Nothing is known about his life, except that he was born in the island of
Aegina, and that he travelled a good deal, visiting, among other places, Alexandria.[3] He is sometimes called Iatrosophistes and Periodeutes, a word which probably means a physician who travelled from place to place in the exercise of his profession. The exact time when he lived is not known; but, as he quotes
Alexander of Tralles,[4] and is himself quoted by
Yahya ibn Sarafyun (Serapion the Elder),[5] it is probable that
Abu-al-Faraj is correct in placing him in the latter half of the 7th century.[6]
Works
The
Suda says he wrote several medical works, of which the principal one is still extant, with no exact title, but is commonly called Medical Compendium in Seven Books (
Greek: Ἐπιτομῆς Ἰατρικῆς βιβλία ἑπτά, Epitomes iatrikes biblia hepta).[7] This work is chiefly a compilation from earlier writers;[8] indeed its Greek title proclaims that it is an
epitome of medicine, "epitomes iatrikes."
William Alexander Greenhill wrote that his reputation in the Islamic world seems to have been very great, and it is said that he was especially consulted by midwives, whence he received the name of Al-kawabeli or "the Accoucheur."[9] He is said by the Arabic writers to have written a work, "De Mulierum Morbis," and another, "De Puerulorum Vivendi Ratione atque Curatione." His great work was translated into Arabic by
Hunayn ibn Ishaq.[9]
The sixth book on
surgery in particular was referenced in
Europe and the
Arab world throughout the
Middle Ages,[10] and is of special interest for
surgical history. The whole work in the original Greek was published in
Venice in 1528, and another edition appeared in
Basel in 1538. Several
Latin translations were published.[11] Its first full translation into
English, was by
Francis Adams in 1834.[12]
In this work he describes the operation to fix a hernia similar to modern techniques writing, "After making the incision to the extent of three fingers' breadth transversely across the tumor to the groin, and removing the membranes and fat, and the peritoneum being exposed in the middle where it is raised up to a point, let the knob of the probe be applied by which the intestines will be pressed deep down. The prominence, then, of the peritoneum, formed on each side of the knob of the probe, are to be joined together by sutures, and then we extract the probe, neither cutting the peritoneum nor removing the testicle, nor anything else, but curing it with applications used for fresh wounds."[13]