Did Andreas Vesalius’s De Humani Corporis Fabrica and/or Juan Valverde’s Historia De La Composicion Del Cuerpo Humano Really Influence the Anatomy Knowledge in the Ottoman Empire? A Preliminary Study on Shams al-Dīn ʿItāqī’s Tashrīh al-Abdān*

Abstract

Aim of this study was to determine whether Vesalius and Valverde influenced Shams al-Dīn ʿItāqī considering the figures and several statements in Tashrīḥ al-Abdān wa Tarjamān Qibāla Faylasūfān. The statements and figures in illustrated copies of ʿItāqī’s book were examined and compared to those in Galen’s, Avicenna’s, Vesalius’s, and Valverde’s works, then the findings were evaluated. ʿItāqī’s book contains some figures only from Vesalius and/or Valverde’s works, but there is no new explanation related to issues such as the mandible, the sacrum, the rete mirabile, and the uterus. The Latin edition of Valverde’s book published in 1607 was probably the source of the Western-originated illustrations in the manuscript Hüsrev Paşa, Nr. 464 and of all the Western-based illustrations, except for the female figure in the manuscript of Istanbul University, Turkish Manuscripts, TY 2662. Spanish and/or Italian and/or Latin (1589) editions of Valverde’s book were the sources of most of the Western-originated illustrations, except the human skeleton figure in the manuscript of Prof. Uzluk’s personal collection. The information given by the works of Vesalius and Valverde has not influenced the explanations of ʿItāqī. ʿItāqī wrote his book according to the classical anatomical knowledge in the Islamic world of his era and he added Eastern- and Western-originated figures to his book to support/strengthen his statements. Or ʿItāqī work Tasrīḥ al-Abdān originally contained no illustrations. However, later, scribes/copiers added Eastern- and Western-originated anatomical figures to the book to support/strengthen statements at different times.