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ābit b. urra names four Baāria or
Buraūn (“Hippocraticians”, one might
say), the first of whom (in fact the second)
would have been the famous Burā. The
Arabs also knew about the unconfirmed
statement of Galen according to which
Hippocrates declined a lucrative offer of
Artaxerxes I to come to the Persian court.
Again and again he is commended for his
care of the sick and his personal devotion;
he allegedly was the first to found a hospi-
tal. Evidently, the “Hippocratic oath” was
also known to the Muslims, naturally in a
somewhat different form; it can be found
in Ibn Abī Uaybia. But Burā was
admired not only as the great physician
but also as the master of alchemy, astrol-
ogy and magic; as such he gave his name
to the handbook of Hellenistic magic
which has become famous and notorious
under the name Picatrix (distorted from
Birāīs “Hippocrates”).
It is impossible to say to what extent
the Arabic cannon of Hippocratic writings
coincides with the Greek one. We would
probably have more accurate information
if had come down to us Galen's work,
now lost, Περὶ τῶν γνησίων καὶ νόθων
᾽Ιπποκράτους συγγραμμάτων , which
existed in Isā b. unayn's translation
as Kitāb fī kutub Burā al-aīa wa- ayr
al-aīa . We know several bibliographi-
cal compilations of various sizes. The first
to be mentioned is the valuable survey
of the following 10 works, ca. 259/972,
compiled by the historian al-Yaūbī: K.
al-Fuūl Αφορισμοι , K. al-Buldān wa-'l-miyāh
wa-'l-ahwiya Περὶ ἀέρων ὑδάτων τόπων , K.
Mā al- ª aīr Περὶ πτισάνης , K. Tadimat
al-marifa Προγνωστικόν , K. al- anīn Περὶ
γονῆς. Περὶ φύσιος παιδίου , K. al-Arkān
(or: K. abīat al-insān ) Περὶ φύσιος ἀνθρώ-
που , K. al- fi i £ ā Περὶ τροφῆς K. al-Asābī
Περὶ ἑβδομάδων , K. Aw ¡ ā al-nisā , K.
Abī £ īmiyā ᾽Ηπιδημίαι . This text has a
specific value in so far as Yaūbī has
added more or less detailed indices to six
of these titles, so that their identification
can be assured through comparison with
texts that have been preserved.
Another canon of 10 works, all com-
mented upon by Galen, is given by Ibn
al-Nadīm, who also names the translators.
They partly coincide with those given
above, but instead of K. Mā al- ª aīr, K.
al- anīn, K. al- fi i £ ā, K. al-Asābī and
K. Aw ¡ ā al-nisā , we find here: K. al-Ahd
Ὅρκος , K. al-Amrā al-ādda Περὶ διαίτης
ὀξέων K. al-Kasr Περὶ ἀγμῶν , K. al-A
Περὶ χυμῶν and K. āāiyūn (read:
Kāyariyūn ) Κατ᾽ ἰητρεῖον . Barhebraeus
names 9 Hippocratical works, all of which
appear in both of the inventories given
above, while there is added the K. · i ¡ ā ¡
al-ras Περὶ τῶν ἐν κεφαλῆ τρωμά-των .
The by far most detailed classification
is found in Ibn Abī Uaybia; a corpus of
ca. 61 titles, thus nearly the same number
as in the Greek list. Around 30 of them
are considered authentic by Ibn Abī
Uaybia. However, only 12 of these are
marked as important; they are found in
the lists given so far. From the indications
given on the title-pages and colophons of
the manuscripts as well as in the lists of
titles, it cannot always be established with
certainty who were the Arabic transla-
tors of the works. In any case, unayn
b. Isā and his school were at the head.
But there is no inventory of translations
from Hippocrates's works drawn up by
unayn himself, as is the case for his
translations from Galen's writings. Burā
is extremely frequently quoted by the
Arab physicians.
(A. Dietrich)
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