Arabic Commentaries on the Hippocratic Aphorisms

Arabic Commentaries on the Hippocratic Aphorisms


Professor Peter E. Pormann is currently pursuing a major research project entitled ‘Arabic Commentaries on the Hippocratic Aphorisms’, funded by the ERC (€1.5m). The project aims to examine the entire Arabic commentary tradition on the Aphorisms, from the ninth to the sixteenth century. The Hippocratic Aphorisms had a profound influence on subsequent generations; they not only shaped medical theory and practice, but also affected popular culture. Galen (d. c. 216) produced an extensive commentary on this text, as did other medical authors writing in Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew. The Arabic tradition is particularly rich, with more than a dozen commentaries extant in over a hundred manuscripts. These Arabic commentaries constituted important venues for innovation and change, and did not merely draw attention to scholastic debates. Moreover, they had a considerable impact on medical practice, as the Aphorisms were so popular that both doctor and patient knew them by heart.

More here: http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/subjects/classicsancienthistory/research/projects/arabiccommentaries/ 

BMCR Reviews of some Graeco-Arabicum Books

1- Review of Dimitri Gutas, Theophrastus, On First Principles (known as his Metaphysics), Philosophia Antiqua 119. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2010. Pp. xxiii, 506. ISBN 9789004179035. $169.00.

Reviewed by Adam McCollum, Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota (amccollum@csbsju.edu), s. here http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2011/2011-11-    31.html.

2- Leonardo Tarán​, Dimitri Gutas, Aristotle Poetics: Editio Maior of the Greek text with Historical Introductions and Philological Commentaries. Mnemosyne supplements. Monographs on Greek and Latin language and literature, 338. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2012. Pp. 99. ISBN 9789004217409. $226.00.

Reviewed by Michael McOsker, University of Michigan (mmcosker@umich.edu), s.here http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2012/2012-11-26.html .

Jordanus, an International Catalogue of Mediaeval Scientific Manuscripts

Jordanus, an International Catalogue of Mediaeval Scientific Manuscripts, provides information about mediaeval manuscripts written in Western Europe between 500 and 1500 A.D., which deals with mathematical sciences, i.e. arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry and mechanics. It is the result of research projects that were funded by the Volkswagen Foundation (1977-1985) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (1985-1989). The database was originally set up at the Lehrstuhl für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich by Prof. Dr. Warren Van Egmond and Prof. Dr. Andreas Kühne, and was later brought online by Dr. Gerhard Brey. It was provided an internet platform by King's College (London University) in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin (Prof. Dr. Jürgen Renn). Jordanus is now available again on the server of the project Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich. It was restored and reinstalled by Erwin Rauner.


More see here.

Ptolemæus Arabus et Latinus

Ptolemæus Arabus et Latinus is a project of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the University of Würzburg. It has been established as part of the Akademienprogramm of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German federal states for a period of 25 years beginning in 2013. The project is dedicated to the edition and study of the Arabic and Latin versions of Ptolemy's astronomical and astrological works and related material. The project director, Prof. Dr. Dag Nikolaus Hasse, is professor at the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, while the researchers of the project are based at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Munich. The team includes two research leaders, Dr. David Juste and Dr. Benno van Dalen, and three full-time researchers, currently Dr. María José Parra Pérez, Dr. Henry Zepeda and the doctoral student Bojidar Dimitrov. A listing of the complete PAL team can be found here.

"Avec toi de Suzanne Taha Hussein"s Arabic translation is republished by Hindawi foundation (free)

Hindawi foundation republishes the Arabic translation of the memoirs of Suzanne Taha Hussein about her life with Taha Hussein "Avec toi": De la France à l’Egypte: «un extraordinaire amour» Suzanne et Taha Hussein (1915-1973).

See the Arabic translation here. If you want the French buy it from here.

