Background
Pietro d'Abano was born circa 1257 in the Italian town from which he takes his name, now Abano Terme.
Pietro d'Abano, also known as Petrus de Apono, Petrus Aponensis or Peter of Abano
Sorbonne University, Paris, France
Sorbonne University, Paris, France
Located in the Latin Quarter, the Sorbonne University is one of the most famous and historic buildings of the area.
Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD, University of Padua, Italy
University of Padua, Italy
University of Padua, Italy
University of Padua, Italy Founded in 1222
Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD, University of Padua, Italy
University of Padua, Italy
University of Padua, Italy
University of Padua, Italy Founded in 1222
Generic portrait of Petrus de abano conciliator, woodcut from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493.
Sorbonne University, Paris, France
Sorbonne University, Paris, France
Located in the Latin Quarter, the Sorbonne University is one of the most famous and historic buildings of the area.
Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra, poet, grammarian, Neoplatonic philosopher, and astronomer, best known as a biblical exegete whose commentaries contributed to the Golden Age of Spanish Judaism.
(Napoli, 2009; br., pp. 288, cm 14x22.(Incipit. 4). Nell'i...)
Napoli, 2009; br., pp. 288, cm 14x22.(Incipit. 4). Nell'intera opera di Pietro d'Abano si realizza il primo organico congiungimento di astrologia e medicina, e dunque la rivalutazione di quelle scienze profane che vengono utilizzate non più in senso esemplificativo e allegorico, ma proprio come tipo di procedimento razionale e sperimentale. L'autore, a partire da tale prospettiva, individua il senso complessivo della fondazione epistemologica della scientia astrorum in Pietro d'Abano. Congedandosi dai diversi topoi che ancora, per certi aspetti, attraversano gli studi medievali, soprattutto nell'ambito della philosophia naturalis, l'autore ci presenta un Pietro d'Abano dotato di una precisa identità concettuale, di genesi sostanzialmente aristotelica, ma altrettanto consonante con la teoria avicenniana della scienza prima e dei suoi rapporti con le scienze particolari, matematiche e fisiche, profondamente diversa dal quadro epistemologico ed ontologico delle scienze teoretiche e pratiche di Aristotele.
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(Pietro d'Abano qui naquit en 1250 fut contemporain de la ...)
Pietro d'Abano qui naquit en 1250 fut contemporain de la création des grandes universités européennes où il enseigna et rencontra les plus grands savants de son époque. Il fut l'ami de Marco Polo, de Giotto et de Dante. Il se passionna pour l'astronomie et l'astrologie. Il eut une approche très moderne de certains aspects de la médecine. La publication d'un ouvrage remettant en question certains dogmes de l'Église, l'exposera aux foudres de l'Inquisition, ce qui le conduira à la mort à l'issue d'un ultime procès.
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(Facsímil de una versión ilustrada por el artista e histor...)
Facsímil de una versión ilustrada por el artista e historiador Fernando Figueroa del "Heptameron" de Pietro d'Abano, a la que se añade una breve introducción histórica. Un texto clásico de la Magia medieval, vinculado al ciclo salomónico.
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(The commentary of the Italian physician and philosopher P...)
The commentary of the Italian physician and philosopher Pietro d'Abano on Bartholomew of Messina's Latin translation of Pseudo-Aristotle's 'Problemata Physica', published in 1310, constitutes an important historical source. In a section of the corpus Aristotelicum that was not part of the standard curriculum at the medieval university, the commentary of Pietro d'Abano investigates the complex relationship between text, translation, and commentary. The eight articles in this volume provide valuable insights into the manner in which Pietro d'Abano deals with the problems of a translated text. They emphasize the idiosyncrasy of his approach in comparison to his contemporaries and successors, the particularities of his commentary in light of the habitual exegetical practices applied in the teaching of curricular texts, as well as the influence of philosophical traditions outside the strict framework of the medieval arts faculty.
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(Excerpt from Clarissimi Celeberrimique Olim Philosophi Et...)
Excerpt from Clarissimi Celeberrimique Olim Philosophi Et Medici, Petri De Abano, De Venenis, Atque Eorundem Commodis Remediis, Liber Plane Aureus: Per Ioannem Dryandrum Medicum, Pristino Suo Nitori Restitutus Dc diuifione uenenorum Caput I De quog; umano in [pedali caput Ad fciendù: fecundam quem modum amena: in. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books.
