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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLES |
The Contribution Of The Sixteenth-century Turkish Physician Daud Al-antaki To The Research Of Medical Substances In Use In The Levant (bilad Al-sham)
Dr. Efraim LEVa
aDepartment of Eretz Israel Studies, University of Haifa, ISRAEL
Daud Ibn Amar al-Antaki was perhaps the pre-eminent Muslim physician of the 16th century. His medical encyclopaedia, Tadhkirat Uli l-al-Bab wa l-Jami li-L-‘Ajab al-‘Ujab, is a treasure-trove of medieval medical and pharmaceutical information.
Scholarly investigation has revealed in its pages descriptions of 73 medicinal substances known to have been in use in medieval and Ottoman Levant. The 57 plants mentioned include both wild and cultivated local species, and even imported flora. All five of the minerals identified as being in use for medicinal purposes are similarly local, and their application can be corroborated from other historical sources. al-Antaki also identifies nine animals whose body parts or by-products were used medicinally and are thus of particular interest and importance to scholars. He likewise refers to other substances whose precise origins and correct usage remain vague.
This study deals with the medical application of different substances originating in the Levant, and attempts to assess the nature of Daud al-Antaki’s contribution to research into such usage in the medieval and Ottoman Levant.Keywords: Daud al-Antaki, Medieval Medicine, Materia Medica, the Levant, Bilad al-ShamTurkiye Klinikleri J Med Ethics 2005, 13:74-80
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