Preface

My interest in Ibn al-Jazzar's medical compendium, called Ziid al-

musiifir wa-qut al-.hiif}.ir (Provisions for the Traveller and

Nourishment for the Sedentary) was aroused for the first time

while I was working on a critical edition of Qus~a ibn Luqa's medical regime for the pilgrims to Mecca, entitled Risiila fi tadbir safar al-.hajj, which was published in 1992 by E.J. Brill, Leiden,

The Netherlands. In the course of systematic research into other

medical texts belonging to the genre of health guides for the

traveller, I extensively consulted the Ziid al-musiifir and became

impressed by its lucidity, comprehensiveness and preservation of

the works of famous physicians and philosophers, such as

Hippocrates, Aristotle, Rufus, Galen, Paul of Aegina, and

Po lemon.