Journal of Semitic Studies LVIII/1 Spring 2013 doi: 10.

1093/jss/fgs042
The author. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the University of Manchester.
All rights reserved.

THE SYRIAC GALEN PALIMPSEST:

PROGRESS, PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS

SIAM BHAYRO, ROBERT HAWLEY,

GRIGORY KESSEL, PETER E. PORMANN
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER; CNRS, UMR 8167 ORIENT & MDITERRANE, PARIS;
UNIVERSITT MARBURG; UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

Abstract

The Syriac Galen Palimpsest (SGP) is a remarkable manuscript that

poses many challenges to scholars, yet also promises to yield much. Its
undertext contains the Syriac translation by Sergius of Res Ayna of
Galens On Simple Drugs. A team of scholars met at the University of
Manchester to exploit the advances in imaging technology to study
this palimpsest. Some initial results are presented here. SGP possibly
contains the text of the whole second part of On Simple Drugs (i.e.,
Books VIXI); to date, only Books VIVIII had been thought to
survive, as they are preserved in another famous manuscript, London,
British Library, MS Add. 14661. SGPs importance, however, does
not merely lie in the fact that it preserves text not found elsewhere,
but also in that it offers many important variant readings; it is there-
fore crucial for the textual history of Sergius translation, as well as
Galens On Simple Drugs more generally. Moveover, this Syriac trans-
lation also makes it possible to assess the role that Sergius played in
the transmission of medical knowledge from Greek into Arabic. For
the first time, one can compare the Greek source text of certain pas-
sages with the Syriac translations by Sergius and unayn, as well as
the Arabic version by unayn. This initial comparison suggests that
unayn is far more indebted to Sergius than he lets us believe in his
Epistle (Risala); and that Sergius was a far more competent translator
than previously thought.

Arguably the most important weapon in a physicians armoury to

combat disease is medication: the many simple and compound drugs
that the patient is enjoined to take internally or externally occupy a
privileged place in the medical traditions of most times and places.
Medication, therefore, is intimately linked to the practice of medi-
cine. It comes as no surprise, then, that Galens treatise On the Mix-
tures and Powers of Simple Drugs (Per krsewv ka dunmewv tn
pln farmkwn) enjoyed particular popularity in both East and

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 THE SYRIAC GALEN PALIMPSEST

West. The vagaries of its textual transmission and translation into

many languages baffle even the most ardent and hardened philolo-
gists.1 The Greek text alone survives in some fifty manuscripts, and
the Latin tradition is equally rich. Yet this text was also translated
into Syriac and Arabic, and thus influenced the fates and fortunes of
generations of patients and practitioners in the East.
It is the Syriac version produced by Sergius of Res Ayna that is
the subject of the present article. It is a well-known fact that Syriac
medical texts and especially translations of Galens works from
Greek into Syriac were crucial for the development of medicine
in the medieval Islamic world. For many of the later Arabic versions,
produced in unayn ibn Isaqs school, drew on earlier Syriac trans-
lations. But nearly all these Syriac versions of Galen are lost today
and can at best be recovered indirectly, through quotations in Syriac
medical works. The one exception is On Simple Drugs: it survives at
least partially in one manuscript, London, British Library, MS Add.
14661 (henceforth BL).2 Until recently, this was thought to be the
only surviving manuscript of this work in Syriac. This changed when
Sebastian Brock identified the underlying text of a privately owned
palimpsest as containing a Syriac version of this text as well.3 Yet, this
palimpsest, called the Syriac Galen Palimpsest (henceforth SGP),4
is much longer than BL, and, as we will show here, it potentially
enhances our understanding of medicine in Syriac significantly.
Before turning to the details about SGP, however, it is useful to give
a bit more background about the Greek text and how it was rendered
into Syriac, and hence into Arabic.
Galens On Simple Drugs consists of two parts. The first part, com-
prising Books IV, deals with the general theory of how simple drugs
work, and how one can ascribe certain qualities to them, such as
primary (i.e., warm, cold; dry, moist), secondary (e.g., salty, bitter,
etc.), and tertiary (e.g., purging, diuretic, etc.). The second part,
encompassing Books VIXI, consists of an alphabetical list of simple
drugs. Each entry features a brief description of the drug and often
mentions possible uses. Whereas the first part is largely theoretical,

1Petit 2010 gives a concise overview of the many difficulties involved in editing
the Greek text of On Simple Drugs (to use the shorter form of the title).
2 Merx 1885.
3 The manuscript is accessible at http://www.digitalgalen.net.
4 This name was proposed by Siam Bhayro. The owner of SGP also has the

Archimedes Palimpsest in his possession, which has recently been lavishly published
(Netz et al. 2011). Since the same team imaged both palimpsests, now kept in the
same private collection, it seemed apposite to call it the Syriac Galen Palimpsest.

