A Preliminary Study on Chapters Related to Human Anatomy in An Illustrated Persian Medical Book: Tānksūqnāme-i Īlkhān Der Funūn-i ʿUlūm-i Khaṭāʾī
Ahmet Acıduman1
, Şehriyar Şems2, Berna Arda3, Gürhan Kırilen4
1Ankara University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of History of Medicine and Ethics, Ankara/TÜRKİYE
2Şems Health, Ankara/TÜRKİYE
3Ankara University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of History of Medicine and Ethics, Ankara/TÜRKİYE
4Ankara University of Languages and History-Geography, Department of Eastern Languages and Literatures, Department of Sinology, Ankara/TÜRKİYE
Keywords: Tānksūqnāme-i Īlkhān Der Funūn-i ʿUlūm-i Khaṭāʾī, Faḍl-Allah Rashīd al-Dīn, Oljeitu Khodabandeh, Cathay medicine, Ilkhanid dynasty, History of medicine.
Abstract
Tānksūqnāme-i Īlkhān Der Funūn-i ʿUlūm-i Khaṭāʾī is one of the rarest illustrated medical books in medieval Islamic geography. It is also one of the most uncommon books translated into Persian from Chinese belonging to Cathay medicine in the Islamic world during that era. The Tānksūqnāme was translated by order of Faḍl-Allah Rashīd al-Dīn Ibn ʿImād al-Dawla Abū al-Khayr (1247-1318), after Oljeitu Khodabandeh (r. 1304 – 1317) became the ruler in 1304. One of the rarest, probably the unique copy of the Tānksūqnāme-i Īlkhān is in Ayasofya collection, Nr. 3596 in İstanbul Süleymaniye Manuscript Library. Although the work consists of four volumes/books, we only have the first one. It was copied by a scribe, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Maḥmūd Qiwām (Qawwām) al-Kirmānī, in Tabrīz on 20 Shaʿbān 713/10 December 1313 during the reign of Oljeitu Khodabandeh, the eighth ruler of Ilkhanid dynasty in Persia. The first volume of Tānksūqnāme-i Īlkhān Der Funūn-i ʿUlūm-i Khaṭāʾī has chapters and illustrations on human anatomy written and drawn following the Chinese originals. The aim of this study is to present the anatomical knowledge in this book and evaluate it by comparing the classical scientific anatomical knowledge of medieval Islamic medicine.