Iranian Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine

The medical Arjuze is one of the less known works of Avicenna, a great Iranian scientist and physician, which is written didactically in Arabic. In this book, Avicenna has composed 1326 lines about a complete cycle of traditional medicine of Iran in Arabic in the form of battle cry. Didactic poetry is one of the poetry forms which its main purpose is to provide educational aims and to convey scientific terms both in literature and poetical way. Avicenna's poetry in Arjuze is simple and fluent. The medical topics are overviewed in a sketchy way and not in full details in this book. In this book, theoretical and practical medicines are explained in two specific parts.
The existence of French and English translations of Arjuze shows the value of this work for Europeans as a complete outline about medicine in that time, but there is no Persian translation of this work, available. Traditional Medicine and History of Medicine Research Centre of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences has started the translation of medical Arjuze with the aim of introducing this precious work which shows the educational pattern of traditional Iranian scientists in using didactic poetry.
The purpose of this article is to introduce the characteristics of Avicenna's Arjuze with an overview of his position in modern traditional medicine.

Al-Akawayni is considered one of the greatest and most reputable Iranian physicians of the fourth century AH whose medical works and expertise have been reliable and acceptable sources in most periods of the history of medicine. Unfortunately, old books do not reveal much about his life and works, and what we know about him is based on his own statements and evidence and inferences we have made from his famous work "Hidayat al-Mutaallimin fi-al-Tibb" (Learner's guide to medicine). He was a student of Abu Al Qasem Moqaneiy, who, in turn, was a student of Muhammad Zakaria Razi. His works, especially "Hidayat al-Mutaallimin fi-al-Tibb", are considered reliable medical texts along with other great medical textbooks of Iran. This book is important from several viewpoints. First, it is the oldest available medical text in Persian second, it is rich in linguistic and literary technicalities third, it is valuable from a medical and scientific point of view, especially traditional medicine fourth, it is an important source to learn the names of a large number of medications, herbal medicines, and scholars in the history of Iranian medicine.