Constantine the African and Ali Ibn Al-Abbas Al-Magusi

About this book

When the tenth-century Kamil as-sinaa (or al-Kitab al malaki) of Ali ibn al-Abbas al-Magusi was adapted for a Latin-reading audience by Constantine the African in the late eleventh century, the medieval West had, for the first time, the opportunity to use a text which covered the whole of medicine. But the 100-odd extant manuscripts suggest that Constantine's Pantegni was put together over a considerable period of time, and chapters from other Latin and newly-translated Arabic medical works were added to or substituted those of the Kamil. This book is the first to be devoted to Constantine the African: it sheds light on the School of Salerno and the formation of a medical corpus in the High Middle Ages.