For the Care of Body and Soul: A CPA Bible and an Arab-Islamic Medical Text in a Tenth-Century Palimpsest Fragment

Abstract

This paper studies a palimpsest fragment from the Qubbat al-khazna in Damascus, which presents a very interesting composition. The Christian Palestinian Aramaic (CPA) scriptio inferior, already identified as a biblical text (Genesis 19.1-5, 7-10), coexists with the Arabic scriptio superior. This latter, except for the identification of its general content, has not been studied so far. The Arabic text is an excerpt belonging to the medical work entitled Mukhtaṣar fī l-ṭibb (Compendium of medicine) – otherwise known from just one manuscript witness, Rabat, Al-Khizāna al-ʿāmma, 2640 (D 1442c) – written by the Andalusian jurist ʿAbd al-Malik b. Ḥabīb (d. 238 AH/853 AD). This paper, focused on the textual analysis of the excerpt, provides its edition and translation. The study of the text is integrated with a palaeographical and codicological examination of the Arabic script. These multidisciplinary investigations represent the starting point for some insights related to the history of the fragment. Specifically, a Sinaitic-Palestinian origin, linked to a monastic environment, is suggested, in consideration of some peculiar features: the botanical-pharmaceutical knowledge displayed in the Arabic text of the scriptio superior, the palimpsest order of the fragment, as well as the significant phenomenon of the discard of the religious text (the Bible in CPA) of the scriptio inferior, which can be contextualised within the »arabicisation« process that characterised the monastic milieu of the area from the second/eighth century onwards.