From Avicena to Galen: a Latin Epigram of the Valencian Physician Miguel Jerónimo Ledesma (1547)
Abstract
This article focuses on a Latin epigram published by Valencian physician Miguel Jerónimo Ledesma in 1547. This epigram, which introduced Ledesma’s Latin translation of the first part of Avicenna’s Canon (Prima primi Canonis Auicennae Sectio, Valentiae, Ioannes Mey), is a good testimony of Latin liminary poetry in medical writings, and exemplifies the functions fulfilled by this poetry, providing additional information to assess the work it introduces. In this poem, the Persian physician address himself to Galen recognizing the influence of his doctrine. The formal characteristics of the epigram and its theme are analyzed in the context of the fundamental principles of Renaissance medical Humanism. The relationship between the poem and the ideological condition and the profesional circumstances of the author are also clarified.
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