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 THE SYRIAC GALEN PALIMPSEST

the second part serves as a guide to practical medicine. It was here

that physicians could easily look up most of the medicinal substances
that they required.
We know from unayn ibn Isaqs Epistle on the translations of
Galen that the first part was translated into Syriac by a certain Joseph
the Priest (Yusuf al-uri), and by unayn himself; and that the
second part was rendered into Syriac by Sergius of Res Ayna and,
again, unayn.5 Moreover, Manfred Ullmann has convincingly
shown that the late eighth-century Christian author al-Biriq, about
whom little is known, translated at least Book VI into Arabic, and
possibly also the remaining books of the second part; and that
unayn also produced a complete Arabic translation of this text.6
Sergius translation of Books VIVIII of On Simple Drugs survives in
BL. Yet nearly a hundred years ago, one scholar already recognized
SGPs great significance for the history of medicine in Syriac, as we
shall see next.

The Syriac Galen Palimpsest

The famous syriacist Anton Baumstark described SGP for the first
time in a catalogue of oriental manuscripts being offered for sale in
1922. The upper writing of the palimpsest was easily identifiable as
an eleventh-century liturgical text. Baumstark, however, recognized
that there also was an erased earlier undertext. He described it con-
cisely and highlighted the significance of this text quite eloquently:7
The [manuscript] is a palimpsest in its entirety. The undertext, divided
into two columns, goes back approximately to the ninth century. It can
surely be identified as a medical text. Given its great bulk, it would be
of immense importance. For although the Syriac authors occupy an
important place in the history of medieval medicine, the number of
extant medical texts written in Syriac is relatively small. It is, however,
possible to recover substantial parts of those texts.
Indeed, in an English pamphlet, included with the catalogue, Baumstark
stated that SGP would be of the greatest value to the history of the
medicine of the Syrians, thus increasing its value to potential pur-
chasers. The manuscript was then owned by the industrialist Arnold

5 Bergstrsser 1925, p. 29*30* (Arabic), 234 (German translation).

6 Ullmann 2002, 1548.
7 Hiersemann 1922, 14.

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 THE SYRIAC GALEN PALIMPSEST

Mettler-Specker (18671945) of St. Gallen,8 who deposited it with

the Zentralbibliothek in Zurich, where it was kept under the shelf-
mark Or. 77.9 In 1942, he withdrew the manuscript (as well as the
rest of his collection) from the Zentralbibliothek, and, after his death,
his heirs offered it for sale at auction in New York in 1948.10 Noth-
ing more was heard of it until it was acquired by a private collector
in the Washington D.C. area and sent for conservation and imaging
at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. SGP is written
in sero and of Syrian Orthodox origin.
An initial period of imaging, in March 2009, produced good
results on some of the more promising leaves. This enabled Sebastian
Brock to identify folio 221r as part of a Syriac translation of Galens
On Simple Drugs, corresponding to a passage in Book VIII.11 Further-
more, Brock established that the translation is the same as that con-
tained in BL 73r.12
In early 2010, a team assembled at the Walters Art Museum under
the direction of Mike Toth and Will Noel imaged the entire manu-
script. They disassembled it, thus allowing each bifolium to be imaged
on both sides. As their main techniques, they employed a pseudo-
colour method and a spectral imaging method that combined a nar-
rowband (ultraviolet) illumination with a monochrome or colour
(red, green or blue) sensor. In some cases, they further enhanced the
results by performing principal component analysis.13 During this
period of intense imaging, Siam Bhayro identified folios 34r35v and
42r43v as containing the alphabetical lists from the start of Books
VI and VIII respectively and matched them to the text contained in
BL fols 3r and 55r respectively.14 This parallel between SGP and BL
confirmed Brocks initial finding that both manuscripts contained the
same Syriac translation of Galens On Simple Drugs. BL only encom-
passes Books VI to VIII, and Bhayro and Brock only identified pas-
sages from these Books in SGP. Given SGPs relatively large size, the
question remained open whether it also comprises the translation of
Books IX to XI.

8For a critical assessment of his political views, see Metzger 2006, 3828.
9Strothmann 1977, 2878.
10 Nnlist 2008, xixxx.
11 Khn XII 1556.
12 See Bhayro and Brock, forthcoming.
13 See Easton et al., 2010.
14 For a list of all the passages identified in SGP to date, together with their

correspondences in the Greek Galen and BL, see Bhayro et al. 2012.

