Barbara Zipser | Royal Holloway, University of London (original) (raw)

Books by Barbara Zipser

Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Galen presents a comprehensive account of the afterlife of ... more Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Galen presents a comprehensive account of the afterlife of the corpus of the second-century AD Greek physician Galen of Pergamum. In 31 chapters, written by a range of experts in the field, it shows how Galen was adopted, adapted, admired, contested, and criticised across diverse intellectual environments and geographical regions, from Late Antiquity to the present day, and from Europe to North Africa, the Middle and the Far East.

The volume offers both introductory material and new analysis on the transmission and dissemination of Galen’s works and ideas through translations into Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew and other languages, the impact of Galenic thought on medical practice, as well as his influence in non-medical contexts, including philosophy and alchemy.

The Therapeutics of John the Physician is a medical handbook from the thirteenth century, holding... more The Therapeutics of John the Physician is a medical handbook from the thirteenth century, holding important new evidence on medicine as craft. Of particular interest is a vernacular version of the text, which also contains a commentary. Here, an unknown reviser vividly describes cases and medical procedures, a type of knowledge rarely encountered in scholarly texts. In the present volume, the Therapeutics is published for the first time, along with a translation and an introduction to the topic. Apart from insights into medical history, the text also yields a large quantity of new material on the medical terminology used in everyday language and brings to life the development from ancient to modern Greek. The editorial technique may be of interest to those working on digital humanities.

Barbara Zipser, Dr. Phil. (2003) in Latin and Greek, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, works on a Wellcome Trust funded project at Royal Holloway University of London. She has published on Greek and Arabic medicine and on the history of books.

Parts of my PhD thesis appeared as articles (see related bibliography).

Papers by Barbara Zipser

Galenos, Rivista di filologia dei testi medici antichi, Mar 25, 2021

This paper explores the tradition from Paul of Aegina to both the original and vernacular version... more This paper explores the tradition from Paul of Aegina to both the original and vernacular version of Ioannes archiatrus. Here, Theophanes Chrysobalantes (Nonnos) seems to have an intermediate position, but it is not entirely clear whether there were intermediary sources that are now lost. The analysis shows a considerable variance in the structure, content and style of the main chapter text, but a great similarity in the chapter headings. This indicates that the headings served as a grid in the evolution of new therapeutic texts. However, they were used in connection with the main chapter body rather than as a list of headings such as a pinax.

, in: L’ecdotique des textes medicaux grecs : reception et traduction, Actes du VIe colloque international (Paris, Universite de Paris Sorbonne - Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, 10-12 avril 2008), Naples, D’Auria, 259-270., 2010

Contains a brief history of the Greek manuscript collection held by the Wellcome Library (by V. N... more Contains a brief history of the Greek manuscript collection held by the Wellcome Library (by V. Nutton) and a catalogue entry of MSL 14, along with a discussion of the sources used (by B. Zipser).

This article contains the first edition of a fragment on eye diseases attributed to Galen. In fac... more This article contains the first edition of a fragment on eye diseases attributed to Galen. In fact, it reflects a pre-Galenic concept of anatomy, which is know to us only through secondary sources.
The fragment consists of only a few lines which are crossed out by the first hand. The article discusses why this may have happened.

The second part of MSL 14 transmits a fragment on pulse diagnosis, that can also be found in de p... more The second part of MSL 14 transmits a fragment on pulse diagnosis, that can also be found in de pulsibus ad Antonium (Kühn XIX 641) and Mercurius monachus (Masullo 346). The dependencies between these sources cannot be explained with the standard philological methods. This article discusses the influence of genre on structure and content of medical texts, with the general hypothesis that this type of practical medical text could be influenced by an oral tradition.

Discusses Jung's use of Classical texts, with the main hypothesis that he was influenced by 19th ... more Discusses Jung's use of Classical texts, with the main hypothesis that he was influenced by 19th century secondary literature.

Discusses the transmission of Alexander of Tralles (with lists of manuscripts, editions, translat... more Discusses the transmission of Alexander of Tralles (with lists of manuscripts, editions, translations and secondary literature).

