Syriac Medicine

The field of Syriac medicine is perhaps one of the least investigated and explored domains within the Christian Syriac intellectual culture. Yet owing to its decisive role during the late antique period for the transfer of Greek medical knowledge to the Islamic world, it should occupy a very special position and the results of its study are appealing to both Classicists and historians of Greek and Islamic medicine. The study of Syriac medicine predominantly deals with medical literature, but also theories and practice as they evolved over centuries within changing social and historical contexts. The essay surveys the development of medicine within the Syriac Christianity, highlights the very special role it occupied and presents the close connections of Syriac medicine both with the western and eastern cultures and traditions