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Subsequently Peter E. Pormann organized a workshop in Man-

chester on SGP; the Syriac researchers present, in alphabetical order,
were Siam Bhayro, Jimmy Daccache, Robert Hawley, John Healey
and Grigory Kessel. In the context of this workshop Robert Hawley
and Grigory Kessel identified a number of new passages in SGP, and
Kessel in particular was able to answer the question whether SGP
contains material beyond that contained in BL. In the following, we
will present some of our new findings and consider their significance
for the study of Syriac medicine and Graeco-Syriac-Arabic translation
technique. We would like to stress, though, that only the technical
guidance provided by Mike Toth, who was also present at Manches-
ter, in manipulating the various spectral scans of the Syriac Galen
Palimpsest enabled us to make such good progress.
In the following, we provide a first edition of five entries from the
Syriac version of Galens On Simple Drugs. The first three come from
the beginning of Book VII, dealing with drug names with the initial
letter kppa. The last two stem from the section in Book IX that
discusses various stones (lthoi). The first examples allow for a careful
comparison with BL, and we shall discuss the implication for the
textual criticism of Sergius Syriac translation after presenting the
material. In the case of all our examples, the Greek source text can
be compared to the Syriac target text. This makes it possible to con-
sider provisionally, to be sure how Sergius rendered Galens
Greek. The last two examples show that SGP contains material
beyond that available in BL; this will lead us to the question of how
much additional text SGP potentially preserves, and what we can
learn from this about the textual transmission of On Simple Drugs in
Syriac. We will conclude with some observations about the impor-
tance of the additional material in SGP for the development of the
Syriac language, and notably medical terminology.

New Textual Evidence

We present here a series of three entries found on SGP, fol. 070v077r.

Grigory Kessel identified the gutter region of column A as containing
the Syriac text corresponding to the paragraph devoted to hedge
reed (klamov fragmtjv).15 With this identification as a point of
departure, the Manchester workshop was able to decipher the entirety
of leaf 070v077r, essentially on the basis of the partially visible

15 Khn XII, p. 9.

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 THE SYRIAC GALEN PALIMPSEST

silhouette of the palimpsests undertext, but also greatly aided by the

parallel Syriac text in BL. Column A of 070v077r begins with the
"
words !#$%& "
!'() !% *+ .!,-'%& !'.) ( those which are more
drying than those which are warming ) (parallel text on BL 35r,
line 35); these correspond to a passage from the middle of the para-
graph devoted to aromatic reed (klamov rwmatikv) in On Simple
Drugs (Khn XII, p. 7, line 5). Column B, on the other hand, ends
with the words /0123&4 !5& 673& .834959% :;% ( on account of
the bitterness, which warms and which cuts ) (parallel text on BL
36r, lines 910); these correspond to a passage from near the begin-
ning of the paragraph devoted to caper (kppariv) in Galen (Khn
XII, p. 9, line 15).
As a representative sample, three successive paragraphs are edited
here: those devoted to hedge reed (klamov fragmtjv), knkanos
(kgkanov),16 and hemp (knnabiv).
Text 1: Entry on hedge reed (klamov fragmtjv):17
.<=;'#>?92 <0%@=A :B [1]
G " "
C5? [3] .DE%0B !% FHI D'JI4 8K'(0L( .)K"M'B 6B D.)& )9EB [2]
!M-1. @ 18!M$.? @? [5] .DM'(3K% N'7 6( OP K5?& :;% [4] .!',.?" 0PKQ?&
@& DMA DA49% N'7 [7] .O#R+ !% DM$.& D$S,%& !5& C5? [6] .!'()& !5OM'1.
K5=$,#% !'>T UQ !5& V)02W+ [9] .830J597 9#X( OP K'( UQ [8] .T0BYP
"
.19Z4UA=. UQ !5& [)0JHA [11] DM2T\% ]U% N'7 ^? Z4OP K5?4 [10] .!59E%
./9%& ^? ]U% OP K5? UQ [12] ._I0J%4 K5=EJ` 20!L;E%& !'MA N'7
!% 95K5 !5& !#$%" [14] .8K(3& D1S;P !,-'%4 " !#$% Z0> UP4 [13]
b
.D.) D'MA& )K5a4a !% TK.& 4) c9EB !% *+ 9;#( !5& /&d [15] .!,-'%&
21 "

16 The identification of this technical term was already difficult for Dioscorides.

He gives the name of the drug as knkamon and defines it as follows (i. 24): It is
the gum of an Arabian tree, somewhat similar to myrrh and foul to the taste
(dkrun sti Arabiko zlou, smrnj posv oikv, brwmdev n t gesei ).
The Greek word is a transliteration of Arabian kmkm, the botanical identification
of which is uncertain. Ullmann (19582010, i. 346a43b5) identified classical Ara-
bic kamkam as the resin (also: leaves) of the terebinth, but Sima (2000, 2701)
disputed this. Andr 1985, 47, rightly leaves the botanical identification of the
Greek term open (gomme dun arbre dArabie mal dtermin), but Beck (2005,
22) proposes bisabol with little justification.
17 BL 35v, lines 116; SGP 070v077r, column A, lines 831; corresponding

to the Greek Khn XII, p. 78.

18 !M$.?] BL; SGP: !M7.
19 Z4UA=.] SGP; BL: ZUA=..
20 !L;E%&] BL; SGP: !L;E#(.
21 )K5a4a] BL; SGP: )K5a4a. "

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 THE SYRIAC GALEN PALIMPSEST

G
OL( "
e=S%4 [18] .K5='X` !5OP f9` [17] .D.&=P :J.& 9'> 4O.? g [16]
"
.830>4& ^? Z='X` !'MPd U-Bg & C5? [19] 8KR#,#(
22

[1] On klamos phragmtis.

