The drawing of the Nile in this mss.

Back to Table of Contents (5)
To next page 
 

Ibn al-Nafis: Sharh al-Kulliyat al-Qanun;

(A Commentary on the Generalities of the Qanun) (d1288) Egypt

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ala-al-Din abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Abi-Hazm al-Qarshi al-Dimashqi known as Ibn al-Nafis was an Arab polymath whose areas of work included medicine, surgery, physiology, anatomy, biology, Islamic studies, jurisprudence, and philosophy. He is known for being the first to describe the pulmonary circulation of the blood. He was born in 1213 near Damascus. Lived most of his life in Egypt and died in Cairo. He wrote extensively on the sources of the Nile but I could still not find the text.

Taken from: the website of: The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford

 

On top: A map of the River Nile, drawn on the lower half of the page. It was drawn by the copyist and is an integral part of the text.

This illustration occurs in the course of the commentary on the sixteenth section (fasl, which is concerned with types and

qualities of waters) of the second sub-chapter on 'causes' in the second part (fann) on health and disease in general.

 

Taken from: http://egnet.academia.edu/RobinSeignobos

 

The textual description of the sources and the course of the Nile found in al-Suyuṭi does in fact only repeat, in abbreviated form, that of Ibn al-Nafis and it is the same with the map of which it’s illustration is reproducing the forms and nomenclature of those appearing in some manuscripts of his commentary.

Under: a map of the Nile from a different copy of this book.