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A Physician on the Nile : A Description of Egypt and Journal of the Famine Years / ʿAbd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī; ed. by Tim Mackintosh-Smith.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextSeries: Library of Arabic Literature ; 74Publisher: New York, NY : New York University Press, [2021]Copyright date: ©2021Description: 1 online resourceContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9781479806232
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 916.2043 23
LOC classification:
  • DT51 .A12813 2021
  • DT53 .B344 2021
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Letter from the General Editor -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Maps -- Note on the Text -- Notes to the Introduction -- A Physician on the Nile -- Introduction -- Part One, consisting of six chapters -- Part Two, consisting of three chapters -- Notes -- Glossary of Names and Terms -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute -- About the Typefaces -- Titles Published by the Library of Arabic Literature -- About the Editor–Translator
Summary: Flora, fauna, and famine in thirteenth-century EgyptA 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.A bilingual Arabic-English edition.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781479806232

Frontmatter -- Letter from the General Editor -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Maps -- Note on the Text -- Notes to the Introduction -- A Physician on the Nile -- Introduction -- Part One, consisting of six chapters -- Part Two, consisting of three chapters -- Notes -- Glossary of Names and Terms -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute -- About the Typefaces -- Titles Published by the Library of Arabic Literature -- About the Editor–Translator

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Flora, fauna, and famine in thirteenth-century EgyptA 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.A bilingual Arabic-English edition.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 25. Jun 2024)