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philosopher physician alchemist astrologer
Pietro d'Abano was born circa 1257 in the Italian town from which he takes his name, now Abano Terme.
Around 1270 and 1290, in order to expand his horizons of knowledge, Abano decided to travel to Greece. Becoming a master of the Greek language, he studied the works of Hippocrates, Aristotle and Pythagoras and became impressed by their methodological work in medicine and their philosophical approach.
Pietro continued his journey to Constantinople where he was taught by Byzantine scholars the scientific works of eminent physicians as Orivasios, Alexandros of Tralles and Paul of Aegina. During that period he learned Arabian and became fascinated by the doctrines of Avicenna and Averroes.
From Constantinople he went to Paris where he received medical training at the University and was promoted into the highest levels of scholarly debate, embracing the natural philosophy of Aristotle and Aristotle’s interpreters. In Paris, he was known as “the Great Lombard”.
In 1306 Pietro d'Abano returned in Italy and became Professor of medicine at Padua University. His teaching and fame contributed greatly to the steadily increasing reputation of Padua as centre of medical study during the later centuries. Although he was acquitted during his lifetime of the charge of heresy—of which he had been accused because of his attempt to interpret the birth and ministry of Christ as other than miraculous—his reputation as a sorcerer persisted.
In Padua, he soon gained a reputation as a great physician, charging his patients exorbitant fees. This, plus his interest in astrology, may have led to his being charged with practicing magic. One of his best known works, Conciliator differentiarum quae inter philosophos et medicos versantur, promoted the use of astrology to enhance the effectiveness of medical treatments, and suggested natural explanations for some of the miracles in the Bible, particularly the resurrection of the dead. He was brought to trial twice by the Inquisition; he was accused of bringing back into his purse, by the aid of the devil, all the money he paid away, and that he possessed the philosopher's stone. On the first occasion he was acquitted, and he died in 1315, before the second trial was completed. At the second trial he was found guilty, and his body was ordered to be exhumed and burned. However, a friend had secretly removed it, and the Inquisition had therefore to content itself with the public proclamation of its sentence and the burning of Abano in effigy.
Some forty years after his death his writings were again put on trial; they were found to be heretical, and his bodily remains were disinterred and burned.
Pietro d’Abano is considered to be one of the earliest European scholars to lay the foundations for the modern scientific method. Abano’s synthesis of medicine and philosophy extended to the methodologies of Greek and Arabic disciplines contributing furthermore to the development of science and the rise of university teaching during the middle ages. D’Abano achieved a remarkable knowledge of human anatomy for his time. Based on his observations he affirmed, in opposition to the authority of Aristotle (who thought the nerves originated in the heart) that the center of all sensation and motion resides in the brain. Also, toiling as a translator and scholar, he translated and commented in Latin the doctrines of Greek and Arab physicians and philosophers having an ambitious attempt, to reconcile the opposing views of Arab medicine and Greek natural philosophy. Moreover he was one of the first to claim, three centuries before Harvey, that the heart is the source of blood vessels.
His best known works are the Conciliator differentiarum quae inter philosophos et medicos versantur (Mantua, 1472; Venice, 1476) and a book on poisons, De venenis eorumque remediis (1472). Another work, Lucidator dubitabilium astronomiae, attempted to reconcile the views of the Ptolemaics with the Aristotelians, who rejected epicycles and eccentrics, and included two shorter treatises, De motu octavae sphaerae and e Imaginibus, or Astrolabium.
(Excerpt from Clarissimi Celeberrimique Olim Philosophi Et...)
(The commentary of the Italian physician and philosopher P...)
(Pietro d'Abano qui naquit en 1250 fut contemporain de la ...)
(Facsímil de una versión ilustrada por el artista e histor...)
(Napoli, 2009; br., pp. 288, cm 14x22.(Incipit. 4). Nell'i...)
( )
Pietro d'Abano believed that a good physician must also be a philosopher, an alchemist, and an astrologer in order to understand all aspects of medical treatment, but his points of view didn`t reconcile with the views of the Church. His interest in astrology, caused him to be brought to trial twice by the Inquisition. On the first occasion he was acquitted; on the second, he was found guilty and accused in heresy.
D'Abano developed an Aristotelian cosmology which depicted humans as an integral part of a unified, harmonized whole, governed by the celestial spheres, in which there was almost no place for Divine Providence or free will. He also used Aristotelian logic to support the radical view that the death of Christ, and his subsequent resurrection, were only apparent.
