Islamic medical manuscript citing Hippocrates and Galen

Shirazi, Najm al-Din Mahmud al-. Kitab al-Hawi fi ‘ilm al-tadawi [The complete book of the art of healing].

€ 15.000,00

The principal and most important work by the medieval Persian physician Najm al-Din Mahmud al-Shirazi (d. 1330 CE), the Complete Book of the Art of Healing. This treatise cites many earlier medical authorities, such as Hippocrates and Galen, as well as various Arab writers. In this way, it is a particularly good example of the rich intellectual milieu of 14th century Shiraz, and the combination of Persian, Greek, and Arab medicine available to physicians and students. Much of the work is dedicated to discussion of diet, which was of utmost importance to premodern medicine, but also of more acute illnesses, such as types of fever, and known treatments. Beyond this work, little is known of the author's life.

The scribe who completed this manuscript signed his work "Kahimakran Das", an uncommon name among Muslims. It is more likely that Kahimakran Das was Hindu, which would make this manuscript one of the rare Islamic manuscripts known to be copied by Hindu scribes, most likely for a Muslim patron.