Dioscorides and Galen in the Syriac Tradition: A Reconsideration of Three Passages About Herbs in an Anonymous Syriac Pharmacological Book

Abstract

Abstract This article centres on three passages about herbs and herb remedies (§91, §92 and §97) selected from the anonymous Syriac pharmacological book which Philippe Gignoux recently edited. It argues that all three passages have parallels in Galen’s On Simple Drugs, while the last section of §91 finds a parallel in Dioscorides’ De materia medica 1.107. The parallels not only help us to decipher several terms which remain unresolved in earlier research, but also facilitate a better understanding of some passages which are occasionally misleading due to the highly abbreviated character of the Syriac text. Furthermore, a comparison between the anonymous Syriac pharmacological text and earlier Syriac translations of Galen shows that our text is a multiple-layered pharmacopoeia which combines both earlier elements from Sergius of Rēš ͑ainā in the sixth century and new terminologies from Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq in the ʿAbbāsid translation movement.