[2] The root of this plantas well as its bulbsextracts spines and
splinters from deep [within the flesh], [3] as some people have written,
[4] on the grounds that it has an attractive power. [5] We, however,
do not accept their evidence. [6] As far as we can conjecture from its
taste, [7] it possesses no small amount of cleansing power, [8] whereas
it has no sharpness at all. [9] When its leaves are fresh, they cool mode-
rately, [10] and they also have a somewhat astringent power. [11]
When its bark is parched, it possesses a power that is quite attenuating
and purging, [12] whilst also being somewhat cleansing. [13] Therefore
they are warming and drying in the third degree; [14] they are more
warming than drying. [15] One ought to be especially cautious of the
drug which falls from this reeds flower tufts. [16] For if it falls in the
ears, [17] it adheres to them excessively, [18] and causes harm to the
hearing; [19] it often even causes deafness.
Text 2: Entry on knkanos (kgkanov):23
:B [1]
24.<0.=E.=A

4) D'-B !5& OM'Q [3] .KSM% @ UQ K5=$,#% _-'%& DMA N'7 !5& )9EB [2]
hS(K% 4? D'i KE.? ^?& C5? c9#$P cT3K% Z? Z0> UP4 [4] .j0H+&
G [5] .D`=% 25D;,5& 4? 839X>& 830`497
V)0'1RH.& ^?4 9R` 830%UP !5& OP
G cT\B 30%UP [7] .D;,'( TUR% kR(K% Z? OM% c&T& 4)
4) G 9'> cT\B [6] ._.?
.DI0I&
[1] On knkanos.
[2] Its root possesses a power that is moderately drying, yet does not
bite. [3] Its thick substance is viscous. [4] Therefore, when it is soaked
in wine as one also does with tragacanth, or when it is licked, it cures
the roughness of the throat [gagara] (or the windpipe [yasa]). [5] It
[sc. knkanos root] also cures in a similar way, when one chews it. [6]
For the juice that flows from it helps the windpipe, when it is eaten,
[7] just as liquorice juice does.

22Z='X`] coniecimus; BL: !5='X`; SGP: non legitur.

23BL 35v, lines 1623; SGP 070v077r, column A, line 32column B, line 2;
corresponding to the Greek Khn XII, p. 8.
24 <0MA=MA] coniecimus; BL: <0.=E.=A; SGP non legitur.
25 D;,5&] SGP; BL: D,'+&.

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 THE SYRIAC GALEN PALIMPSEST

Text 3: Entry on hemp (knnabiv):26

.DJMA V)4K5?& l'P=.=A :B [1]
:Q?K. Z?& C5? [4] .DMQ) C5?& !5& _-'% [3] .C` hJM% @ D.)& OBTd [2]
!'$,7K%4 [7] !'>T UQ O( !5T\B !5& D.W7? [6] .DBTY( O( _-'% [5] 8=>0`
.cWS` !% !54)& Z0.)b m( c9PK1%& C5? D.&?&" DP=Q 30( )T\RP

[1] On knnabis, that is, hemp.

[2] The seed of this plant does not produce flatulence at all. [3] It is
drying to such an extent [4] that if one eats too much of it, [5] it dries
out the semen. [6] Other people squeeze it when it is [still] green [7]
and use the juice for earaches caused by blockages, as I understand.
The following two examples come from Book IX, where BL is not
present. Without its help, the reading of the palimpsest, especially
outside the gutter area, is particularly arduous, although the Greek
source text is a tremendous aid.
Text 4: Entries on magnet (magntiv) and Arabian stone (Arbiov
lqov):27
V)4K5?& [2] D'HAT)4 k';MX% D59AK%& V) G "
G ^?4 O5K5? !5& D2=Q !% [1]
N'2 ]9X( D'%&& [4] D'PT? D59AK%& V) G
G [3] .k;.=+=%4) 30%UP OLH'7
./9%4 _-'%& D'MA N'7 [5]
[1] One of the stones is that called magntis and Herculean.28 [2] Its
power is similar to that of haematite.29 [3] The [stone] called Arabian30
[4], which resembles ivory, [5] possesses a drying and cleansing power.
Text 5: Phrase from the entry on baked clay (difrugv)31:
"
!'() DM##`& Z4OH5& Z4)<-QT>% eKQ? @& D$E2 *+& !5& m( K5Y73? [1]
.!'() F(=#( !'PKQK%& D,'P" D,".? :;% [2] N> &"
[1] It seemed to me that it is much better not to write down the
composition of these false drugs [2] because bad people can learn things
that are written down.32

26 BL 35v, lines 238; SGP 070v077r, column B, lines 310; corresponding

to the Greek Khn XII, p. 8.

