Honoring Maimonides

Last updated on: September 5, 2018 at 9:52 am by Dan Peterson

Honoring Maimonides 2018-09-05T09:52:47-06:00 Dan Peterson

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A statue of Moses Maimonides (d. 1204), the greatest rabbi and Jewish philosopher of the Middle Ages, in his native city of Córdoba, in Spain. After leaving Spain, Maimonides — or, as he was known in Arabic, Musa ibn Maymun — eventually became court physician to the Grand Vizier of Egypt, Al-Qadi al-Fadil, then to the great Sultan Salah al-Din (Saladin), after whose death he remained a physician to the royal family.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

The first volume in our “Medical Works of Moses Maimonides” subseries within BYU’s Middle Eastern Texts Initiative was Moses Maimonides, On Asthma, Volume 1, which appeared in 2001 in a dual-language publication that had been edited and translated by Gerrit Bos. Here is the online summary that accompanies it:

Moshe ben Maimon, or Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), remains one of the most celebrated rabbis in the history of Judaism; his numerous writings include philosophical and medical treatises in Arabic, two of history’s most important works on Jewish law, and, most notably, efforts to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with biblical teaching. The Complete Medical Works, edited by Gerrit Bos of the Martin-Buber-Institut für Judaistik at the University of Cologne, collects the entirety of Maimonides’s medical writings.

Notwithstanding its title, On Asthma is in fact a complete regimen of health, designed for the needs of a high-ranking patient whose identity is not stated. In true Galenic fashion, Maimonides stresses that a healthy lifestyle and diet are the most important preventative measures against chronic illness such as asthma. Good and bad foods are described in detail, and many recipes for beneficial dishes and drugs are included, with Maimonides adapting Galenic regimens to the needs of his Muslim patient.

Another was Moses Maimonides, Medical Aphorisms, Treatises 1-5, a parallel Arabic-English edition edited, translated, and annotated by Gerrit Bos that appeared in 2004. It was accompanied by the following summary:

Maimonides, one of the most celebrated rabbis in the history of Judaism, was a prolific author of influential Arabic philosophical and medical treatises and two of the most important works on Jewish law. Medical Aphorisms is the best known and most comprehensive of his works, and Gerrit Bos offers here a masterful English translation with detailed annotations.

Medical Aphorisms consists of approximately 1500 maxims compiled by Maimonides from the treatises of Galen, the renowned ancient Greek physician. Maimonides arranges the aphorisms into twenty-five treatises, organizing them by traditional medieval subspecialties such as gynecology, hygiene, and diet. He also includes a section examining unusual cases from Galen and offers a critical analysis of Galen’s theories.

The first of six volumes, Medical Aphorisms provides tantalizing insights into the work of Galen, as it draws on treatises of Galen that no longer exist and shines a light into the world of medieval and ancient medicine. It will be a rich and valuable resource for students and scholars working in the history of medicine, Jewish studies, and medieval Arabic culture.

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