The Influence of Constantine's Pharmacology on Salernitan and Late Pharmacopoeia

Abstract

This article offers a reconsideration of the textual development, the diffusion, and the influence of the two major pharmacological works translated from the Arabic by Constantine the African (11 th century), viz. the second book of the second section (the so-called Practica) of the Pantegni (originally written by c Alī ibn al- c Abbās al-Mağusī [fl. 10 th c.] and the Liber de gradibus (originally compiled by Ibn al-Jazzar [ca. 878-980]), by taking into account the manuscript tradition of the two works and the transformations experienced by the texts. The aim of the article is to show that an evaluation of the influence of Constantine’s pharmacology on Salernitan, and, more generally, Late Medieval pharmacopoeia is possible when the textual development of the two texts and the epistemological changes connected to it are taken into account.