Book chapter
La médecine thérapeutique en syriaque (ive-viie siècle)
Syriac medical tradition was formed as a translation of the Graeco-Roman Galenic medicine into the Oriental tradition. An outline of that tradition in connection with the Greek and Arabic medical schools is proposed in the article.
In book
The article offers some observations concerning the current state of the “new history of medicine”, a field of research focused on the role of medicine, its ideas, ideologies and practices in culture and society. The author concentrates on methodological trends of this field, its research agenda, and the challenges it faces at the moment. In spite of the pessimistic opinions of some commentators on the perspectives of its further development, the author concludes that the new medical history in its present state does not show any signs of crisis. Quite the contrary, it is developing fast and steady, reacting to challenges and incorporating new approaches.
Syrians who spoke Aramaic idiom developped Greek scientific tradition and handed it over to the Arabs. The ways of that transmitssion are traced in the volume.
In the present article two eleventh-century phrases inscribed many times on the walls of the St Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod (коуни рони and парехъ мари) are shown to be of Semitic provenance. The authors provide the linguistic arguments which support the claim of a Hebrew source for коуни рони and a Syriac one for парехъ мари. In addition, we offer a reconstruction of the historical pragmatic context in which the phrases can be situated. It is proposed that the коуни рони inscriptions can be connected with the seizure of Novgorod and the plundering of St Sophia by Vseslav of Polotsk in the year 1066. They should be regarded as the oldest tangible proof of contacts with Jews and Hebrew in Rus’. In the case of the парехъ мари inscriptions, the hypothesis is put forward that the author was a certain Efrem, a local citizen, possibly a clergyman, who was a Syrian by descent.
Josèph Labourt
This book offers an innovative engagement with the diverse histories of colonial and indigenous medicines. Engagement with different kinds of colonialism and varied indigenous socio-political cultures has led to a wide range of approaches and increasingly distinct traditions of historical writing about colonial and indigenous modes of healing have emerged in the various regions formerly ruled by different colonial powers. The volume offers a much-needed opportunity to explore new conceptual perspectives and encourages critical reflection on how scholars' research specialisms have influenced their approaches to the history of medicine and healing. The book includes contributions on different geographical regions in Asia, Africa and the Americas and within the varied contexts of Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch and British colonialisms. It deals with issues such as internal colonialism, the plural history of objects, transregional circulation and entanglement, and the historicisation of medical historiography. The chapters in the volume explore the scope for conceptual interaction between authors from diverse disciplines and different regions, highlighting the synergies and thematic commonalities as well as differences and divergences.
The article deals with the toponyms occurring in the Aramaic and Arabic texts of the Late Sassanian and Early Moslem period concerning the biography of the prominent Eastern Syrian mystical writer Isaac of Nineveh. Two particular cases are analysed. Firstly, it is reported by Ishodnah and other writers that Isaac left Qatar in the mid-7th century and became bishop «of Nineveh», whence his cognomen Ninwāyā. The history of Nineveh and its mythological reception are traced to the 7th c. BC. Due to the never forgotten glory of Assyrian past, any new centre which ever re-emerged at Kuyunjik or Nabi-Yunus hills (which had been parts of Assyrian Nineveh) and even the pre-Mosul settlement on the opposite bank of the Tigris (once called Nav-Ardashir) received the name of «Nineveh» and were thought to be the same Assyrian Nineveh. It was this western pre-Mosul settlement that is really implied by «Nineveh» of Isaac. The population lived on the western bank of the Tigris in Nav-Ardashir, while the historical city of Nineveh had been abandoned. Bishops of Nineveh resided in the monastery of Beth Abe (in the Forests). It can be concluded that the term Ninwaya in the episcopal title of the Church of the East was a mere convention. Secondly, the toponym Matut is brought under analysis. After leaving Beth Nuhadra Isaac moved northwards to Susiana (Beth Huzaye), where he spent some time in the monastery of Rabban Shapuhr before moving to the mountain cave where he spent the rest of his hermitic life. The name of the mountain in Aramaic sounds Matut and it is said that Matut encircled Susiane which makes «Matut Mt.» to be a rather vast segment of Zagros. It is impossible to explain the horonym quite reliably, but it can be hypothetically interpreted as a late form of Ancient Mesopotamian GN Mat-Utem (a part of Zagros region at upper Lesser Zab was called that as early as the 2nd mill. BC), used in extended sense.