A Cretan Healer's Handbook in the Byzantine Tradition

Clark (Greek and Roman studies, U. of Victoria, Canada) presents an edition, with facing pages of English translation, of Iatrosophion by Cretan healer Nikolaos Konstantinos Theodorakis. The text was written by hand in 1930, but contains medical traditions that go far back into Byzantine and Greco-Roman times. The language is a jumble of vernacular and ecclesiastical Greek and Cretan dialect, with words imported from Turksin and Italian, she says. The volume not only preserves ancient lore, but also demonstrates the manner in which such information has been handed down the centuries under varying, often harsh, conditions by way of copying manuscript rather than printing. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Patricia Ann Clark is Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Greek and Roman Studies, University of Victoria, Canada