Influence on Islamic medicine edit
The first major translator of Galen into Arabic was the Syrian Christian Hunayn ibn Ishaq. Hunayn translated (c.830-870) 129 works of "Jalinos"[1] into Arabic. One of the Arabic translations, ‘Kitab ila Aglooqan fi Shifa al Amraz’, which is extant in the Library of Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine & Sciences, is a master piece of all literary works of Galen. It is a part of the Alexandrian compendium of Galen’s work. This manuscript of 10th century comprises two parts that include details regarding various types of fevers (Humyat) and different inflammatory conditions of the body. More importantly, it includes details of more than 150 single and compound formulations of both herbal and animal origin. The book provides an insight into understanding the traditions and methods of treatment in Greek (Unani) and Roman era. In addition, this book provides a direct source for the study of more than 150 single and compound drugs used during Greeko-Roman period.
Galen's insistence on a rational systematic approach to medicine set the template for Islamic medicine[citation needed], which rapidly spread throughout the Arab Empire. Arabic sources, such as Rhazes (Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi 865-925 AD), continue to be the source of discovery of new or relatively inaccessible Galenic writings.[2] As the title, Doubts on Galen by Rhazes implies, as well as the writings of physicians such as Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) and Ibn al-Nafis,[3] the works of Galen were not taken on unquestioningly, but as a challengeable basis for further inquiry.
A strong emphasis on experimentation and empiricism led to new results and new observations, which were contrasted and combined with those of Galen by writers such as Rhazes, Ali ibn Abbas al-Majusi (Haly Abbas), Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulasis), Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn Zuhr and Ibn al-Nafis. For example, the experiments carried out by Rāzi and Ibn Zuhr contradicted the Galenic theory of humorism,[citation needed] while Ibn al-Nafis' discovery of the pulmonary circulation contradicted the Galenic theory on the heart.[4]
In the Abbasid period (after 750 AD) Arab Muslims began to be interested in Greek scientific and medical texts for the first time, and had some of Galen's texts translated into Arabic, often by Syrian Christian scholars (see below). As a result some texts of Galen exist only in Arabic translation,[5] while others exist only in medieval Latin translations of the Arabic. In some cases scholars have even attempted to translate from the Latin or Arabic back into Greek where the original is lost.[6][7][2]
Indian edit
Greek edit
Philosophical edit
- Aristotle's Posterior Analytics.[8]
Mathematical edit
- Ptolemy's Almagest.
- Ptolemy's Optics
- Apollonius's work was translated into Arabic (the technical language of the time) and much of his work only survives through the Arabic version. Persians found applications to the theory; the most notable of these was the Persian[9] mathematician and poet Omar Khayyám who used conic sections to solve algebraic equations.
Medical edit
- Works of Hippocrates and Galen as adapted by Arabic physicians,[10]
References edit
- ^ Dear P. Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge and Its Ambitions, 1500-1700. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (2001), 37-39
- ^ a b Nutton V. The Patient's Choice: A New Treatise by Galen. The Classical Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 40, No. 1 (1990), pp. 236-257
- ^ Chairman's Reflections (2004), "Traditional Medicine Among Gulf Arabs, Part II: Blood-letting", Heart Views 5 (2): 74-85 [80]
- ^ S. A. Al-Dabbagh. Ibn Al-Nafis and the pulmonary circulation. The Lancet 1978 311(8074):1148
- ^ Boylen M. Galen. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
kotrcwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Rosen RM. Review of Vivian Nutton (ed.) Galen. On My Own Opinions. Corpus Medicorum Graecorum 5.3.2 Galeni De Proprius Placentis. Bryn Mawr Classical Review August 24 2000
- ^ L.D. Reynolds and Nigel G. Wilson, Scribes and Scholars, Oxford, 1974, p. 106.
- ^ Turner, Howard R. (1997). Science in medieval Islam: an illustrated introduction. University of Texas Press. p. 53. ISBN 0-292-78149-0., Chapter , p. 53
- ^ M.-T. d'Alverny, "Translations and Translators," pp. 422–6