Corpus Medicorum Graecorum

This publication of Jutta Kollesch’s shorter writings honors her years of service as the head of the Corpus Medicorum Graecorum/Latinorum at the Berlin Academy of Sciences. The collection contains articles on ancient medicine from its birth to the end of the ancient period as well as essays on the history of the ancient medical corpus. Reviews of interest to historians of medicine and classics scholars are also included.

A considerable number of ancient medical texts has not been yet edited drawing on the whole manuscript tradition. This is also the case of the treatise On Affections, a medical book traditionally transmitted as a part of the Hippocratic Corpus. This volume offers the first critical edition of On Affections that considers the whole manuscript and printed tradition. It also includes an exhaustive account of the history of the text, a translation into English and a commentary.

On Affections is unique among the Hippocratic writings in that it presents itself as a medical handbook for intelligent lay readers and not for physicians. The book includes a systematic discussion of diseases, and has clear affinities with other Hippocratic texts. Furthermore, it also contains a catalogue of foods and their properties, the combination of these two topics being unparalleled in the rest of the extant treatises.

References to other existing or yet-to-be-written medical books on different topics such as eye diseases, women diseases, tertian and quartan fevers and the recipe collection called On Drugs hint at the wide circulation and availability of written medical knowledge at the beginning of the fourth century BCE.

Der 1985 erschienene erste Band des frühbyzantinischen Kommentars, der die Teile I und II enthält, wird in einer 2., unveränderten Auflage wieder vorgelegt. Der in sechs Teile gegliederte Kommentar ist in insgesamt deri Bänden innerhalb des Corpus Medicorum Graecorum erschienen: die Teile III und IV als Band XI, 1,3,2, die Teile V und VI als Band XI 1,3,3.

Wegen des großen Umfangs wird der Kommentar zu Hippokrates, der hier erstmalig vollständig und mit einer modernen, englischen Übersetzung publiziert wird, in drei Bänden herausgeben. Nach dem 1985 in derselben Reihe veröffentlichten 1. Teil erscheint nun Band 2 der Ausgabe.

The collection of medical definitions from the late first or early second century AD, which has come down to us under the name of Galen, was published for the last time in 1830 in the complete edition of Galen's works by C. G. Kühn, who essentially only adopted the text from Chartier's edition of 1679. Based on a meticulous reworking of the manuscript tradition, this edition offers for the first time a scholarly text that has also undergone significant changes in the arrangement and inventory of definitions. A German translation makes the work available to a wider readership. Detailed indices make the volume accessible.

This volume contains the first critical edition of Galen’s glossary of Hippocrates, the only surviving lexicographical work by the illustrious physician from Pergamon, and the first complete alphabetical lexicon in Western literature. Along with the critical text edition, the volume also includes an extensive introduction, Italian translation, comments, and indexes.

The Hippocratic aphorisms are a crucial source of information about ancient medicine, and Galen’s commentary on them a key to their interpretation and reception in later times. But until now, this wide-ranging and fascinating commentary has largely been overlooked, and never edited. This first critical edition of the sixth book includes a translation and commentary in Italian.

In his six books De locis affectis (On the recognition of diseased parts of the body), Galen of Pergamon developed a method with which the ancient physician could identify the diseased part of the body, even if it could not be perceived directly. In books V and VI, the diseased site is mainly treated for internal organs from the heart downwards in the order a capite ad calcem. In particular, damage to activity, pain, excretions, abnormal growths, body colour and pulse are used and interpreted as indications. Using examples from his own practice, Galen illustrates the therapeutic success associated with such a procedure.
This volume offers the first critical edition of books V and VI of this central Galenic treatise. The text has been reconstituted and translated into German on the basis of all known Greek textual witnesses.

In his text De locis affectis, Galen of Pergamon developed a method that allowed the physician of antiquity to identify internal disease that was not directly visible. This volume offers the first critical edition of books I and II of this central Galenic work. Drawing on all known Greek text sources, the text has been reconstituted and translated into German.

