Gagik-Getum

The Gagik Healer

The first part of the textbook, known as the “Gagik Healer” (in Armenian Գագիկի բժշկարան ) or the “Gagik Medicin ” (in Armenian Գագիկի դեղագիտարան ), was compiled at the end of the X – beginning of the XI century, approximately at the same time as the “Canons” of Avicenna. According to an anonymous author, the book was written ^{[comm 1]} “during the time of the victorious king Gagik”, which modern scholars identify with Gagik I Bagratuni (989-1020) ^{[comm 2]} . Along with the treatises of the ancient ( Dioscorides , Hippocrates , Galen , Aristotle , Asklepiad and others) healers included the works of Armenian physicians from Ani. The names of eastern doctors, including Avicenna , are hardly mentioned (only once the name Ar-Razi is found ), but among the sources of the “Gagik Healer” there were undoubtedly the works of Islamic healers. Some researchers consider the author of the Armenian scientist Grigor Magistros , famous, among other things, for his knowledge in medicine. However, the elevated style of the works of the latter is very different from the simple, close to the colloquial Middle Armenian language, “The Gagik Healer”. Botanical terminology consists mainly of Armenian words, in the case of using the Greek term, the Armenian name is given in parallel. Arabic terms are relatively rare. The influence of Arab-Persian terminology is felt only in a few chapters on drugs of complex composition ^{[comm 3]} . It is considered a masterpiece of the Ani medical school .

Basically, the “Gagik Healer” is dedicated to drug science and dietetics . It contains interesting information about the Armenian cuisine of the Middle Ages. So, for example, in the chapter “Concerning all kinds of animals and fish,” provides information about the famous Armenian trout , and in the chapter “On all kinds of cereals” the author, obviously referring to Armenian pita bread , writes: “Bread baked in tonir is tastier than baked in a bakery or in some other way. ”. The ancient Greek doctrine of the four cardinal moisture is given in the lengthy chapter "On the nature of man", which contains extensive extracts from the writings of Asklepiad . In the chapter devoted to embryology, “How a child is formed in the womb”, a valuable excerpt from an essay by an ancient Roman physician Democrates that has not reached us is given. In matters of herbal medicine, the works of Dioscorides had the greatest influence, which the author uses in the chapters "On Plants and Trees and Their Useful Properties", "On All sorts of Vegetable Oils", "On All sorts of Vegetables and Greens", "On All sorts of Spices", " About all kinds of incense "," About all kinds of cereals "," About all kinds of fruits. " Altogether consists of 35 chapters.

Cilician editions

“Gagik Healer” was widely used in Kilkian Armenia and underwent new editions and extensive additions here. The name “Gagik-Getum Healer” arose at that time and is associated with the names of two main customers - Getum of Lambronsky and Getum of Korikos .

At the end of the XII century, one of the manuscripts of the “Gagik Healer” fell into the hands of Prince Lambron Hetum (brother of Nerses Lambronatsi ), who ordered him to be supplemented with a brief edition of “ Consolation in Fever ” by Mkhitar Heratsi and an anonymous medical treatise ^{[comm 4]} . Moreover, Hetum was not only a customer, but also took an active part in editing. The authors included 30 chapters from The Consolation of Fever, thus skipping the first 16 chapters of One-Day Fever. Apparently, the editors were knowledgeable in medicine and, realizing that these “one-day fevers” are very different from the debilitating diseases, which are inherently contagious , they found it possible to skip them. The third part of the book was an anonymous textbook based on the works of Arab-Persian and Cilician Armenian doctors. It already contains references not only to ancient scholars ( Hippocrates , Aristotle , Galen , etc.), but also to famous Eastern authors ( Ar-Razi , Ibn Sina and others). In this part, the issues of etiopathogenesis , clinic and treatment of almost all diseases known at that time are discussed.

About a century later, in 1294, the textbook went through another edition, on the orders of Prince Korikos Hetum Patmich . He ordered a certain Vard Mrtishetsi to rewrite the book. However, during the rewriting, Ward, both at his own discretion and by decree of Hetum Patmich, made abbreviations and changes in the text.