Biography of an Arabic eye doctor.

In depth study in the transmission of Alexander of Tralles, with an emphasis on the Therapeutics ... more In depth study in the transmission of Alexander of Tralles, with an emphasis on the Therapeutics and his book on fevers. The article discusses how these works were edited and revised over the centuries, to adjust them to the specific needs of the readership.

Analyses the structure and sources of the Synopsis.

Work in progress report on my fellowship project.

The Par. gr. suppl. 1297 is a Greek manuscript produced in early tenth century Sicily, around the... more The Par. gr. suppl. 1297 is a Greek manuscript produced in early tenth century Sicily, around the time of the Arabic conquest of the island. As annotations in Latin and Arabic reveal, the manuscript remained in the area and continued to be used as a medical handbook until at least the fifteenth century.

This article discusses an annotation from the eleventh century, a recipe for a lozenge. The fragment is written in a medieval Arabic idiom, spelled in Greek characters, using Greek layout conventions. Apart from being an invaluable witness on the pronunciation of medieval Arabic (the Greek alphabet contains more vowels than its Arabic counterpart), the fragment gives us a glimpse on medical practice in the multilingual and culturally diverse context of Norman Sicily.

Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Galen presents a comprehensive account of the afterlife of ... more Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Galen presents a comprehensive account of the afterlife of the corpus of the second-century AD Greek physician Galen of Pergamum. In 31 chapters, written by a range of experts in the field, it shows how Galen was adopted, adapted, admired, contested, and criticised across diverse intellectual environments and geographical regions, from Late Antiquity to the present day, and from Europe to North Africa, the Middle and the Far East.

The volume offers both introductory material and new analysis on the transmission and dissemination of Galen’s works and ideas through translations into Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew and other languages, the impact of Galenic thought on medical practice, as well as his influence in non-medical contexts, including philosophy and alchemy.

The Therapeutics of John the Physician is a medical handbook from the thirteenth century, holding... more The Therapeutics of John the Physician is a medical handbook from the thirteenth century, holding important new evidence on medicine as craft. Of particular interest is a vernacular version of the text, which also contains a commentary. Here, an unknown reviser vividly describes cases and medical procedures, a type of knowledge rarely encountered in scholarly texts. In the present volume, the Therapeutics is published for the first time, along with a translation and an introduction to the topic. Apart from insights into medical history, the text also yields a large quantity of new material on the medical terminology used in everyday language and brings to life the development from ancient to modern Greek. The editorial technique may be of interest to those working on digital humanities.

Barbara Zipser, Dr. Phil. (2003) in Latin and Greek, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, works on a Wellcome Trust funded project at Royal Holloway University of London. She has published on Greek and Arabic medicine and on the history of books.

Parts of my PhD thesis appeared as articles (see related bibliography).

Galenos, Rivista di filologia dei testi medici antichi, Mar 25, 2021

This paper explores the tradition from Paul of Aegina to both the original and vernacular version... more This paper explores the tradition from Paul of Aegina to both the original and vernacular version of Ioannes archiatrus. Here, Theophanes Chrysobalantes (Nonnos) seems to have an intermediate position, but it is not entirely clear whether there were intermediary sources that are now lost. The analysis shows a considerable variance in the structure, content and style of the main chapter text, but a great similarity in the chapter headings. This indicates that the headings served as a grid in the evolution of new therapeutic texts. However, they were used in connection with the main chapter body rather than as a list of headings such as a pinax.

, in: L’ecdotique des textes medicaux grecs : reception et traduction, Actes du VIe colloque international (Paris, Universite de Paris Sorbonne - Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, 10-12 avril 2008), Naples, D’Auria, 259-270., 2010

Contains a brief history of the Greek manuscript collection held by the Wellcome Library (by V. N... more Contains a brief history of the Greek manuscript collection held by the Wellcome Library (by V. Nutton) and a catalogue entry of MSL 14, along with a discussion of the sources used (by B. Zipser).

