Galen's Legacy in Jewish and Muslim medical traditions in Europe

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to present a brief overview of the influence of Galen on the medical traditions of Muslims and Jews in medieval Europe, particularly in the Iberian Peninsula and the south of France. To that aim, it will account for the impact of Galen’s understanding of medicine on both the textual production and the medical practice of members of the Jewish and Muslim communities in two distinct geopolitical and cultural contexts, the Islamicate areas of the above-mentioned region, that is, al-Andalus, and the territories under Christian rule. The chapter explores the modes in which Jews and Muslims of the European southwest acquired, accommodated, and transmitted Galenic medical knowledge and integrated it into their actual practice of medicine in a multicultural context.