27 SGP 002v003r, column A, lines 216; corresponding to the Greek Khn

vol. xii. p. 204, lines 1015.

28 Cf. Ks 2010, 101721.
29 Cf. Ks 2010, 71926.
30 Cf. Ks 2010, 4056.
31 SGP 206v212r, column B, lines 2326; corresponding to the Greek Khn

vol. xii. p. 216, lines 1417.

32 Some words appear to have dropped out of the Syriac translation here.

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 THE SYRIAC GALEN PALIMPSEST

Textual Criticism and Translation Technique

A short glance at the apparatus in TT 13 will already show that SGP

contains some significant variant readings. The number of textual
variants itself is actually surprisingly high, given that TT 13 are
relatively short, and not all the readings in SGP were visible or legi-
ble. This pattern corresponds to that observed for other passages stud-
ied thus far by the members of the Manchester workshop.33 Further-
more, a number of the variant readings present in the palimpsest are
clearly textually superior to those present in BL. For example, in T 1
11 BL has the ungrammatical reading ZUA=., whereas SGP preserves
the correct reading Z4UA=. (the subject of the verb being masculine
plural). In T 2 4, SGP correctly reads D;,5&, whereas BL gives the
erroneous D,'+&, probably as a result of graphic metathesis. Therefore,
SGP represents an independent and valuable branch of the textual
tradition of Sergius Syriac translation of Galens treatise On Simple
Drugs. But SGP is not only significant in terms of textual criticism,
but also of translation technique.
The study of translation technique from Greek into Syriac for the
medical corpus is dominated by two figures who heavily influenced
the subsequent tradition: Sergius of Res Ayna (d. 536) and unayn
ibn Isaq (d. c. 873).34 There is also a fair amount of confusion
regarding the nature and quality of these translations. Sergius trans-
lations, for instance, are often alleged to be qualitatively inferior to
those by unayn. This opinion results, however, not so much from
linguistic and philological analysis as from an uncritical (and naive)
acceptance of unayns own claims from his autobiographical writ-
ings.35 Unfortunately, it has hitherto proved notoriously difficult to
compare the translational techniques of these two figures, since it is
quite rare to have extant Syriac translations from both Sergius and
unayn for the same Greek source text.36
Two exceptions to this general rule, however, have recently come
to light. Kessel has shown that the so-called Syriac Epidemics contain
quotations from the Aphorisms, probably in the translation of Sergius
of Res Ayna.37 Since unayns Syriac translation of this text is also
33 See, for instance, the entry on coarse barley meal (krmnon) (Khn XII,

p. 45), presented in S. Bhayro et al. forthcoming.

34 Cf. Brock 2004; Bhayro 2005; Pormann 2012b; Bhayro and Brock forth-

coming (all with further bibliography).

35 See Bhayro and Brock forthcoming.
36 Brock 1991, 1536.
37 Kessel 2012, 11819; pace Ks 2012.

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 THE SYRIAC GALEN PALIMPSEST

extant, it is possible to compare the two.38 More important for us

here is the fact that Robert Hawley has identified a number of embed-
ded quotations from unayns Syriac version of On Simple Drugs in
unayns extant treatise On the Properties of Foodstuffs.39 The entry
on hemp, edited in T 3, lends itself to illustrate this phenomenon.
The entry in unayns On the Properties of Foodstuffs runs as follows
in the Syriac and Arabic versions.
Text 6: Entry on hemp (knnabiv) in the Syriac version of unayns
On the Properties of Foodstuffs:40
.DJMA :B.<0M'H>& [1]
_'P4 [5] .DIT e=S%4 [4] .DS%0;`@ _'P4 [3] D.) )9,J( n1B DJMA [2]
4O.? [8] oDIT e=S% c&OH;%4 [7] .K5=EJ` !5& 6$% [6] .OH5& p0%0SP
"
.O( n1% D'M##`4 "
D#'#7 cW;B& VOP [9] OM% _.? q0Q=. :'HA 95K5&
"
Z?& C5? :_-'% DMQ)4 [11] .D$20. c9I4. 83T0,23 c&9%4 !5& !L;E% [10]
.DBTY( _-'% [12] 8=>0` :Q?K.
[1] Of Galen. On hemp [seed].
[2] Hemp is difficult to digest [3] and bad for the stomach; [4] it causes
headache, [5] and is bad in terms of the humour that it produces. [6]
It is quite warming; [7] it therefore causes headache, [8] if one eats a
little bit too much of it, [9] because it brings warming and poisonous
vapours up [to the head]. [10] It is attenuating, diuretic, and relieves
flatulence. [11] It dries so much that if one eats too much of it, [12] it
dries out the semen.
Text 7: Entry on hemp (knnabiv) in the Arabic version of unayns
On the Properties of Foodstuffs:41
: .[ 1]

