Didactic poems on medicine and their commentaries in medieval al-Andalus and Western Islam

Abstract

[eng] Little is known about the didactic poetry on the sciences produced in al-Andalus and the Maghrib until the 15th century. The genre flourished from the 12th century onwards, possibly due to the influence of the famous Urjūza fī l-ṭibb by Ibn Sīnā. The Urjūza was commented upon by Ibn Rushd and Ibn Ṭumlūs and reached a wide readership thanks to the scholars of al-Andalus; they also wrote other poems on medicine and the sciences for a learned public, and possibly also for future physicians. The article pieces together and analyses a large body of evidence from the primary and secondary bibliography in order to give a general description of the genre and its influence in the transmission and teaching of medicine in the Almohad, Nasrid, Marinid and Ḥafsid societies.