupied on the shelves of the pharmacies that could be found in the lanes and alleys of the Jewish quarter of Cairo. The most frequently mentioned substance were myrobalan (27), pepper and saffron (21), lentisk (15), almond, basil, rose, rosemary (14), cattle products, camphor and spikenard (13).
Chicken and Chicory are Good for You: A Unique Family Prescription from the Cairo Genizah (T-S NS 223.82–83)
- Lev
Tabular Form in Four Arabic Medical Texts from the 11th Century
- Haddad
ʿAlī at-Ṭabarī's “Paradise of Wisdom
- Meyerhof
Healing Spas in the Land of Israel in Ancient Times: Holy Sites or Popular Healing Sites?
- Dvorzetsky
Like Snow in Summer; A luxury Product in the land of Israel and Syria
- Amar
Assaph (Harofe) the Physician, ‘Sefer Refuoth’
- Muntner
The “Book of Treasure
- Meyerhof