The Filāḥa Texts Project: The Arabic Books of Husbandry

The purpose of the Filāḥa Texts Project is to publish, translate and elucidate the written works collectively known as the Kutub al-Filāḥa or ‘Books of Husbandry’ compiled by Arab, especially Andalusi, agronomists mainly between the 10th and 14th centuries These systematic and detailed manuals of agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry have been somewhat neglected and remain largely unknown in the Anglophone world - apart from some of the Yemeni works they have never been translated into English. They not only provide primary source material for the understanding of what has been called the ‘Islamic Green Revolution’ but constitute a rich body of knowledge concerning a traditional system of husbandry which is as valid today as it was a thousand years ago and has much relevance to future sustainable agriculture.


More in the website of the project here.

Academia.edu News: New Horizons in Graeco-Arabic Studies

D. Gutas and S. Schmidtke, New Horizons in Graeco-Arabic Studies = Intellectual History of Islamicate World 3 (2015) (forthcoming).

See the content here; New Horizons.

Galen. Commentary on Hippocrates' Epidemics Book I

Vagelpohl, Uwe

Galeni In Hippocratis Epidemiarum librum I commentariorum I-III versio Arabica /
Galen. Commentary on Hippocrates' Epidemics Book I

Edidit, in linguam Anglicam vertit, commentatus est

The present volume offers the first critical edition of Book I of the medieval Arabic translation of Galen's Commentary on the Hippocratic Epidemics produced by Hunayn ibn Ishaq (d. ca. 870). The edition is based on all extant Arabic textual witnesses, including the Arabic secondary transmission.
The translation of this text became a crucial source for the development of medicine in the Islamic world, especially in the nascent field of clinical medicine; the number and extent of quotations in later Arabic medical works and the wide range of didactic writings created on the basis of this translation attest to its importance.
The English translation, which aims to convey some of the favour of the Arabic translation, comes with extensive notes on the differences between the Greek original and the Arabic translation. A thorough comparison between the two versions of the commentary provided important insights into the translation style and terminology of Hunayn ibn Ishaq and his associates.

for more see here.

Œdipe (Oedipus)1931 and Thésée (Theseus) 1946 of André Gide into Arabic by Taha Hussein

Even though it is not an original Greek plays, but there are important to have them in Arabic. Taha Hussein has translated two of the works of André Gide, the famous French author and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947, into Arabic. The first is his play Œdipe (Oedipus)1931 and the second is his novel Thésée (Theseus) 1946. The Arabic translation is available as an open source in Hindawi Foundation's website through this link

De Generatione et Corruptione or Περὶ γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς into Arabic by Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed

A translation of  De Generatione et Corruptione or Περὶ γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς a philosophical treatise by Aristotle is available in Arabic as an open source through Hindawi Foundation. The translation was done by  Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed (15 January 1872 – 5 March 1963), the first director of Cairo University. The translation is done through the French, as the Arabic translator didn't use the original Greek edition, but used the French translation of this treatise; Traité de la production et de la destruction des choses d'Aristote ; suivi du Traité sur Mélissus, Xénophane et Gorgias by J. Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire (Paris, 1866). The french translation is to be free of charge found in this link, while the Arabic translation is to be found in Hindawi Foundation's website as usual and again free of charge.

go to this link to have the Arabic translation.

Ἀθηναίων πολιτεία into Arabic by Taha Hussein (1921)

The  Ἀθηναίων πολιτεία or  the Constitution of the Athenians the text which is contained in two leaves of a papyrus codex discovered at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt in 1879, was translated into Arabic by Taha Hussein in 1921. Now the Hindawi Foundation is publishing this book, free of charge, in PDF, Kindle and epub formats.  The book can be downloaded from this link.

The Qatar Digital Library (QDL) ! WOW !

It is amazing to see something like this in the Arabic World. I didn't believe that this would exist some day in our region, but I was wrong. I think this is a good start in Libraries , manuscripts  and collection management. So, Go ahead QDL !

Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī's editions of the Arabic versions of ancient Greek mathematical texts

First part of a collection of Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī's (نصير الدين محمد بن محمد الطوسي; d. 1274) editions (تحارير) of the so-called intermediate books (متوسطات), Arabic versions of ancient Greek mathematical texts and responses to them which were meant to be read after Euclid's Elements and in preparation for Ptolemy's Almagest . The second part of this collection is found in manuscript IO Islamic 923.