Die zum ersten Mal in einer textkritischen Ausgabe vorgelegte Abhandlung des Arztes Galen von Pergamon "Über die Verschiedenheit der Symptome" gehört zu einer Gruppe von vier Schriften, in denen in subtiler Weise eine Theorie über die Krankheiten und Symptome entwickelt wird. Die Hauptgesichtspunkte sind dabei die Verschiedenheit und die Ursachen dieser beiden Erscheinungen. Als Bestandteil des größeren Schriftenkomplexes hatte der Text – auch auf dem Weg über die orientalische Tradition – für den medizinischen Unterricht bis in die Frühe Neuzeit hinein eine herausragende Bedeutung. Der besondere Rang der Schrift spiegelt sich auch in der Breite ihrer Überlieferung wider. Außer den recht zahlreichen griechischen Handschriften, die in einem komplizierten Verwandtschaftsverhältnis zueinander stehen, waren für die Herstellung des Textes auch eine arabische und mehrere lateinische Übersetzungen auszuwerten. Die von der Herausgeberin dem Text beigegebene Übersetzung ist die erste Übertragung dieser Schrift ins Deutsche. In dem ausführlichen Kommentar wird, besonders auf der Grundlage des reichen Parallelmaterials bei Galen, eine instruktive Einzelinterpretation der in dem Text angeschnittenen Probleme dargeboten.

Of the works by Greek doctor Galen of Pergamon (129–216 CE), his commentary on the Hippocratic treatise Airs, Waters, and Places has only survived in a Christian Arabic translation. The first edition of this commentary is accompanied by a German translation and explanations, which address new details about the astronomy and philosophy of the time, about geography, mineral sources, and Roman rule.

The present volume offers the first critical edition of the medieval Arabic translation of Galen's Commentary on Book 6 of the Hippocratic Epidemics produced by Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (d. ca. 870). The edition is based on all extant Arabic textual witnesses, including the Arabic secondary transmission.

Only about two thirds of the Greek original of this text is extant; the Arabic translation is therefore the only complete witness to this important work. The number and extent of quotations from this commentary in medieval Arabic medical writings, which are documented in the introduction to the volume, demonstrate that it became a crucial source for the development of medicine in the Islamic world. It also gave rise to a wide range of didactic writings which illustrate its importance for medical teaching.

The English translation aims to convey some of the flavour of the Arabic text. The volume also contains comprehensive indices that map out the terminology and style of the translation.

The present volume offers the first critical edition of the medieval Arabic translation of Galen's Commentary on Book 6 of the Hippocratic Epidemics produced by Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (d. ca. 870). The edition is based on all extant Arabic textual witnesses, including the Arabic secondary transmission.

Only about two thirds of the Greek original of this text is extant; the Arabic translation is therefore the only complete witness to this important work. The number and extent of quotations from this commentary in medieval Arabic medical writings, which are documented in the introduction to the volume, demonstrate that it became a crucial source for the development of medicine in the Islamic world. It also gave rise to a wide range of didactic writings which illustrate its importance for medical teaching.

The English translation aims to convey some of the flavour of the Arabic text. The volume also contains comprehensive indices that map out the terminology and style of the translation.

The present volume offers the first critical edition of the medieval Arabic translation of Galen's Commentary on Book 6 of the Hippocratic Epidemics produced by Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (d. ca. 870). The edition is based on all extant Arabic textual witnesses, including the Arabic secondary transmission.

Only about two thirds of the Greek original of this text is extant; the Arabic translation is therefore the only complete witness to this important work. The number and extent of quotations from this commentary in medieval Arabic medical writings, which are documented in the introduction to the volume, demonstrate that it became a crucial source for the development of medicine in the Islamic world. It also gave rise to a wide range of didactic writings which illustrate its importance for medical teaching.

The English translation aims to convey some of the flavour of the Arabic text. The volume also contains comprehensive indices that map out the terminology and style of the translation.

The present volume offers the first critical edition of the medieval Arabic translation of Galen's Commentary on Book 2 of the Hippocratic Epidemics produced by Hunayn ibn Ishaq (d. ca. 870). The edition is based on all extant Arabic textual witnesses, including the Arabic secondary transmission.

The Greek original of this text is lost; the Arabic translation is therefore the only intact witness to this important work. The number and extent of quotations from this commentary in medieval Arabic medical writings, which are documented in the introduction to the volume, demonstrate that it became a crucial source for the development of medicine in the Islamic world. It also gave rise to a wide range of didactic writings which illustrate its importance for medical teaching.

The English translation aims to convey some of the flavour of the Arabic text. The volume also contains comprehensive indices that map out the terminology and style of the translation.

The present volume offers the first critical edition of the medieval Arabic translation of Galen's Commentary on Book 2 of the Hippocratic Epidemics produced by Hunayn ibn Ishaq (d. ca. 870). The edition is based on all extant Arabic textual witnesses, including the Arabic secondary transmission.

