Comments on: Islamic Medical Manuscripts

Islamic Medical Manuscripts

mediareport — Thu, 19 Jun 2003 15:55:00 -0800

Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing An "immensely popular" medieval Islamic natural history text (with simurghs, yew trees, constellations and much more). Found at the Islamic Medical Manuscripts collection, which has more great visuals in the Medical Monographs section.

By: Peter H

Peter H — Thu, 19 Jun 2003 16:00:29 -0800

marvels, miraculous, immensely, medieval, lamic, simurghs, much, more, lamic, medical, manuscripts, more, medical, monographs and mediareport - let's hear it for the use of "M" in a mefi post!

By: Peter H

Peter H — Thu, 19 Jun 2003 16:02:40 -0800

thats some gorgeous links to art, btw. just amused at the m's ..thanks

By: mediareport

mediareport — Thu, 19 Jun 2003 16:11:55 -0800

I *knew* I should have mentioned Maimonides' medieval treatise on hemorrhoids.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 19 Jun 2003 17:24:04 -0800

Wow, this is great -- for some reason I particularly like the man-headed fish. This helps ease the pain of the Met's Islamic galleries having closed for a few years. Thanks.

By: MiguelCardoso

MiguelCardoso — Thu, 19 Jun 2003 18:14:16 -0800

Fantastic, mediareport - thanks! Nice to see pictures in a decent size for a change.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Thu, 19 Jun 2003 18:27:32 -0800

I kiss you.

By: wobh

wobh — Thu, 19 Jun 2003 22:34:40 -0800

I note that some of these wonders (the people whose heads are sunk into to their chests for example) are mentioned in other ancient texts and travelogues. Just a note for any meme trackers out there.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Thu, 19 Jun 2003 23:47:16 -0800

Interesting point, wobh; do you recall where else the people with heads in their chests appear? A lot of themes in the Islamic texts do seem based on earlier Greek and Roman (and maybe other) ideas, though. Just look at the constellations the books use. And then there's this quote: "It was through Arabic translations that the West learned of Hellenic medicine, including the works of Galen and Hippocrates." Wow. So "the West," which lost its own medical heritage during a long dark age of violence and ignorance, had to rediscover that heritage from Islamic scholars who recognized the value of what the West had thrown away. Does that about cover it?

By: carter

carter — Fri, 20 Jun 2003 07:45:32 -0800

mediareport: the idea of 'monstrous races' dates back at least to the time of Pliny in the first century - see here and text here. Ideas and images of monsters remained widespread up to the seventeenth/eighteenth centuries (nice page, plenty of images and links). Very nice page btw - thanks!

By: monkey closet

monkey closet — Fri, 20 Jun 2003 08:16:57 -0800

So "the West," which lost its own medical heritage during a long dark age of violence and ignorance, had to rediscover that heritage from Islamic scholars who recognized the value of what the West had thrown away. Does that about cover it? Not just medical - scientific, mathematical, philosophical...

By: taz

taz — Fri, 20 Jun 2003 12:54:34 -0800

Great link! Also at this site, Dream Anatomy. Another great image treasure-hunting site with a huge database and large-presentation images is the Australian National University's ArtServe.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Mon, 23 Jun 2003 00:53:56 -0800

Wow, taz; that Dream Anatomy exhibit is incredible. I'd never heard of Fritz Kahn before, but his take on "modernist physiology" is mindblowing. You have three days to post this to the front page before I do. ;)