The Greek Heritage

Medicine Through Time – Arabic Medicine, c. 800-1200

In this course, Professor Peter Pormann (University of Manchester) explores how medicine was practiced in the Medieval Arabic world. In the first module, we look at the Baghdad translation movement of the 9th century. We then turn to consider how various Arabic scholars digested and built on the work of the Greeks. After this we focus on perhaps the greatest innovation of the Medieval Arabic world - the hospital. Then, in the fourth module, we explore the new ideas and treatments developed in the Arabic world. We then move to look at how ideas about the connection between the mind and the body were developed in the Arabic world. In the sixth and final module, we explore the legacies of Medieval Arabic medicine.

The Greek Heritage

In this module, we look at the Baghdad translation movement of the 9th century. This sought to compile and translate the Ancient Greek Medical texts. The module explores Hunayn ibn Ishaq’s translations of Hippocrates and Galen. In particular, it looks at how Hunayn was able to compile and translate Greek works, and what methods he used to do this; showing how the translation movement created a new and sophisticated medical language based on Hippocratic ideas of humoral pathology.