Introduction of Orjooze fi al-Teb, Known to be Written by Avicenna

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Traditonal Medicine Dept. Medicine School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

2 Persian Dept. Paramedical School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

Abstract

When cultures collide, through its major activities that emanate from the translation, they can flourish themselves. Intimacy and familiarity of the Islamic World with Greek medical heritage which happened to be in the golden age of the Abbasids in Baghdad, led to the enrichment and prosperity of Islamic medicine. This sort of familiarity and reproductivity grew among Nestorian Christians through their attendance in the court of Caliphs, translation of Greek medical works into Syriac and Arabic and writing some medical works as well. The present study, while introducing Nestorian physicians and their medical effects and valuable services, attempted to explore and analyze historical texts, and also tried to manifest the role of Nestorian minority in the transmission of Greek medicine to Islamic civilization in the Abbasid period which led to the emergence of prominent physicians and in turn the advent of some famous works in this civilization. A glance at the history of medical life shows to what extent the role of Nestorian Christian minority in the Abbasid era is indispensable and decisive in the transmission of Greek medicine to Islamic civilizatioOrjoozat fi al-Teb is one of the valid poetry collections in the context of Iranian traditional medicine education which has been versified in Arabic language in Hazaj rythem. Considering various versions of the book, it contains 1330 couplets. There is no exact information about when the book was compiled and who the versifier was. However, the common saying is that Avicenna provided the work as a summary of the book The Canon of Medicine to make it available as an educational text. Although the main text has been frequently copied in different eras, the main text remains roughly untouched. In some versions, poem and verse introductions and some chapters and categories have been added. This study discusses saying Orjooze(in Persian: OrjoozeSara) and its history and investigates poem introduction. It also provides readers a complete text of the book based on one of the valid copies.

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