The Canon of Medicine is an encyclopedia of medicine in five books compiled by Muslim Persian physician-philosopher Avicenna and completed in 1025. It is among the most influential works of its time. It presents an overview of the contemporary medical knowledge of the Islamic world, which had been influenced by earlier traditions including Greco-Roman medicine, Persian medicine, Chinese medicine and Indian medicine. Its translation from Arabic to Latin in 12th century Toledo greatly influenced the development of medieval medicine. It became the standard textbook for teaching in European universities into the early modern period.
Persian version of The Canon of Medicine at Avicenna's mausoleum in Hamedan
First page of the introduction to the first book (Arabic manuscript, 1597)
A Latin copy of the Canon of Medicine, dated 1484, located at the P.I. Nixon Medical Historical Library of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Ibn Sina, commonly known in the West as Avicenna, was a preeminent philosopher and physician of the Muslim world, flourishing during the Islamic Golden Age, serving in the courts of various Iranian rulers. He is often described as the father of early modern medicine. His philosophy was of the Muslim Peripatetic school derived from Aristotelianism.
Portrait of Avicenna on an Iranian postage stamp
Coin of Majd al-Dawla (r. 997–1029), the amir (ruler) of the Buyid branch of Ray
Coin of Ala al-Dawla Muhammad (r. 1008–1041), the Kakuyid ruler of Isfahan
The Mausoleum of Avicenna, Hamadan, Iran