A Late Mamluk Medical Regimen for Travellers

Ibn al-Amshāṭī’s (d. 1496) travel regimen, written likely as a health guide for the pilgrimage to Mecca, furthers our understanding of postclassical medicine, the history of travel medicine, and pharmacology, with an English translation making the text widely accessible.

---

The fifteenth-century travel regimen entitled al-Isfār ʿan ḥikam al-asfār (‘The unveiling of the wisdoms of the books’) written by the Cairene jurist-physician Ibn al-Amshāṭī (d. 1496) is an interesting example of the postclassical medical literature. It includes, besides a travel regimen (written likely as a health guide for the pilgrimage to Mecca), a short pharmacopoeia of single and compound remedies deemed useful for the traveller.
The work was composed for Kamāl al-Dīn al-Bārizī (d. 1452), the head of the Mamluk Chancery. The Arabic edition, English translation, and commentary of this text are framed by a detailed introductory study of the Arabic-language tradition of travel regimens and various medico-pharmacological glossaries.