The Greek original of this text is lost; the Arabic translation is therefore the only intact witness to this important work. The number and extent of quotations from this commentary in medieval Arabic medical writings, which are documented in the introduction to the volume, demonstrate that it became a crucial source for the development of medicine in the Islamic world. It also gave rise to a wide range of didactic writings which illustrate its importance for medical teaching.

The English translation aims to convey some of the flavour of the Arabic text. The volume also contains comprehensive indices that map out the terminology and style of the translation.

The Hippocratic treatise De humoribus (On the Humors) has provided scholars from antiquity to the modern era with major interpretive problems. In particular, its general appearance as a series of medical terms and phrases has raised questions about its authorship and purpose. More detailed study has now shown it to be the work of a doctor from circa 400 BC, who created it from different sources and individual notes, which were preliminary work toward a larger treatise.

This book presents the first critical edition of De humoribus based upon all known textual witnesses in both Greek and Arabic. It provides a German translation of the Greek Text with detailed notes to facilitate the interpretation of this often difficult text. The Introduction surveys information about the textual tradition and interpretive history of this work and discusses its structure, purpose, author, and date.

Die zu der Sammlung der hippokratischen Schriften gehörende Abhandlung nimmt im Corpus eine Sonderstellung ein, da sie mit ziemlicher Sicherheit einem bestimmten Autor zugewiesen werden kann: Polybos, dem Schüler und Schwiegersohn des Hippokrates. In der Auseinandersetzung mit monistischen Auffassungen, die in der zeitgenössischen Philosophie und Medizin verbreitet waren, entwirft der Autor, seinerseits in Anlehnung an philosophische Vorbilder, als medizinisches Konzept ein Vier-Säfte-Schema, nach dem Blut, Schleim, gelbe und schwarze Galle die wesentlichen Bestandteile des menschlichen Körpers bilden. Diese Theorie ist in der Folgezeit zur Grundlage der humoralbiologischen Vorstellungen geworden. Die in ihrer Thematik nicht einheitliche Schrift, die in das letzte Jahrzehnt des 5. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. zu datieren ist, schließt mit einem Abschnitt, der Grundsätze der gesunden Lebensweise behandelt. Die 2. Auflage der Edition ist ein Nachdruck der Erstveröffentlichung von 1975. Durch umfangreiche Addenda et corrigenda wird dem aktuellen Forschungsstand Rechnung getragen. Über den Editor: Jacques Jouanna ist Professor für Gräzistik an der Sorbonne, Paris. Durch seine zahlreichen Publikationen und Textausgaben hat er sich als Spezialist auf dem Gebiet der hippokratischen Medizin ausgewiesen.

Die unter dem Namen des Hippokrates überlieferte Schrift über Luft-, Wasser- und Ortsverhältnisse, die im ausgehenden 5. Jahrhundert verfasst wurde, gehört zu den klassischen Texten der griechischen Medizin. Beschrieben wird die Wirkung von Umweltfaktoren auf den Gesundheitszustand der Menschen und auf die Ausprägung ihrer ethnischen Merkmale. Geographische Lage, Klimabedingungen und Beschaffenheit des Trinkwassers werden als Ursachen erfasst, die Gesundheit und Krankheit beeinflussen. Einem Trend seiner Zeit folgend, hat der Autor neben den Umwelteinflüssen auch die Unterschiede in den Verfassungsformen für die ethnischen Besonderheiten der Mentalität verantwortlich gemacht.

The Aphorisms of Hippocrates are some of the most influential documents of ancient medicine, and Galen’s commentary on them provided a key to understanding them in their later reception. Despite its interesting, multifaceted content, his commentary has been largely overlooked so far and has never been edited until now. This is the first critical edition of the seventh book and includes an introduction, German translation, and annotations.

The influential treatise Methodus medendi (On the Therapeutic Method), comprising fourteen books, was the therapeutic magnum opus by renowned doctor Galen of Pergamon, who was writing in the second century CE. This volume undertakes an extensive text-critical examination to offer the first critical edition, which includes a German translation, a commentary, and indices for books V and VI.

In Books III and IV of De locis affectis, Galen discusses the conditions affecting the head and brain, the face, the spinal cord, and the airways. His goal is to find each of the body parts that is affected first in order to determine its humoral pathological condition and to prescribe the appropriate treatment. This volume is the first critical edition as well as the first German translation of these books.