The script, ornamentation and binding of the volume indicate that it is part of a set comprising also manuscripts IO Islamic 923 and IO Islamic 924. Since the latter was transcribed in 1198/1784, probably for Warren Hastings, Governor-General of Bengal from 1772 to 1785 (see front paper iirecto ), the collation notes in this manuscript dated to the month of Jumādá I without indication of the year probably refer to 1198 (March-April 1784).

Contents:
(1) Euclid (أقليدس), Data (تحرير كتاب المعطيات لإقليدس; ff. 1v-35r);
(2) Euclid (أقليدس), Optica (تحرير المناظر لإقليدس; ff. 36v-56r);
(3) Euclid (أقليدس), Phenomena (كتاب ظاهرات الفلك لأقليدس; ff. 57v-86r);
(4) Autolycus (أوطولوقس), De ortibus et occasibus (كتاب أوطولوقس في الطلوع والغروب; ff. 87v-110r);
(5) Hypsicles (إبسقلاوس), Anaphoricus (كتاب في المطالع; ff. 111v-116r);
(6) Archimedes (أرشميدس), De sphaera et cylindro (كتاب الكرة والأسطوانة; ff. 118v-231v);
(7) Archimedes (أرشميدس), Dimensio circuli (مقالة أرشميدس في تكسير الدائرة; ff. 231v-238r).

The book is extremely beautiful ! see from here.

Sulaiman Al-Bustani's Translation of Homer's Iliad by Magda El-Nowieemy

An article about Sulaiman Al-Bustani's Translation of Homer's Iliad by Magday El-Nowieemy is published by the Greek Academy of Institutions and Cultures Society in its webpage in Academia.edu. The paper is titled:  "Sulaiman Al-Bustani's Translation of Homer's Iliad: A Study of Creation and Trans-Creation", Proceedings of the 12th International Congress on Graeco-Oriental andAfrican Studies , held in Delphi, May 2009, in: Graeco-Arabica , vol. 11 (Heraklion, Crete 2011)pp. 247- 256.

The paper is in English and in a pdf format and could be downloaded free through this link.

Taha Hussein's Book : The Future of Culture in Egypt, a free pdf download

Hendawi Foundation is putting online many important Arabic books in Pdf, Kindle, and ePUB format. One of these books is Taha Hussein's " The Future of  Culture in Egypt". The book in my view is better to be called "The Future of Education in Egypt", since he propose to integrate Greek and Latin not only to the secondary schools, but also in many departments in the Egyptian Universities.  His call is up-till now remains completely unfulfilled. The Egyptian universities are still in the process of the implementation of his Nr. 1 idea i.e. Greek and Latin departments. No secondary school whatsoever in Egypt teach Greek or Latin, neither there are full integration of these languages in the departments of the universities in which they are mostly needed e.g. in The faculties of Law !

The book could be downloaded through this link.

Oedipus at Colonus : An Arabic performance based on the translated original

Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus translated by Taha Hussein and performed by Egyptian actors. The audio track starts with an introduction about the author (Sophocles) and the myth of Oedipus.

The Egyptian stage performance of Phaedra ( Jean Racine ?)

I found this video recording of a play titled in Arabic (فيدرا) or Phaedra. I think this is the Arabic translation of the  French play Phèdre by Jean Racine.

Βάτραχοι of Aristophanes performed in Arabic (audio in You Tube)

The Greek play frogs or Βάτραχοι of Aristophanes performed by numbers of famous Egyptians actors like Abdelrahman Abouzahra and Mohamed Eldefrawy. The performance is based on an Arabic translation done by the late Dr. Mohamed S. Khafaga. It was broadcasted by Cairo Public Radio (the cultural program). An extensive introduction to the play precede the recorded performance (from minutes 1-13).

The audio is available from the Archive.org through this link. It is also to be found on the official channel of the Egyptian Radio in You Tube.

Πέρσαι of Aeschylus performed in Arabic (audio only)

The Persians of Aeschylus performed by numbers of famous Egyptians actors based on the translation of late Dr. Ibrahim Sokar. It was broadcast by Cairo Public Radio ( the cultural program) along with a very lengthy introduction.

The audio is available from the Arhive.org through this link.