Here’s some analysis and commentary on Ibn Abi Usaybi’ah’s History of Physicians, which was written in Arabic in thirteenth-century Damascus. Ibn Abi Usaybi’ah’s book describes physicians and medical practices from the origin of medicine to the thirteenth century.
Ibn Abi Usaybi’ah’s book is now freely available online with Arabic text, English translation, commentary, and interpretive essays: Savage-Smith, Emilie, Simon Swain, G. J. H. van Gelder, and Ignacio Javier Sánchez Rojo. 2020. A literary history of medicine: the ‘Uyūn al-anbā’ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbā’ of Ibn Abīuṣaybi’ah {The Best Accounts of the Classes of Physicians}. 5 vols. Handbook of Oriental studies. Section One, Near and Middle East, volume 134/1. Leiden: Brill.
Astonishing medical use of excrement (dreckapotheke) has been widely accepted historically and has existed within well-developed, scholarly medical knowledge. … Read the post ninth-century physician Bakhtishu saves man with bird-shit medicine
In the intellectually vibrant ancient Islamic world, the expertise of astrologers and physicians shaped medical treatment for elite persons. … Read the post astrologers and physicians in ancient intellectual competition
The Barmakids encouraged translating Indian texts into Arabic in the late eighth century. Indian texts commonly were first translated into Persian. … Read the post translation of Indian texts into Arabic under the Abbasids
The Indian physician Manka purportedly proposed killing a drug peddler to prevent his nostrums from killing many other persons. … Read the post ancient Indian utilitarian pharmaceutical regulation
As physicians to Abbasid caliphs, the illustrious Bakhtīshū` of Jundishapur were eminent in both medical-technical knowledge and elite culture. … Read the post illustrious Bakhtishu (Buḫtīšūʿ) physician family of Jundishapur