Two Plague Treatises from the Ottoman Empire (Ahmed Tahir Nur and Mehmet Emin Güleçyüz)
In this session, Ahmed Tahir Nur (Yale University) and Mehmet Emin Güleçyüz (The University of Chicago) will present the contexts and contents of two Arabic plague treatises from the early sixteenth century Ottoman Empire that they are currently editing and preparing for publication. Ilyās b. Ibrāhīm’s Shield from Plagues and Epidemics and Idrīs-i Bidlīsī’s Refraining from Epidemic-Stricken Places were conceived under different conditions and served different purposes. Yet, both treatises were written during a major outbreak of plague, and were devoted primarily to a comprehensive treatment of infectious diseases in general and plagues in particular. Their authors’ theoretical and practical engagement with plague reveals the significance of these plague treatises as historical sources on a number of areas, including transmission of medical knowledge and epistemological, religious and legal debates of the time.
Date
-