Full Description
The fifteenth-century travel regimen entitled al-Isfār ʿan ḥikam al-asfār ('The unveiling of the wisdoms of the books') written by the Cairene jurist-physician Ibn al-Amshāṭī (d. 1496) is an interesting example of the postclassical medical literature. It includes, besides a travel regimen (written likely as a health guide for the pilgrimage to Mecca), a short pharmacopoeia of single and compound remedies deemed useful for the traveller.
The work was composed for Kamāl al-Dīn al-Bārizī (d. 1452), the head of the Mamluk Chancery. The Arabic edition, English translation, and commentary of this text are framed by a detailed introductory study of the Arabic-language tradition of travel regimens and various medico-pharmacological glossaries.
Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Tables
Introduction
1 Travel Regimens in the Medieval Arabic Medical Tradition
2 The Author, Ibn al-Amshāṭī
3 Al-Isfār ʿan ḥikam al-asfār
Critical Edition and Translation of Ibn al-Amshāṭī's al-Isfār ʿan ḥikam al-asfār
Commentary
1 Preface: A Literary Analysis
2 Introduction and Chapters 1-8: The Isfār as a Travel Regimen
3 Epilogue: Simple and Compound Medicaments for Travellers
Concluding Remarks
Appendix
Glossaries
Bibliography
Indices
