Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

4th c. 5th c. 6th c. 7th c. 8th c. 9th c. 10th c. 11th c. 12th c. 13th c. 14th c. 15th c. 16th c. 17th c. 18th c. 19th c. 20th c. 21st c.
Medieval manuscripts on
medicine and pharmacy
Inscribed 2005
What is it
Three manuscripts from the Institute of Manuscripts
of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences
(IMANAS), which holds 12,000 manuscripts in total. The
manuscripts listed on the Register are three medical
texts copied in the 12th, 13th and 18th centuries from
earlier originals.
Why was it inscribed
These manuscripts on medicine and pharmacology are
rare and valuable. One is a single-existing copy; another
is one of the oldest copies in the world; and all were
influential in their fields not only in Azerbaijan but also in
neighbouring countries around the region.
Where is it
Institute of Manuscripts of the Azerbaijan National
Academy of Sciences (IMANAS), Baku, Azerbaijan
The collection as a whole has 363 valuable medieval
medical manuscripts: 222 are in Persian, seventy-one
in Turkish and seventy in Arabic. The three books listed
on the Register are Zakhirai-Nizamshahi (Supplies of
Nizamshah) by Rustam Jurjani; Al-Qanun Fi’l Tibb (Canon
of Medicine, The Second Book) by Ibn Sina (Avicenna); and
Al-Makala as-Salasun (Thirtieth Treatise) by Abu al-Qasim
al-Zahravi (Abulcasis).
The fi rst of the works, Zakhirai-Nizamshahi by Rustam
Jurjani, is not known to be in any other collection in
the world. Its date of compilation is uncertain, but the
manuscript was copied in the 16th century. The book
86 Medieval manuscripts on medicine and pharmacy
provides descriptions of pharmaceutical properties
of medicinal herbs, animal substances, minerals and
complex medicines. It infl uenced the development
of medicine and pharmacology in Persian-speaking areas
and countries.
Al-Qanun (Canon of Medicine, The Second Book)
by Ibn Sina (Avicenna), is a famous work in the fi eld of
pharmacology and medicine. The second book deals
primarily with pharmacology and contains pharmaceutical
descriptions of hundreds of natural medicines derived
from plants, minerals and animal substances. It was one
of the most infl uential and popular books of medicine
in the world and was copied in AD 1143, only 104 years
after the author’s death. The book was infl uential in the
development of medical sciences in the Muslim world and
in the West.
Al-Makala as-Salasum (Thirtieth Treatise) by Abu
al-Qasim al-Zahravi (Abulcasis) is an Arabic book of surgery
and surgical instruments and is a rare manuscript in
world terms. The book contains pictures of approximately
200 medieval surgical instruments used at the time.
Zahravi (who died in 1013) is the only medieval author
who provides pictures of so many surgical instruments,
together with explanation methods of their use. This work
infl uenced the development of surgery in the Muslim
East and Europe. This manuscript is the 13th-century copy
of the 11th century book.