Presents the first full-scale critical study of the writings of the preeminent Late Byzantine physician John Zacharias Aktouarios and, more generally, of Byzantine medical literature in any language
Sets John's works within their broader social and intellectual context, providing new insights into the cross-cultural transfer of knowledge between Byzantium and its neighbours
Draws on detailed analysis of a wide range of medical sources, including unpublished material, such as the Greek translation of Ibn al-Jazzār's Zād al-Musāfir
Opens up new avenues for comparative studies in the history of medicine and, in particular, the exploration of similar medical developments in the medieval West and the Islamic World
Author(s): Petros Bouras-Vallianatos
Series: Oxford Studies in Byzantium
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 368
City: Oxford
Cover
Innovation in Byzantine Medicine: The Writings of John Zacharias Aktouarios (c.1275–c.1330)
Copyright
Dedication
Preface
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Note to the Reader
1: Introduction
1. BYZANTINE MEDICAL LITERATURE
1.1 The ancient background
1.2 The early Byzantine period (fourth–seventh centuries)
1.3 The middle and late Byzantine period (eighth–fifteenth centuries)
2. THE SETTING
2.1 Byzantium in the time of John
2.2 Early Palaiologan cultural revival (1261–1341)
3. STUDIES OF JOHN ZACHARIAS AKTOUARIOS AND HIS CORPUS
4. THE MAN
4.1 John’s connections with contemporary intellectuals: evidence from Palaiologan epistolography
4.1.1 The office of aktouarios
4.2 John’s literary output
4.2.1 Dating
4.2.2 On Urines
4.2.3 Medical Epitome
4.2.4 On the Activities and Affections of the Psychic Pneuma and the Corresponding Regimen
4.2.5 John’s other works
4.2.6 John as a reviser of the Greek uroscopic treatise ascribed to Ibn Sīnā
4.3 John’s use of language
2: On Urines: Byzantine Uroscopy between Tradition and Innovation
1. THE ART OF EXAMINING URINE
2. JOHN’S UROSCOPIC TREATISE
2.1 Audience and the construction of his authority
2.2 Contents: from diagnosis to prognosis
2.3 Urine versus pulse
2.4 Factors affecting urine
2.5 Theory of digestion
2.6 Urine colours
2.7 The urine vial (amis)
3. CONCLUSION
3: On Urines: The Physician and His Patients
1. CLINICAL NARRATIVES IN HISTORY
2. JOHN’S CASE HISTORIES
2.1 Introducing a clinical narrative
2.2 Characters
2.3 Place, time, and seasons
2.4 Physician–patient encounters
2.5 The contest
3. CONCLUSION
4: Medical Epitome: A Handbook for Philiatroi (‘Amateur Physicians’)
1. TEXTS FOR AMATEUR PHYSICIANS (PHILIATROI) IN THE ANCIENT AND EARLY BYZANTINE WORLD
2. JOHN’S PROEM: PURPOSE AND AUDIENCE
3. STRUCTURE
4. JOHN’S CONTENTS AND SOURCES: DIAGNOSIS
4.1 Case study 1: Sphygmology
4.2 Case study 2: Diagnosis of eye affections
4.3 Case study 3: Diagnosis of scirrhus
5. JOHN’S CONTENTS AND SOURCES: THERAPY
5.1 Surgery
5.2 Treatment of eye affections and scirrhus
6. CONCLUSION
5: Medical Epitome: Assembling Pharmacological Knowledge in Late Byzantium
1. PHARMACOLOGICAL MANUALS IN LATE BYZANTIUM: BEYOND THE GRAECO-ROMAN BACKGROUND
2. STRUCTURE OF JOHN’S PHARMACOLOGY
3. EXPERIENCE
4. JOHN’S PHARMACOLOGICAL SOURCES
4.1 Book five
4.2 First part of book six
5. JOHN’S FOREIGN SOURCES
5.1 Sugar-based dosage forms
5.2 Oriental materia medica
6. CONCLUSION
6: On Psychic Pneuma: John’s Advice on How To Lead a Healthy Life
1. CONTENTS
2. AUDIENCE
3. THE SOUL AND ITS CAPACITIES
4. FORMATION OF PNEUMATA
4.1 Earlier theories
4.2 John’s theory of pneuma
5. PSYCHIC PNEUMA: FUNCTION AND DYSFUNCTION
6. DIET AND OTHER ELEMENTS OF DAILY REGIMEN
7. CONCLUSION
7: Conclusion
Appendices
APPENDIX 1: Glossary of Medical Terms
APPENDIX 2: Accounts of Urine Colour in Theophilos’ On Urines and John’s On Urines
APPENDIX 3: John’s Diagram of the UrineVial in his On Urines
APPENDIX 4: Treatment of Eye Affections and Scirrhus in John’s Medical Epitome, Book Four
APPENDIX 5: The Manuscripts of the Medical Epitome
1. List of manuscripts
1.1 Complete manuscripts
1.2 Excerpting and fragmentary manuscripts
1.3 List of Latin editions
1.4 Greek edition
1.5 List of Books of the Medical Epitome with reference to the relevant edition
2. Description of manuscripts
2.1 Complete manuscripts
2.2 Excerpting and fragmentary manuscripts
2.3 List of contents of the Latin editions of the Medical Epitome.
APPENDIX 6: Chapter Titles of John’s Medical Epitome, Books Three and Four, and List of Recipes of Books Five and Six
Bibliography
Dictionaries and Encyclopaedias
Primary Sources
Unpublished
Secondary Sources
Index Rerum et Nominum
Index Locorum
Index Codicum Manu Scriptorum
