Kitâb al-diryâq

(Thérique de Paris) / textes de/written by Marie-Geneviève Guesdon, Oleg Grabar, Anna Caiozzo, Françoise Micheau, Jaclynne Kerner ; traduction en anglais et en arabe/English and arab translation, Studio Funf, Perugia.

Sansepolcro : Aboca Museum Edizioni

[2008-2009]

1198

This fascinating manuscript describes theriaca, the ancient medicinal compound initially used as a cure for bites of poisonous snakes and wild animals (in ancient Greek, therion) and later widely employed as a panacea. The work of Muhammad ibn Abi al-Fath and dated 1198, the manuscript includes illustrations of the medicinal plants used for the recipes drawn up by the most important physicians in the Greek tradition, such as Galen of Pergamum and Andromachus. The number of ingredients used to create the medicine increased progressively with the centuries until it exceeded a hundred. Theriaca originated in Greco-Roman antiquity and its popularity was furthered in the Islamic world. This particular manuscript is the earliest and most impressive of the known theriaca treatises (other later specimens are in Beirut, Cairo, St Petersburg and Vienna).

Conserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris (ms. Arabe 2964), this treatise is known as the Paris Kitab al-Diryaq and it is not just a medical treatise but also an engaging series of tales and anecdotes about the nine Greek physicians of antiquity who contributed to the development of the medicine.

[Description from Facsimile Finder]

Bibliothèque nationale de France. Manuscript. Arabe 2964.
Kitâb al-diryâq.
Antidotes -- Early works to 1800.
Antidotes -- History.
Medicine, Arab.
Medicine, Greek and Roman.
Manuscripts, Arabic -- France -- Paris -- Facsimiles.
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Arab.