The opening of Constantine the African’s Pantegni, a translation of a major Arabic encyclopedia of medicine by the Persian writer ‘Ali ibn al-‘Abbas al-Majusi. This copy was very probably written during the lifetime of Constantine, who died sometime before 1098/99. The photo shows Constantine’s dedication of the text to Desiderius, his abbot at the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino in Italy. (The black circles are holes created by worms eating away at the parchment sometime during the nine and a half centuries since it was written.) Photo courtesy of the Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek. Used with permission.

October 13, 2010 By

The opening of Constantine the African’s Pantegni, a translation of a major Arabic encyclopedia of medicine by the Persian writer ‘Ali ibn al-‘Abbas al-Majusi. This copy was very probably written during the lifetime of Constantine, who died sometime before 1098/99. The photo shows Constantine’s dedication of the text to Desiderius, his abbot at the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino in Italy. (The black circles are holes created by worms eating away at the parchment sometime during the nine and a half centuries since it was written.) Photo courtesy of the Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek. Used with permission.

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