This article contains the first edition of a fragment on eye diseases attributed to Galen. In fac... more This article contains the first edition of a fragment on eye diseases attributed to Galen. In fact, it reflects a pre-Galenic concept of anatomy, which is know to us only through secondary sources.
The fragment consists of only a few lines which are crossed out by the first hand. The article discusses why this may have happened.

The second part of MSL 14 transmits a fragment on pulse diagnosis, that can also be found in de p... more The second part of MSL 14 transmits a fragment on pulse diagnosis, that can also be found in de pulsibus ad Antonium (Kühn XIX 641) and Mercurius monachus (Masullo 346). The dependencies between these sources cannot be explained with the standard philological methods. This article discusses the influence of genre on structure and content of medical texts, with the general hypothesis that this type of practical medical text could be influenced by an oral tradition.

Discusses Jung's use of Classical texts, with the main hypothesis that he was influenced by 19th ... more Discusses Jung's use of Classical texts, with the main hypothesis that he was influenced by 19th century secondary literature.

Discusses the transmission of Alexander of Tralles (with lists of manuscripts, editions, translat... more Discusses the transmission of Alexander of Tralles (with lists of manuscripts, editions, translations and secondary literature).

Biography of an Arabic eye doctor.

In depth study in the transmission of Alexander of Tralles, with an emphasis on the Therapeutics ... more In depth study in the transmission of Alexander of Tralles, with an emphasis on the Therapeutics and his book on fevers. The article discusses how these works were edited and revised over the centuries, to adjust them to the specific needs of the readership.

Analyses the structure and sources of the Synopsis.

Work in progress report on my fellowship project.

The Par. gr. suppl. 1297 is a Greek manuscript produced in early tenth century Sicily, around the... more The Par. gr. suppl. 1297 is a Greek manuscript produced in early tenth century Sicily, around the time of the Arabic conquest of the island. As annotations in Latin and Arabic reveal, the manuscript remained in the area and continued to be used as a medical handbook until at least the fifteenth century.

This article discusses an annotation from the eleventh century, a recipe for a lozenge. The fragment is written in a medieval Arabic idiom, spelled in Greek characters, using Greek layout conventions. Apart from being an invaluable witness on the pronunciation of medieval Arabic (the Greek alphabet contains more vowels than its Arabic counterpart), the fragment gives us a glimpse on medical practice in the multilingual and culturally diverse context of Norman Sicily.

in: Testi medici su papiro. Atti del seminario di studio (Firenze, 3-4 giugno 2002), ed. Isabella Andorlini. Firenze 2004, pp. 3-28.

This article discusses texts in Aramaic, Latin and Greek which contain the same, crucial mistake ... more This article discusses texts in Aramaic, Latin and Greek which contain the same, crucial mistake in the description of the anatomy of the eye. We hypothesize that these may have been caused by a misinterpreted anatomical drawing.

The article also provides an introduction to ancient ophthalmological texts and their tradition in the East.

in: Studia Humanitatis ac Litterarum Trifolio Heidelbergensi dedicata. Festschrift für Eckhard Christmann, Wilfried Edelmaier und Rudolf Kettemann, ed. A. Hornung, Ch. Jäkel, W. Schubert. Frankfurt am Main/Berlin/Bern 2004, pp. 393-399.

The Synopsis Iatrikes is a high quality medical manual predating the early tenth century. This ar... more The Synopsis Iatrikes is a high quality medical manual predating the early tenth century. This article examines the tradition of the text, which can be clearly determined because of physical damage, and identifies a majuscule mistake.

, in: der Kommentar in Antike und Mittelalter, Bd. 2, Neue Beiträge zu seiner Erforschung, ed. W. Geerlings, Chr. Schulze. Leiden/Boston 2004, pp. 35-40.

Analyzes the historicization of ophthalmology in Arabic sources.

My first and maybe best article! Looking through a few blank pages in the Par. gr. 2203, I discov... more My first and maybe best article! Looking through a few blank pages in the Par. gr. 2203, I discovered a fragment of Galen's Anatomical Procedures, which appears to be a study for a printed edition. It contains readings from either branch of the stemma, and a few variants found only in John Caius' edition.