Objective Recent publications such as Sylvain Gouguenheim s Aristote au Mont Saint Michel (2008) have called into question the role played by Near Eastern (and especially Arab and Muslim) scholars in the transmission of Greek philosophical, scientific and medical knowledge from antiquity to the middle ages. At the very heart of this problem is the translation movement sponsored by the ¿Abb sid caliphs and wealthy Muslim intellectuals of 8th-10th century Baghdad, and especially its most celebrated protagonist, $unayn ibn Is% q, whose translations from Greek into Syriac and Arabic proved to be foundational. On a superficial level, the questions raised have attracted much media attention, with some critics even evoking the notion of a cultural clash (between the Christian West and the Islamic East). An informed and sober evaluation of this issue is not yet possible, however, since many of the Syriac primary sources shedding light on $unayn s translational activity remain unpublished and therefore inaccessible to historians. The Floriental project will publish the pertinent sources for one particular text genre among $unayn s scientific writings, that of the herbal (defined as a list of plants accompanied by descriptions of their therapeutic properties). Still, $unayn and his school did not work in a vacuum (as he himself admits in his famous Ris la), thus the necessity of a second goal: to contextualize $unayn s herbal writings through the study and publication of other Ancient Near Eastern herbals, not only in Syriac but also in the other languages of ancient scholarship (Babylonian, Greek, Arabic, etc.), and especially those which preceded, and in many respects made possible, $unayn s remarkable translational achievements. Fields of science medical and health sciencesother medical scienceshistory of medicine Programme(s) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) ERC-SG-SH6 - ERC Starting Grant - The study of the human past Call for proposal ERC-2010-StG_20091209 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant Coordinator CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS Address Rue michel ange 3 75794 Paris France See on map Region Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris Activity type Research Organisations Principal investigator Robert Hawley (Dr.) Administrative Contact Chiara Chelini (Mrs.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window EU contribution No data Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS France EU contribution € 1 422 120,00 Address Rue michel ange 3 75794 Paris See on map Region Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris Activity type Research Organisations Principal investigator Robert Hawley (Dr.) Administrative Contact Chiara Chelini (Mrs.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Other funding No data