38 Ed. Pognon 1904; Pormann is currently conducting a more systematic study

of this aspect in the framework of his ERC-funded project Arabic Commentaries
on the Hippocratic Aphorisms.
39 One of the goals of the ERC-funded project Floriental is the production of

an edition of this treatise; see http://www.orient-mediterranee.com/spip.

php?article1136&lang=fr.
40 Bibliothque nationale de France, MS 423 (fonds syriaque), fol. 109v, lines

514 (see Briquel-Chatonnet 1997, 1623) and Birmingham University Library,

MS Mingana Syriac 594, fol. 101v, lines 412 (see Mingana 1933, 11323). This
passage was edited by Jimmy Daccache and Robert Hawley, in the context of the
Floriental project.
41 Patna, Khuda Bashkh Oriental Public Library, MS Arabic 2142/1, fol. 61r,

line 17fol. 61v, line 3 (see Azimuddin Ahmad 1910, 58); this passage was edited
by Matthias Wernhard in the context of the Floriental project.

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. [5] [ 4] [ 3] [ 2]
[ 8] . [7] [ 6]

[ 10] . [ 9]
. [ 11]

[1] On hemp seed. Galen said:
[2] Hemp seed is difficult to digest, [3] bad for the stomach, [4] and
causes headache. [5] The blood that is generated from it is bad, [6] and
it warms strongly. [7] Therefore it causes headache [8] when one eats
a little too much of it, [9] because a hot and bad vapour rises from it;
[10] nevertheless it is attenuating, diuretic, and relieves flatulence and
wind, [11] and it is dry to such an extent that, if eaten in excess, [12]
it dries the semen.
The primary Greek source used by unayn in elaborating his Syriac
and Arabic versions presented above was, not surprisingly, Galens
treatise On the Properties of Foodstuffs. unayn, however, extracted
only the most essential information here, and excluded less relevant
material. The following quotation from Galens text with the same
title highlights the elements in Galen which unayn did include;
much, however, was left out.
Text 8: Entry on hemp in Galens On the Properties of Foodstuffs:42
[1] Per kannbewv sprmatov.
[2] dspeptn te ka kakostmaxon n ka kefalalgv ka kakxu-
mon. [3] qermanei d kanv, [4] ka di toto ka kefalv ptetai
[5] braxe pleon ljfqn, [6] tmn napmpon p atn qermn te ma
ka farmakdj.

[1] On hemp seed.

[2] being difficult to digest, bad for the stomach, and producing
headaches and bad humours. [3] It warms sufficiently, [4] and the-
refore affects the head, [5] when taken in large quantity during a short
period of time, [6] as it sends up a vapour to it [the head] that is both
warm and poisonous.
A comparison between TT 67 and T 8 shows that unayn drew
on Galens On the Properties of Foodstuffs.43 unayn, however, not
only excluded a lot of irrelevant information from Galens On the

42 Book 1, chapter 34 (Khn VI, 54950); for an English translation of the text,

see Owen Powell 2003, p. 68; the present translation, however, is our own.
43 TT 67 25 correspond to T 8 2; TT 67 6 to T 8 3; TT 67 7 to

T 8 4; TT 67 8 to T 8 5; and TT 67 9 to T 8 6.

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 THE SYRIAC GALEN PALIMPSEST

Properties of Foodstuffs, but also drew on another Galenic work,

namely our On Simple Drugs: the second half of unayns entry on
hemp largely draws on this text.44 In other words, we have here some
passages from unayns Syriac translation of Galens On Simple
Drugs. Therefore, we can now compare the Syriac version of Sergius
(T 3) with that of unayn (T 6) in order to assess how they differ.
Moreover, we can finally broach the subject of what impact earlier
Syriac versions had on the Arabic translations produced in unayns
school, in this case that of On the Properties of Foodstuffs (T 7).
The following passage in the source text can illustrate some fea-
tures of the three translations: [1] fusv te ka zjrantikv ev
tosotn stin [2] v, [3] e plewn brwqej, [4] zjranein tn gonn
([1] it dissolves flatulence and is so dry [2] that [3] when one eats a
lot of it [4] it dries the semen). The first difficulty in the Greek text
is the word phusos, which can mean without flatulence, causing no
flatulence or relieving flatulence. This richness in meaning is partly
triggered by the ambiguous privative alpha.45 Sergius translates this
as C` hJM% @ (does not produce flatulence at all) (T 3 2). unayn,
however, adopts a different (and more sophisticated) explanation by
"
rendering it as D$20. c9I (relieves flatulence) (T 6 10) and relieves
flatulence and wind () (T 7 10). We therefore
observe here a significant difference between Sergius and unayn:
the latter grasped the subtle differences in the meaning of an adjective
according to its context where the former follows more general ren-
derings. Pormann has found other such examples, and this therefore
appears to be a feature in unayns Syriac translations, as it is in his
Arabic ones.46 Incidentally, the use of the hendiadys al-riya wa-l-
nufa (flatulence and wind) in the Arabic is another typical feature
in unayns school.47
In T 1 15, moreover, we find an instance of explicitation in Ser-
gius version. The Greek source text contains the following injunc-
tion: One ought to be cautious of the so-called anth1le (fulttesqai
d ato proskei tn kaloumnjn nqljn), anth1le designating the
silky flower tufts of the reeds. If one compares Sergius Syriac ver-
sion of this passage to the source text, one notices that he translated

44 TT 67 10 partly corresponds to T 3 2; and TT 67 1112 to T 3

35.
45 On this feature in Graeco-Arabic translation, see now Vagelpohl 2012 with

further literature.
46 Pormann 2012b, 1501.
47 See Pormann 2004, 249, 2578 with further literature.

