Didactic poems on medicine and their commentaries in medieval al-Andalus and Western Islam

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Miquel Forcada

Little is known about the didactic poetry on the sciences produced in al-Andalus and the Maghrib until the 15th century. The genre flourished from the 12th century onwards, possibly due to the influence of the famous Urjūza fī l-ṭibb by Ibn Sīnā. The Urjūza was commented upon by Ibn Rushd and Ibn Ṭumlūs and reached a wide readership thanks to the scholars of al-Andalus; they also wrote other poems on medicine and the sciences for a learned public, and possibly also for future physicians. The article pieces together and analyses a large body of evidence from the primary and secondary bibliography in order to give a general description of the genre and its influence in the transmission and teaching of medicine in the Almohad, Nasrid, Marinid and Ḥafsid societies.

Keywords
Medicine, science, didàctic poetry, commentary, al-Andalus

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How to Cite
Forcada, Miquel. “Didactic poems on medicine and their commentaries in medieval al-Andalus and Western Islam”. Suhayl. Journal for the History of the Exact and Natural Sciences in Islamic Civilisation, 2020, pp. 165-04, https://raco.cat/index.php/Suhayl/article/view/377832.

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