A Physician on the Nile : : A Description of Egypt and Journal of the Famine Years / / ʿAbd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī; ed. by Tim Mackintosh-Smith.

• VerfasserIn: al-Baghdādī, ʿAbd al-Laṭīf,
• MitwirkendeR: Kennedy, Philip F.,
• HerausgeberIn: Mackintosh-Smith, Tim,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Library of Arabic Literature
• Physical Description: 1 online resource
• Other title: Frontmatter --; Letter from the General Editor --; Table of Contents --; Acknowledgements --; Introduction --; Maps --; Note on the Text --; Notes to the Introduction --; A Physician on the Nile --; Notes --; Glossary of Names and Terms --; Bibliography --; Index --; About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute --; About the Typefaces --; Titles Published by the Library of Arabic Literature --; About the Editor–Translator
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9781479806256
• DOI: 10.18574/nyu/9781479806256.001.0001
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: ʿAbd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī; ed. by Tim Mackintosh-Smith.

Flora, fauna, and famine in thirteenth-century EgyptA Physician on the Nile begins as a description of everyday life in Egypt at the turn of the seventh/thirteenth century, before becoming a harrowing account of famine and pestilence. Written by the polymath and physician ʿAbd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī, and intended for the Abbasid caliph al-Nāṣir, the first part of the book offers detailed descriptions of Egypt’s geography, plants, animals, and local cuisine, including a recipe for a giant picnic pie made with three entire roast lambs and dozens of chickens. ʿAbd al-Laṭīf’s text is also a pioneering work of ancient Egyptology, with detailed observations of Pharaonic monuments, sculptures, and mummies. An early and ardent champion of archaeological conservation, ʿAbd al-Laṭīf condemns the vandalism wrought by tomb-robbers and notes with distaste that Egyptian grocers price their goods with labels written on recycled mummy-wrappings.The book’s second half relates his horrific eyewitness account of the great famine that afflicted Egypt in the years 597–598/1200–1202. ʿAbd al-Laṭīf was a keen observer of humanity, and he offers vivid first-hand depictions of starvation, cannibalism, and a society in moral free-fall.A Physician on the Nile contains great diversity in a small compass, distinguished by the acute, humane, and ever-curious mind of its author. It is rare to be able to hear the voice of such a man responding so directly to novelty, beauty, and tragedy.A bilingual Arabic-English edition.