Greek-Arabic traditions

Image by: Maarten Jurriaanse

Dr. Stephen Fulder is an expert on herbs and herbal traditions, and here's a short extract of an article he's written about Greek-Arabic remedies.

The Greek-Arabic tradition is still a major healthcare resource for millions of People. From Pakistan to Morocco, many therapists practice it in an informal manner alongside conventional Western medicine.

Between the 8th to the 13th century, the Arabic kingdoms became the Western world’s great center of learning and discovery. During this era, the Greek and Roman texts and knowledge, as well as those of Ayurveda and other herbal systems, were translated, incorporated, and hugely extended.

The knowledge of herbal remedies was rational and vast. The pharmacopeia contained 1200 natural remedies which were formulated and prescribed after differential diagnosis and according to a range of theories. In addition; hospitals, libraries and pharmacies were established, chemistry was applied to the processing of remedies, and pharmacy became an independent discipline. The approach was always rational, experimental and exploratory, without the obsessive control by religious clergy that restricted healthcare in Europe at the time.

In fact, it was only in the 10th century that the teachings of the Arab physicians began to slowly filter into Europe, and 400 years after pharmacy became a distinct profession in Persia, it became so in Europe. At that time there was great enthusiasm in European apothecaries for the discovery of new remedies from the Arabs, and Arab herbal pharmacy was the source of European professional herbal therapeutics.

Fortunately, as with the Chinese and Indian tradition, the Arab physicians wrote everything down and much of this material can be found in homes and in libraries throughout the Arab world.

Most of Sprunk-Jansen’s products are rooted on the theories and herbs of the Greek-Arabic tradition.