Category: Antiquity
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Akshamsaddin from a medical point of view
The Ottoman scholar Akshamsaddin (Muhammad Shams al-Din bin Hamzah, 1389–1459) is remembered more often as the mentor and advisor to Sultan Mehmed II rather than as a physician who contributed remarkably to the medical knowledge of his time. Born in Damascus, he acquired in his youth a significant knowledge of medicine and pharmacology, derived from…
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Ancient medicine on the Nile
Egyptian medicine was already highly advanced by 5000 BCE, and its physicians were highly esteemed. During the Neolithic or last phase of the Stone Age, a flourishing civilization had developed on the fertile banks of the Nile, and around 3100 BCE, King Narmer (or Menes) united what had become the kingdoms of Upper and Lower…
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Scales fell from his eyes
George ChristopherMichigan, United States A pivotal moment in the history of Christianity was the conversion of St. Paul while en route to Damascus. “On his journey…a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him…he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? …when he opened…
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Al-Biruni (973–1048)
Asad BakirGeorge DuneaChicago, Illinois, United States In the year 973 during the Islamic Golden Age, there was born in the city of Kath in Khwarezm (modern Uzbekistan) one of the greatest polymaths of all time. His complete name was Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni; the last name is derived from the Persian word birun…
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Hunayn ibn Ishaq, Baghdad physician and polymath
Hunayn ibn Ishaq (809–873), the “sheik of the translators,” was an influential Christian translator, scholar, physician, and scientist who lived in Baghdad at the height of the Abbasid civilization. He was very learned and spoke four languages: Arabic, Syriac, Greek, and Persian. Traveling to the Greek Byzantine Empire in search of manuscripts, he translated works…
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Emperor Claudius and his physician, Xenophon of Kos
Sally MetzlerChicago, Illinois, United States Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Drusus Nero Germanicus, Emperor of Rome from 41 to 54 CE, though known to historians, became a household name in 1970 with the advent of the popular television series I, Claudius. But he had already gained attention several decades earlier, engendered by British author Robert Graves,…
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Physical benefits of Salat prayers in Islam
Nicholas GhantousLondon, United Kingdom The five pillars of Islam are the foundation of the religion. They define a practicing Muslim’s identity and guide Muslims towards communally shared values and service to Allah (God). The pillars consist of the profession of faith, pilgrimage, alms, fasting, and prayer. The pillar of prayer is known as salat. The…
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Book review: Greco-Roman Medicine and What it Can Teach Us Today
Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, United Kingdom The Republic of Rome was founded in the sixth century BC. In the third century BC, the western Roman Empire began to spread outside the borders of Italy. Roman rule came to Britain in AD 43 with the invasion by Claudius and ended in AD 476. The eastern Roman Empire,…
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Tutankhamun’s androgynous appearance
Glenn BraunsteinLos Angeles, California, United States Among the artifacts uncovered in 1922 by the British archeologist Howard Carter from Egypt’s Valley of the Kings tomb of Tutankhamun (~1343-1324 BC) were gilded statues of the young pharaoh in various poses. These statues depict him with androgynous features including wide hips, a sagging belly, and prominent breasts…
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From Baghdad to Chicago by Asad A. Bakir
The title of Dr. Bakir’s erudite and engaging book brings to mind another book with a similar title. It is From Bagdad to Stambul (1892), one of the series of adventures that places its heroes in the city where Dr. Bakir was born almost exactly half a century later. The author of these stories was…