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Flora, fauna, and famine in thirteenth-century Egypt
A 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 ?Abd al-La?if al-Baghdadi, and intended for the Abbasid caliph al-Na?ir, 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. ?Abd al-La?if'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, ?Abd al-La?if 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. ?Abd al-La?if 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.
An English-only edition.