The Arabic Translation of Alexandrian Compendia of the Works of Galen's Canon. The Ad Glauconem Compendium

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the Arabic translation of the Alexandrian Summaries of Galen's works, and in particular with one of them. These summaries were compiled during the VI-VII centuries by medical professors, iatrosophistae, whose names are variously related. The most elaborate and extensive of these summaries is that of Galen's Ad Glauconem; it is in fact not merely a résumé of its model but an ample paraphrasis with a rich commentary within it. This summary is strictly akin to the Alexandrian commentary on the same Galenic work by Stephanus of Athens and the Latin commentary by Agnellus of Ravenna.