Transformation of Galen's Textual Legacy from Classical to Post-Classical Islamic Medicine: Commentaries on the Hippocratic Aphorisms

I assess Galen’s (d. ca. 216) textual legacy on Arabic commentaries on the
Hippocratic Aphorisms. I show that early authors in this tradition employ
exegetical strategies taken from Alexandrian exegetical models. Applying these
strategies to the Hippocratic-Galenic text makes Galen’s commentary is the
primary means for these authors to understand the Aphorisms. By introducing a
host of commentary strategies that depart from Alexandrian models, Ibn Abī
Ṣādiq’s (d. after 1067 CE) commentary is a watershed moment in the
Aphorisms-commentary tradition. Nevertheless, Galen’s commentary remains
crucial for Ibn Abī Ṣādiq. These commentary strategies lead him to introduce
texts, concepts and classifications that move beyond Galen’s Aphorismscommentary.
Finally, in one of the last texts in this corpus dating to around
1350, Ibn Sīnā's (d. 1037) Canon of Medicine and Ibn Abī Ṣādiq’s commentary
have become major sources for understanding the Aphorisms. Galen’s
commentary is used sparingly.