Structure

1. "The Gagik Healer." 35 chapters
2. The abridged version of “Consolation with fever”. 30 chapters.
3. Anonymous Cilician Healer. 91 chapters.

The Gagik-Ketum Healer quickly gained recognition and was distributed in Armenian book centers. In fact, it is an encyclopedia of Cilician Armenian medicine.

Until recently, it was believed that a full text was preserved in only two manuscripts.

• Mkhitarist library, Venice , manuscript No. 1281 (edited by Hetum of Korikos, parchment)
• St. James Library, Jerusalem , manuscript No. 370 (revised by Hetum of Lambronsky, paper)

Two more manuscripts were found in the 1980s

• Matenadaran , manuscript No. 9837
• Paris National Library , manuscript No. 245

In addition to these manuscripts, entire chapters from the Gagik-Getum Healer are cited in two anonymous 14th-century healers and in the treatise The Doctor of Hovhannes Healer (1438). Under his undoubted influence were written and "Ahrabadins" Amirdovlat Amasiatsi (1459 and 1481).

S. Vardanyan was thoroughly engaged in the study of the “Gagik-Getum Healer” material, which devoted a number of articles and a significant part of her doctoral dissertation to this essay.

• Medical institutions , monuments of Russian traditional medicine

1. ↑ One of the manuscripts says that the book was “translated from Arabic into Armenian”. This definition prompted a number of early Armenian scholars to look for the origins of the “Gagik Healer” in eastern medicine. There have been suggestions that it is an extract from the "Canons" of Avicenna or Al-Xavi Ar-Razi. However, textual and source study analysis has refuted this possibility. Medieval Armenian authors, highly appreciating the achievements of oriental physicians, often called their works “Arabic translations” to give them greater authority.
2. ↑ G. Hovsepyan believed that we are talking about Gagik Karssky (1029-1065), but his hypothesis was not recognized.
3. ↑ The technology for the preparation of such complex drugs was developed in the eastern pharmacopoeias (the so-called "Ahrabadins").
4. ↑ Hetum (1145-1218) became the prince of Lambron in 1170, after the death of his father Oshin . In 1201, due to disobedience to Tsar Levon, he was deprived of his family estate and accepted monasticism. He died only in 1218, however, since in the manuscripts of the textbook he is called a Sevast , it is customary to date this edition no later than 1201.

• Vardanyan S. A. Medicine in ancient and medieval Armenia = Բժշկությունը հին և միջնադարյան Հայաստանում. - Er. : Sovetakan Grokh, 1982. - 58 p.
• Vardanyan S.A. Amirdovlat Amasiatsi - Armenian naturalist and doctor of the 15th century. - Moscow: Nauka, 1987 .-- 160 p.
• Vardanyan S. A. The experience of Armenian folk and classical medicine in handwritten textbooks of the 10th-15th centuries (dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medical Sciences in the form of a scientific report). - Moscow, 1992.
• Stella Vardanian. The Medical Heritage of Medieval Armenia. Its Theoretical and Practical Value in the Light of Modern Science // The New Armenian Medical Journal. - 2007. - T. 1 , No. 1 . - S. 15-27 .
• Stella Vardanian. Medicine in Armenia // The Diffusion of Greco-Roman Medicine Into the Middle East and the Caucasus / ed. John AC Greppin, Emilie Savage-Smith, John L. Gueriguian. - Delmar, NY: Caravan Books, 1999 .-- pp . 185—198 .
• Stella Vardanian. Medieval Armenian medicine and its relations to Greek and Arabic medicine // The Diffusion of Greco-Roman Medicine Into the Middle East and the Caucasus / ed. John AC Greppin, Emilie Savage-Smith, John L. Gueriguian. - Delmar, NY: Caravan Books, 1999 .-- pp . 199-209 .
• Vardanyan S. A. "Gagik-Getum Healer" and its editors. // Historical and Philological Journal of the Academy of Sciences of the ArmSSR. - 1985. - No. 2 . - S. 145-160 .