Abstract
Traditional medicine in the first three centuries of Ottoman rule in Damascus was practiced by local doctors who studied medicine, in addition to other Islamic studies, with their fathers or with others. It also included visitations to spiritual healers and shrines. Time-honoured procedures, such as cupping and the use of leeches, were also practiced. Biographical dictionaries, a major source for traditional medicine, mentioned only Muslim doctors, whereas the Islamic court records at the time mentioned Christian doctors. A turning point occurred in the nineteenth century when the state took over the initiative in establishing institutional medicine, as happened under Egyptian rule in Syria in the 1830s when a hospital was built and quarantine was introduced. The peak occurred under Sultan Abdülhamid II who ordered the building of a hospital in Damascus in 1899 and the establishment of a medical school in 1903.
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