MEDICINA NEI SECOLI ARTE E SCIENZA, 30/3 (2018) 789-826

Journal of History of Medicine

Articoli/Articles

NEW BOOKS, NEW PLANT USES:

THE CASE OF A TURIN IATROSOFION

DANILO VALENTINO
Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures - CSMC
Universität Hamburg, D

SUMMARY

‘Iatrosofia’ are collections of medical recipes produced in the Greek world

after the fall of Byzantium, which were intended for practical usage.
Though widely disseminated, they have rarely been the object of a thorough
investigation, whereas their analysis provides interesting insights on Greek
medicine in the Middle Ages and in the early-modern Era. The contents of
the iatrosofia are often drawn from the previous Greek medical tradition.
An interesting case is the iatrosofion in the MS. Taur. B.VII.18 preserved in
Turin National University Library (16th century), which is especially based
on the Pseudo-Galenic work De remediis parabilibus. As usually in the
Byzantine medical texts, the therapy in this iatrosofion is made in large
part of plant ingredients. Like the other contents of the work, the plants
are frequently reproduced from Greek medical sources and sometimes
modified. This article surveys the uses of the plants from the Greek medical
tradition in the Turin iatrosofion and analyses their transformations.

The Definition of Iatrosofion

The modern Greek term γιατροσόφι (giatrosofi) defines a practical
healing method, easily accessible and typical of popular medicine.
Giatrosofia are commonly considered home-prepared medicines for
daily problems1.

Key words: Iatrosofion - Greek sources - Plant transformations

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