Bulgarian and Ottoman-Turkish medical manuscripts and sources in comparison: insights on how people dealt with epidemics in the XVII-XVIII century (Yana Georgakieva)
The Ottoman Turkish manuscripts are among the most widespread written sources in the Bulgarian lands. Unfortunately, still a significant amount of those historical documents remains uncatalogued and therefore has never been the object of detailed study. My presentation will focus on medical manuscripts currently preserved at the Oriental Department of St.St. Cyril and Methodius National Library – Sofia, Republic of Bulgaria. I will try to shed light on the correlation between the remedies in Bulgarian pharmacopoeias and those preserved in the Ottoman Turkish ones. Additionally, I will provide an overview of the archaeological situation in Bulgaria, which, at this stage of my research, seems to correspond to some of the sources. The cyclic epidemics within the Bulgarian lands have left intriguing scenes in certain churches and monasteries, and even specific features in Ottoman architecture, which I will discuss as well.
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Working Group