希腊理论与叙利亚—阿拉伯实践之间的亚美尼亚医学(5~15世纪)

Armenian Medicine:Between Greek Theory and Syrian-Arab Practice(5th-15th Centuries)

本文旨在呈现长达十个世纪的亚美尼亚医学史梗概,从人类体质理性理论的形成,到医药或相关文本的早期译文(7~10世纪),再到最初的一些实际应用。它们最初在幼发拉底行省,12~14世纪在奇里乞亚亚美尼亚王国得到应用,这得益于阿拉伯医学,它们常由叙利亚中间人传播。由此可以看出这段时期的亚美尼亚医学史包含两大重要时期。第一个阶段(5~9世纪)深受拜占庭文化的影响,作者们是想要将世界的运作和人体组织之间的关系系统化(四体液、四元素、四个年龄阶段)的理论家。这一阶段的主要代表文本有亚美尼亚医疗《选集》(l’Anthologie)和《四体液和里拉琴四琴弦论集》(Traitésur les quatre humeurs et les quatre cordes de la lyre),这标志着“关于人的研究”和基督论的融合。在第二个阶段(10~15世纪),有幼发拉底行省和奇里乞亚亚美尼亚王国的作者去叙利亚—阿拉伯医学院学习。这些人之后成为想要治疗疾病的医生,用通俗的语言写作。他们所写的书籍只是一些概要,必须置于当时的科学和制度环境来理解。那时,亚美尼亚的天主教大教长(“穷人的保护者”)扮演着真正的“公共援助大臣”的角色。由他委托撰写的文集实则是一本流行病学手册,却被不恰当地称为《发热安慰剂》(Consolation des fièvres)。这部作品贯穿了整个匿名文献的兴旺发展时期(药典、医疗占星术),有一些手册间接参考了这本文献,这一点并不那么容易被发觉。

The present contribution provides an overview of ten centuries of the history of Armenian medicine from the development of a rational theory of human constitution,based on the first translations of medical and other related texts,between the seventh and tenth centuries,to its first practical applications,first in Euphratensis and then in Cilician Armenia in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries,thanks to Arab medicine,often transmitted through Syrian intermediaries.It is thus possible to distinguish two major periods.In the first period which was marked by Byzantine heritage from the fifth to the ninth century,the authors are theorists who seek to systematize the links between the functioning of the world and that of the human organism(four humours,four elements,four ages…).The main texts of this first period are the Armenian Medical Anthology and the Treatise on the Four Humours and the Four Strings of the Lyre,which illustrates this convergence with anthropology and Christology(Gregory of Nazianzus,Nemesius of Emesa and pseudo-Gregory of Nazianzus).In the second period(from the tenth to fifteenth centuries),the authors of Euphratensis and Armenian Cilicia align themselves with the school of Syrian-Arab physicians.They are by now practitioners who seek to heal patients.They write in the vernacular.Their books are summaries that must be situated in an environment that is both scientific and institutional.At that time,the Catholicos of Armenia(Protector of the Poor)played the role of a true“director of public assistance”.The treatise commissioned by him—improperly called“Consolation of Fevers”—is in fact an epidemiological manual.This work is accompanied by the flourishing of a whole corpus of anonymous literature(for instance,pharmacopoeia and iatromathematics),which the textbooks refer allusively to and which are not always easy to find.