Falsafa

Comma for either/or — dharma, courage. Spelling forgiving — corage finds courage.

    pharmacology · 2nd century · 3 crossings

    On Simple Drugs

    Περὶ κράσεως καὶ δυνάμεως τῶν ἁπλῶν φαρμάκωνPeri kraseōs kai dynameōs tōn haplōn pharmakōn

    Galen, in Greek

    Galen's eleven-book theory of what individual drugs do and why. It stands here for the whole Galenic corpus, whose passage through Syriac into Arabic was the largest single undertaking of the translation movement.

    The chain

    c. 170–200 Greek original

    written by Galen in Rome

    1. c. 500–536 Greek Syriac translation attested

      translated by Sergius of Reshaina

      Part of the first sustained translation of Greek medicine into any language, made by the Alexandria-trained chief physician of Reshaina before his death in 536.

      1. c. 840–873 Syriac Syriac revision attested

        revised by Hunayn ibn Ishaq in Baghdad

        Hunayn treated his predecessors like a strict examiner. The Risala records him grading Sergius's versions and revising or replacing them against better Greek manuscripts.

        1. c. 845–875 Syriac Arabic translation probable

          translated by Hunayn ibn Ishaq and Hubaysh ibn al-Hasan in Baghdad

          The school's Arabic Galen was typically made from Hunayn's Syriac rather than directly from Greek, much of it by his nephew Hubaysh. The Risala records the division of hands work by work.