Arab Sources on the Life of Galen

Authors : Peter STARR

Pages : 89-99

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Publication Date : 2008-04-01

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This paper contains a summary of the chapter on Galen’s life provided by Ibn Abi Usaybi’a. The Galen section shows the impressive range of the material on which a medieval Syrian physician, historian and bibliophile, could draw. Where the versions and fragments of information available to him are otherwise lost, the details he provides are of particular importance. At the same time it is clear that in the East the biography of Galen underwent some curious transformations, just as a large number of spurious works were in circulation. This paper also looks at little-known references to Galen which show his significance for medieval writers.
Keywords : Ibn Abi Usaybia, Galens life, Greco Arabic literature