A Physician on the Nile : A Description of Egypt and Journal of the Famine Years.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

al-Baghdādī, ʿAbd al-Laṭīf.

Contributor:

Mackintosh-Smith, Tim.

Ez-Eldin, Mansoura.

Series:

Library of Arabic Literature

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Famines--Egypt--History--13th century.

Famines.

Natural history--Egypt--Pre-Linnean works.

Natural history.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (261 pages)

Other Title:

Physician on the Nile

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press, 2021.

Summary:

Flora, fauna, and famine in thirteenth-century Egypt A Physician on the Nile begins as a description of everyday life in Egypt at the turn of the seventh/thirteenth century, before becoming a harrowing account of famine and pestilence. Written by the polymath and physician ʿAbd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī, and intended for the Abbasid caliph al-Nāṣir, the first part of the book offers detailed descriptions of Egypt’s geography, plants, animals, and local cuisine, including a recipe for a giant picnic pie made with three entire roast lambs and dozens of chickens. ʿAbd al-Laṭīf’s text is also a pioneering work of ancient Egyptology, with detailed observations of Pharaonic monuments, sculptures, and mummies. An early and ardent champion of archaeological conservation, ʿAbd al-Laṭīf condemns the vandalism wrought by tomb-robbers and notes with distaste that Egyptian grocers price their goods with labels written on recycled mummy-wrappings. The book’s second half relates his horrific eyewitness account of the great famine that afflicted Egypt in the years 597–598/1200–1202. ʿAbd al-Laṭīf was a keen observer of humanity, and he offers vivid first-hand depictions of starvation, cannibalism, and a society in moral free-fall. A Physician on the Nile contains great diversity in a small compass, distinguished by the acute, humane, and ever-curious mind of its author. It is rare to be able to hear the voice of such a man responding so directly to novelty, beauty, and tragedy.An English-only edition.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Letter from the General Editor

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Maps

Note on the Text

Notes to the Introduction

Part One, consisting of six chapters

Chapter One: General characteristics of Egypt

Chapter Two: Characteristic plants and trees of Egypt

Chapter Three: Characteristic features of the animal world in Egypt

Chapter Four: A description of the ancient Egyptian monuments examined by the author

Chapter Five: Unusual Egyptian buildings and boats examined by the author

Chapter Six: Unusual Egyptian foods

Part Two, consisting of three chapters

Chapter One: The Nile and the manner of its annual rises, with an explanation of the causes of this phenomenon and the laws of nature governing it

Chapter Two: The events of the year 597 [1200–1]

Chapter Three: The events of the year 598 [1201–2]

Notes

Glossary of Names and Terms

Bibliography

Index

About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute

About the Translator

The Library of Arabic Literature

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-4798-2008-3

OCLC:

1347246673