Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 63.9

THEOPHANēS NONNOS (fl. 912 – 950 CE ) Noni, medici clarissimi, De omnium particularium morborum curatione, sic ut febres quoque & tumores praeter naturam complectatur, liber / nunc primum in lucem editus, & summa diligentia conuersus per Hieremiam Martium ... Excudebat Iosias Rihelius 1568 [24], 322, [20] p. (the last leaf blank) 16 cm. (8vo)

Alternate title: De omnium particularium morborum curatione. [Latin & Greek] Author’s alternative names: Theophanes Chrysobalantes (or Chrysobalantites); Nonus, Nonnos, Nonius, Noni “Theophanes Chrysobalantes (erroneously known until recently as Theophanes Nonnos) lived in the tenth century. He exemplifies the ‘encyclopaedic’ culture in three medical treatises which he wrote at the commission of the Byzantine emperor, Constantine Porphyrogennetos [also ‘Porphyrogennetos’, ‘Porphyrogenitus’ or Porphyrogenta’]. Of these three, his therapeutic text, the Epitome, survives in at least 50 manuscripts and—an indication of its continuing utility—it was also printed in 1568 and 1794. It consists of abstracts from earlier writers, including the scholar—physicians, but bearing the stamp of Theophanes' learning in its compilation. Its subject matter, in 297 chapters, is organized broadly on the 'head to heel' principle; each chapter deals with symptoms, causes, and treatment, and the whole is an admirably concise work.” (Bennett, David. 2000. Medical Practice and Manuscripts in Byzantium. The Society for the Social History of Medicine, < http://shm.oxfordjournals.org/content/13/ 2/279.full.pdf>) Greek text of the 10th C. physician Theophanes Nonnus, dealing with the treatment of then-diagnosed diseases; edited, with Latin translation in parallel columns, by Jeremias Martius. Nonnus’ work, undertaken at the behest of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos, is a compendium based on the research of previous medical writers such as Oribasius, Aetius, Alexander, & Paul, and focus mainly on the subject of curative treatment, pathology, aetiology, with some mention of surgical methods. Ink inscription, dated 1587 at the head of title page; contemporary name on front free endpaper, & notes in Manuscript in a few margins & on rear end-paper.

Cited references: Welcome I 4568; Waller 6891; NLM 16th C. 3363

John Martin M.D. Endowment