A Physician on the Nile

A Description of Egypt and Journal of the Famine Years

ʿAbd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī, Tim Mackintosh-Smith

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781479806249
• eBook ISBN: 9781479806256
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Letteratura
• Subtopic: Collezioni letterarie mediorientali

Flora, fauna, and famine in thirteenth-century Egypt A 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 ?Abd al-La??f al-Baghd?d?, and intended for the Abbasid caliph al-N??ir, 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. ?Abd al-La??f'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, ?Abd al-La??f 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. ?Abd al-La??f 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.

Table of contents

• Letter from the General Editor
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Maps
• Note on the Text
• Notes to the Introduction
• A Physician on the Nile
• Notes
• Glossary of Names and Terms
• Bibliography
• Index
• About NYU Abu Dhabi Institute
• About this E-book
• Titles Published by the Library of Arabic Literature
• About the Editor–Translator