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 THE SYRIAC GALEN PALIMPSEST

Galens phrase tn kaloumnjn nqljn (the so-called anthele) in an

expansive and explicitative way: the drug which falls from this reeds
" !% TK.& 4)
flower tufts (D.) D'MA& )K5a4a G c9EB). Though the resem-
blance may be merely coincidence, one might also wonder if at least
one aspect of Sergius explicitation, the flower tufts of this reed
" was in part informed by his awareness of the cor-
(D.) D'MA& )K5a4a),
responding passage in Dioscorides, and in particular, by the latters
expression nqlj tn kalmwn (the flower tuft of the reed),48
which corresponds closely to Sergius expression this reeds flower
" In the Greek manuscript tradition, Galens
tufts (D.) D'MA& )K5a4a).
entries in On Simple Drugs are often contaminated with information
derived from Dioscorides, and this instance would constitute a paral-
lel phenomenon.49
Returning to the comparison between the two Syriac versions, we
also see that unayn clearly drew on Sergius in quite significant
ways, and at times his contribution is limited to shortening and
simplifying the diction. For instance, he turns Sergius somewhat
more verbose Z?& C5? rDMQ) C5?& !5& _-'% (T 3 3) into the more con-
cise Z?& C5? _-'% DMQ)4 (T 6 11). Or he simplifies the expression
DBTY( O( _-'% (T 3 5) to DBTY( _-'% (T 6 12). But these are
rather small changes that do not affect the overall sense of the passage.
Therefore, we can draw two preliminary conclusions from this rather
limited comparison between the translations of Sergius and unayn.
First, unayn grasped the nuances of the Greek source text much
better than Sergius and expressed them with a greater level of differ-
entiation. Second, however, unayn is far more indebted to Sergius
efforts than one would guess from unayns own account of how he
rendered Galen into Syriac and Arabic.
We see, therefore, that Sergius Syriac version of Galens On Sim-
ple Drugs offers interesting and rewarding opportunities to study
Graeco-Syriac translation technique and the role of Syriac intermedi-
ary versions in the process of translating from Greek into Arabic. We
have already mentioned that BL only contains Books VIVIII,
whereas SGP has at least some material from Book IX. But how
much more does SGP have to offer, and what does this mean for the
study of this translation?

48 i. 85, line 12 ed. Wellmann.

49 Petit 2010, 150 (with further literature). See also Overwien 2012, who shows
that, in unayns circle, the translators often complemented the text in the treatise
that they were currently translating with information from other works.

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 THE SYRIAC GALEN PALIMPSEST

Sergius Translation Reconsidered

By transcribing a whole page from SGP, we were able to arrive at

some calculations about the bulk of this manuscript, which, as we
noted above, had already impressed Baumstark. One two-column
page of text in SGP corresponds approximately to two and a half
pages of Greek text in Khns edition, and to approximately one and
a half pages of text in BL. Since SGP contains 222 pages, then, given
that every page does indeed contain undertext, by the calculations
just stated the amount of undertext should correspond to roughly
500 pages of Greek text in Khns edition, and roughly 350 pages of
text in BL. Since BL contains only slightly under 150 pages of text
(73 folios), clearly the material potentially contained in SGP is at least
double that contained in BL. The figure of approximately 500 Khn
pages corresponds nicely to the actual length of Books VIXI, which
is 477 pages.50
We can get a better sense of how much text SGP contains by look-
ing more closely at Book IX. So far, Grigory Kessel has identified four
different passages from this book: SGP, fol. 002v003r corresponds
to Khn XII, pp. 204, 206 (on stones); fol. 049v052r51 to XII,
p. 186 (on Samian clay); fol. 128v129r52 to XII, p. 199 (on stones;
see T 4); and fol. 206v212r to XII, p. 21617 (on baked clay; see
T 5). The identified passages come from three different sections of
Book IX. SGP therefore probably contained the whole of Book IX.
Moreover, given the consideration about size made in the previous
paragraph, SGP may well have contained the whole of Books VIXI.
This would also accord well with unayns report in his Epistle that
Sergius translated the whole second part of On Simple Drugs.53
Matteo Martelli recently showed that a Syriac alchemical treatise
attributed to the Egyptian alchemist Zosimos of Panopolis (fl. c. CE
270) drew heavily on Books IXXI of On Simple Drugs.54 The treatise
consists of four parts: the first three parts deal more discursively with

50On Simple Drugs is divided into books of roughly similar length; in Khns
edition, the figures are as follows: Book I 80 pp.; II 81 pp.; III 79 pp.; IV 85 pp.;
V 85 pp.; VI 104 pp.; VII 82 pp.; VIII 75 pp.; IX 85 pp.; X 64 pp.; and XI 67 pp.
51 Only a gutter area of the first column is legible.
52 Only a gutter area of the first column is legible.
53 See above, n. 5.
54 Martelli 2010; the text is preserved in Cambridge, University Library, MS

Mm. 6.29 (henceforth C), on fols 120v129v; see also Brock 1991, 154.

