An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

PAUL OF AEGINA (Παῦλος Αἰγινήτης; Paulus Aegineta)

5 entries
  • 36
  • 5549

In principio singulorum librorum omnia indicantur, quae in eo libro continentur. [Title in Greek and Latin].

Venice: in aedibus Aldi et Andreae Asulani Soceri, 1528.

Paul of Aegiina was the most famous physician and surgeon in the Byzantine Empire during the seventh century, and probably thereafter. According to Eugene F. Rice, "Paulus Aegineta", Catalogus translationum et commentariorum IV (1980) p. 146, more codices of his works prior to the 13th century survived than any other Greek texts except the Bible and some patristic works, indicating that Paul's writings continued to be recopied and widely read. Paul gave original descriptions of lithotomy, trephining, tonsillectomy, paracentesis and amputation of the breast. The first clear description of the effects of lead poisoning also comes from him, indicating that lead poisoning was known in antiquity.

The work also contains extensive discussion of oral health including preservatives of teeth and dentrifices, affections and inflammations of the teeth and gums, on loosening teeth and removing them, on tongue-tied afflictions, and fracture of the jaws.

Paul's work, which did not have a formal title, was first published in print in the original Greek by the Aldine Press in 1528, edited by F. Torresani [Asulanus]. The manuscript on which Torresani based his text was copied by the scribe Manuel Pancratios in 1312. It is preserved in the Bibliòtheque Nationale de France (Par. gr. 2210), and bears Torresano's ownership inscription.

Three Latin translations were published in 1532. The first, entitled Opus divinum was translated from the Aldine edition by A. Torinus, and published by A. Cratander. It included books 1-5 and 7. The second, entitled De medica materia… published in Venice by L. Giunta, included the sixth book on surgery. The third, entitled Opus de re medica, published in Paris by S. de Colines, was based on a new, improved text and included all seven books in the translation of Johann Guinter von Andernach. 

 



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Late Antiquity, BYZANTINE MEDICINE, DENTISTRY, Medicine: General Works, SURGERY: General , TOXICOLOGY › Lead Poisoning
  • 12807

Pharmaca simplicia, Othone Brunfelsio interprete. Idem De ratione victus Guilelmo Copo Basilensi interprete.

Strasbourg, France: Excudebat Georgius Ulricher Andlandus, 1531.

First edition in Latin of Paul of Aegina's treatise on pharmacological simples, the ingredients for preparing medicines. This describes the properties of about 750 plants and minerals, listing them in alphabetical order. The translation of the second work, De ratione victus, was prepared by Wilhelm Kopp from Basel, who moved to Paris in 1512 and became personal physician to Louis XII. That work describes about 100 medicines.

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.



Subjects: BYZANTINE MEDICINE, PHARMACOLOGY › PHARMACEUTICALS › Materia medica / Herbals / Herbal Medicines › History of Materia Medica
  • 8306

The seven books of Paulus Aegineta: Translated from the Greek, with a commentary embracing a complete view of the knowledge possessed by the Greeks, Romans, and Arabians on all subjects connected with medicine and surgery by Francis Adams. 3 vols.

London: Sydenham Society, 18441847.

Book VI is entirely devoted to operative surgery. Adams himself says that it “contains the most complete system of operative surgery which has come down to us from ancient times”. Book IV contains much information on surgical diseases. The work also includes the first clear description of lead poisoning. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Late Antiquity, BYZANTINE MEDICINE, SURGERY: General , TOXICOLOGY › Lead Poisoning
  • 37

Paulus Aegeneta [Opera] ed. J.L. Heiberg. Corpus Medicorum Graecorum IX. 2 vols.

Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 19211924.

Standard Greek text.



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Late Antiquity, BYZANTINE MEDICINE, Collected Works: Opera Omnia, SURGERY: General
  • 12524

The oriental tradition of Paul of Aegina's Pragmateia.

Leiden: Brill, 2004.

"The volume investigates how Paul of Aegina's medical handbook or pragmateia was transmitted and transformed through Syriac and Arabic translations, becoming one of the cornerstones of the Islamic medical tradition. It uses new manuscript evidence in order to explore the crucial impact of Paul's pragmateia, tracing its steps through different languages and cultures in the Middle East. 
A discussion of different Syriac and Arabic authors who quote the pragmateia such as Ibn Serapion and Rhazes is followed by detailed studies of Greek-Syriac-Arabic translation technique, examining, for instance, ophthalmologic terminology, and giving a critical appraisal of translation syntax and lexicography. Paul's influence on the development of medical theory in the Islamic world and beyond is also addressed...." (publisher).



Subjects: BYZANTINE MEDICINE › History of Byzantine Medicine, ISLAMIC OR ARAB MEDICINE › History of Islamic or Arab Medicine