The Syriac Galen Palimpsest: Galen's On Simple Drugs and the Recovery of Lost Texts through Sophisticated Imaging Techniques.

希腊-阿拉伯语翻译运动已经得到了很好的研究，但叙利亚语，这两种语言之间的重要联系，往往被忽视。这部分是由于缺少现存的叙利亚文本。其中一篇是六世纪盖伦的《论简单药物》的翻译，作者是雷什艾纳的塞尔吉乌斯（Sergius of Resh 'Ayna），它存在于一本11世纪的礼拜仪式作品的底层，被称为叙利亚盖伦重写本。这个重写本可能包含了塞尔吉乌斯的全部翻译，但它的大部分仍然是不可读的。现在，Peter E. Pormann教授、Siam Bhayro博士和Bill Sellers博士（与其他同事合作）利用开创性的语言学和成像技术，开始破译手稿的底层文字，并确定重写本包含了《简单药物》第2、4、6、8和9卷的部分内容——如果不是全部的话。这是一个重要的发现，具有巨大的研究潜力，因为到目前为止，唯一已知的盖伦的叙利亚语翻译是《简单药物》的第6-8卷，包含在大英图书馆的手稿中。此外，叙利亚盖伦重写本也可能包含迄今为止未知的全新文本，只有通过对该文件的系统研究才能发现。盖伦是古代主要的医学作家，他的体系在欧洲一直盛行到近代早期。叙利亚语在保存和传播盖伦传统中的作用已经被讨论过，但其真正意义的程度还没有得到适当的确定，因为叙利亚语的来源仍然大部分未发表。我们建议对这份手稿进行首次转录、翻译和分析，初步研究表明，这可能是迄今发现的最重要的叙利亚医学手稿。为了做到这一点，我们将开发成像工具，使我们能够获得最佳的底文读数。这些工具将在知识共享许可下提供，这意味着任何希望在其他重写本上工作的个人或机构都可以免费这样做。人们认为，揭示医学史上这一关键阶段也将引起人们对使这些文本得以传播和改进的多元文化主义和宗教间话语的注意。

The Graeco-Arabic translation movement has been well studied, but Syriac, the vital connection between these two languages, is often ignored. This is partly the result of a lack of surviving Syriac texts. One such text, a sixth-century translation of Galen's On Simple Drugs by Sergius of Resh 'Ayna, exists in the undertext of an eleventh-century liturgical work, known as the Syriac Galen Palimpsest. This palimpsest potentially contains the whole of Sergius' translation, but it has remained for the most part unreadable. Now, using pioneering philological and imaging techniques, Professor Peter E. Pormann and Drs Siam Bhayro and Bill Sellers (in collaboration with other colleagues) have begun to decipher the undertext, and have determined that the palimpsest contains parts - if not all - of books 2, 4, 6, 8, and 9 of On Simple Drugs. This is an important discovery, with great research potential, since until now, the only known surviving Syriac translations of Galen were books 6-8 of On Simple Drugs, contained in a manuscript in the British Library. Furthermore, the Syriac Galen Palimpsest could also contain entirely new text, hitherto unknown, which will only come to light through systematic study of this document. Galen was the dominant medical writer in antiquity, and his system prevailed in Europe until the early modern period. The role of Syriac in the preservation and transmission of Galenic traditions has been discussed, but the true extent of its significance has not been properly ascertained, on account of the Syriac sources remaining largely unpublished. We are proposing to produce the first transcription, translation and analysis of this manuscript, which, initial studies suggest, may be the most significant Syriac medical manuscript thus far discovered. In order to do this, we will develop imaging tools that will allow us to obtain optimum readings of the undertext. These tools will be made available under a Creative Commons license, meaning that any individual or institution wishing to work on other palimpsests will be able to do so at no cost. It is believed that shedding light on this critical stage in medical history will also draw attention to the multiculturalism and inter-faith discourse that made the transmission and improvement of such texts possible.