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 THE SYRIAC GALEN PALIMPSEST

metals and minerals,55 earths56 and stones57 respectively, whereas the

fourth part lists the Greek and Syriac names of various liquid and
solid substances.58 The text must be older than the fifteenth-century
manuscript that preserves it, but clearly was not written by Zosimos
himself. Martelli argued that its anonymous author probably com-
piled it in Syriac for practising alchemists from On Simple Drugs; for
this reason, he omitted information that is only relevant in pharma-
cological terms. Since Martelli did not have access to the Syriac trans-
lation of On Simple Drugs (from which the alchemical text is largely
culled), he was unable to determine whether it was an ad hoc transla-
tion from Greek into Syriac, or whether the author simply excerpted
an existing translation.
Thanks to SGP, we can now answer this question provisionally.
Take the example of the Arabian stone (T 4 35). In the alchem-
ical text, it is listed as follows59:
N'2 ]9X( D'%&& [2] D'PT? D59AK%& 8397?4 [1]
[1] There is another [stone] called Arabian [2] that resembles ivory.
Apart from the first word (8397?4), this is a verbatim quotation from
SGP (T 4 34), including the somewhat archaic construct ]9>
N'2 to render Greek lfav (ivory). The author merely omits the
information about its medicinal powers contained in 5. This raises
another interesting possibility: that the alchemical text is that men-
tioned by Ibn al-Nadim among the works of Sergius himself.60 In
other words, perhaps we have here Sergius own alchemical compila-
tion that he would have based on his translation of On Simple Drugs.
Be that as it may, the alchemical text confirms yet again that Sergius
translated the whole second part of On Simple Drugs into Syriac.

Outlook

We hope that the present study has illustrated the many possibilities
for further study that SGP provides. Let us step back from this par-
ticular palimpsest for a moment and consider the state of the history

55 Corresponding to Khn XII 20844.

56 Corresponding to Khn XII 16592.
57 Corresponding to Khn XII 192208.
58 Corresponding to Khn XII 253377.
59 C fol. 126v.
60 Ed. Flgel 18712, 354; cf. Hugonnard-Roche 1997, 129.

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 THE SYRIAC GALEN PALIMPSEST

of medicine in Syriac.61 As Baumstark already noted, very few medi-

cal texts survive in Syriac. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, various scholars began to edit some of these texts,62 but the
promise of a Corpus Medicorum Syriacorum was never fulfilled.63 One
of the greatest surprises is that after Merxs 1885 initial study of BL,
no one has attempted to edit this manuscript until very recently; now
an effort is underway to produce at least a diplomatic text of the
manuscript under the aegis of Siam Bhayro and Robert Hawley in
the framework of the Floriental project.64 Sergius Syriac translation
of Galens On Simple Drugs along with the so-called Syriac Epi-
demics is undoubtedly the most significant medical text in Syriac
in terms of bulk and influence that remains unedited.
The present study, however, has shown that SGP probably con-
tains at least double the text contained in BL. Moreover, SGP offers
important variant readings, some of which are superior to those con-
tained in BL. Therefore, both in terms of scope and method, any
critical edition of Sergius translation would need to take the evidence
contained in SGP carefully into consideration. SGP also opens other
doors for future studies. We were able to determine that the Syriac
alchemical text described by Martelli drew on Sergius translation.
And once we possess a critical edition of this translation, based on
both BL and SGP, we will be able to study the impact of Sergius on
unayns Syriac and Arabic translation technique; to date, this
important question in the study of how Greek thought travelled into
Arabic culture has largely been ignored.
Last, but not least, we should stress that we could only offer
a few glimpses into what SGP has to offer. If the Archimedes Pal-
impsest is anything to go by, we might find other hitherto lost
Syriac texts in SGP, just as the Archimedes Palimpsest contains more
than one work. At present, the Syriac Galen Palimpsest represents
largely virgin territory. We hope to be able to attract the necessary
resources to fund its study and thus to venture beyond this unknown
frontier.

Address for correspondence: peter.pormann@manchester.ac.uk

61 For a concise overview, see Pormann 2011.

62 E.g. the Syriac Book of Medicine (ed. Budge 1913).
63 Cf. Degen 1972.
64 See above, n. 39.

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