Hebrew translations of Avicenna, Sefer ha-kanon (Canon of Medicine) by Nathan ben Eliezer ha-Me’ati, and Maimonides, Ma’amar ha-nikhbad (On Poisons) by Moses ibn Tibbon

Hebrew translations of Avicenna, Sefer ha-kanon (Canon of Medicine) by Nathan ben Eliezer ha-Me’ati, and Maimonides, Ma’amar ha-nikhbad (On Poisons) by Moses ibn Tibbon

Avicenna (ca. 980–1037) was the most renowned Islamic medical author of the Middle Ages. The present text contains Books 1 to 3 and the beginning of Book 4 of his comprehensive quasi-encyclopedic work, the Qānūn fī al-ṭibb or Canon of Medicine, translated into Hebrew from the original Arabic by the Italian Jewish translator, Nathan ben Eliezer ha-Me’ati (act. 1279–83). The Canon is an immense compendium of ancient and Islamic medical knowledge drawing from the work of Galen and Hippocrates, known to Arabic audiences through translations from the Greek originals. Avicenna adduced findings from his own medical practice, producing a work that was canonical in Muslim and Jewish cultures and was immediately accepted as authoritative in Europe after its translation into Latin by Gerard of Cremona in the twelfth century. The Canon of Medicine constituted the first systematic description of the human body, its diseases, and their treatment.

Author: Avicenna, Maimonides; Translators: Nathan ben Eliezer ha-Me’ati, Moses ibn Tibbon

15th c.

Manuscript on paper, 131 fols.

University of Pennsylvania, Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection, LJS 311

Italy (?)