Medicine and Healing in the Premodern West: A History in Documents

Medicine and Healing in the Pre-Modern West traces the history of medicine and medical practice from Ancient Egypt through to the end of the Middle Ages. Featuring nearly one hundred primary documents and images, this book introduces students and scholars to the words and ideas of prominent physicians and humble healers, men and women, from across Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. Each of the ten chronological and thematic chapters is given a significant historical introduction, in which each primary source is described in its original context. Many of the included source texts are newly translated by the editor, some of them appearing in English for the first time.

Key Features

• The first history of medicine reader to cover both Antiquity and the Middle Ages in a single volume.
• Nearly one hundred primary sources, including several images.
• Each topic and reading is accompanied by an introduction from the editor, and explanatory annotations are included throughout to clarify unfamiliar concepts.
• Significant coverage of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim cultures in the Middle Ages.
• Many of the primary sources are newly translated, some of them available in English for the first time.