Syriac Medicine and Hunayn ibn Ishaq's Arabic Translation of the Hippocratic Aphorisms

This volume traces this history from Justinian-era monastic communities through Sassanid medical academies to the caliphal court at Baghdad by comparing the Syriac and Arabic translations of the Hippocratic Aphorisms, a venerable Greek introduction to the art of medicine, focusing on the work of the famous translator and physician Hunayn ibn Ishaq.

The Syriac medical tradition constitutes an important bridge traversing the imposing historical gap between the late Hellenic and early Islamic periods in southwest Asia. This volume traces this history from Justinian-era monastic communities through Sassanid medical academies to the caliphal court at Baghdad by comparing the major Syriac and Arabic translations of the Hippocratic Aphorisms, a venerable Greek introduction to the art of medicine, with a particular focus on the work of the famous translator and physician Hunayn ibn Ishaq (d. 873). Utilizing previously unavailable texts and drawing heavily upon the classical Syriac-Arabic glossographical tradition of Hunayn''s school, the book demonstrates the importance of Syriac precedents in translation methods and medical terminology for ?unayn''s Arabic translation praxis. In doing so, it clarifies the historical development of Arabic medical philosophy and makes definite advances in the study of Greek-Syriac/Arabic translation, variously confirming, modifying and overturning traditional and contemporary historical accounts concerning the authorship and periodization of the works concerned and their relationships one to another.