Aaron of Alexandria
Aaron of Alexandria (also Ahron or Ahrun ) was a doctor living in the first half of the 7th century . He lived in Alexandria and wrote a largely lost, 30-book medical work in Greek, which was entitled Πανδέκτης . Even after the Arabs took over Alexandria in 643, he was allowed to continue working at the School of Alexandria .
According to different research opinions, Aaron was either a Christian priest ( presbyter ) or a Jew. He lived during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Herakleios (610-641) and was a contemporary of the Greek doctor Paulus of Aegina . According to Gregorius Bar-Hebraeus , Aaron's pundects of medicine were translated from Greek into Syriac by an Alexandrian named Gosius under the title Kunnash , and two books were added by a Sergius. Bar-Hebraeus also states that Aaron's Πανδέκτης were also translated into Arabic by a Jew named Masarjawayh under the Caliph Marwan I around 684.
Even if Aaron's work has not survived, at least the Persian doctor Rhazes in Liber continens has delivered larger extracts from it. Accordingly, Aaron gave, among other things, a good description of smallpox . He was the earliest author to mention this disease as well as measles . He also viewed smallpox and measles as manifestations of the same infectious disease. Besides Rhazes, Aaron is quoted by Yuhanna ibn Masawaih , Serapion and Konstantin the African , among others . Haly Abbas states that the areas of dietetics and surgery were treated superficially by Aaron.
literature
- V. Ermoni: Aaron 2. In: Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques , Vol. 1 (1912), Col. 3f.
- Aaron . In: Grande Encyclopédie , Vol. 1 (1886), p. 8.
- Gundolf Keil : Ahrun (Ahron / Aaron) from Alexandria. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil, Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Encyclopedia of medical history. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 20.
- Manfred Ullmann : Medicine in Islam (= Handbook of Oriental Studies , 1st section, supplementary volume VI, 1). Leiden and Cologne 1970, pp. 87-89.
Remarks
- ↑ Plinio Prioreschi: A history of medicine , Vol. 4: Byzantine and Islamic medicine , 2001, p. 81 ( online on Google Books ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Aaron of Alexandria |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ahron; Ahrun |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Alexandrian doctor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 6th century or 7th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 7th century |