In his Conciliator, d’Abano undertook a superb synthetic program: the reconciliation of medicine with philosophy. In this he states 120 questions that give rise to as many controversies between physicians and philosophers. For their solution he adopts the method of didactic demonstration that is characteristic of the period, yet on the whole there are signs of a new intention and a new uncertainty.
The practice of medicine implies the necessity of resolving every problem in a natural manner. D’Abano maintained more or less that “the art of medicine must not consider only things that can be seen and felt.” Hence he possessed a good knowledge of anatomy; he affirmed, in opposition to the authority of Aristotle (who thought the nerves originated in the heart) that the center of all sensation and motion resides in the brain. His notions of the central nervous system are probably derived from direct visualization. According to d’Abano, the doctor is the symbol of the zealous servant and the collaborator of nature. Considerable importance is attached to the relationship of trust that exists between the doctor and the patient. A good reputation is more useful to the doctor than rare drugs.
These concepts, as d’Abano developed them in his work, have considerable importance. The doctor must be free in his reasoning and must have no ties with scholastic authorities. Such ideas imply a revolt against established and wearisome tradition: they prepare for a rupture with the past and indicate a new path for scientific progress. D’Abano’s voice was one of those that, at the dawn of humanism, announced the beginning of a scientific revival.
The Paduan master acknowledged the dependence of every living being and of earthly events on planetary influences. The Conciliator gives an outline of astrology as a two-part science comprising one that deals with the laws of celestial movements (astronomy) and another, more important, that draws from these laws the judgments and predictions concerning the effects of those motions on our world - on all human events, on human conception, and even on religion.
D’Abano’s voice was one of those that, at the dawn of humanism, announced the beginning of a scientific revival. The Paduan master acknowledged the dependence of every living being and of earthly events on planetary influences.
The Conciliator gives an outline of astrology as a two-part science comprising one that deals with the laws of celestial movements (astronomy) and another, more important, that draws from these laws the judgements and predictions concerning the effects of those motions on our world on all human events, on human conception, and even on religion.
D’Abano has been considered by such scholars as Ferrari and Troilo as the initiator of Latin Averroism in Italy. Others - Thorndike, Nardi, and Giacon - have maintained that d’Abano’s thought bears no trace of Averroistic theses - above all, that dealing with the unity of the intellect, either as an agent or as a possibility.
Abano’s propensity for collecting, organizing and systematizing all the knowledge in a particular field characterized all of his work. He developed a complex classification of pain into fifteen different types, according to the description provided by a patient: Throbbing, dull, stabbing, distending, pressing, vibrating or shaking, piercing, gnawing, nailing, crushing, grappling, freezing, itching, harsh, or loose. His views on perception and the senses of smell and vision influenced John of Jandun.
Abano considered the systematic study of alchemy and astrology essential to the study of medicine; alchemy in order to learn how to compound medicines, and astrology in order to determine the most auspicious moment to administer treatments and cures, and the optimal times to gather medicinal herbs. He believed that astrology influenced the cosmos and human life, the transformation of natural elements, and the course of individual human lives. He also recommended the use of incantations to strengthen the healing properties of medicines. Abano considered the astrological sign of the scorpion to be of particular importance to physicians, in dealing with the health of the human body and the manipulation of poisons and conferring success on their efforts.
Abano also emphasized physiognomy, the concept that various diseases and organic malfunctions were manifested in the external appearance of a patient, and wrote a number of aphorisms to be followed when making a diagnosis. For example, smooth and supple flesh over the lower back was said to indicate healthy kidneys. A large belly (venter), he said, denotes a lustful person with large appetites, and he praised Albertus Magnus’s addition that he who has a large belly is careless (indiscretus), stupid (stolidus), vain (superbus), and lustful.
Quotes from others about the person
According to Naude: "The general opinion of almost all authors is, that he was the greatest magician of his time; that by means of seven spirits, familiar, which he kept inclosed in chrystal, he had acquired the knowledge of the seven liberal arts, and that he had the art of causing the money he had made use of to return again into his pocket. He was accused of magic in the eightieth year of his age, and that dying in the year 1305, before his trial was over, he was condemned (as Castellan reports) to the fire; and that a bundle of straw, or osier, representing his person, was publicly burnt at Padua; that by so rigorous an example, and by the fear of incurring a like penalty, they might suppress the reading of three books which he had composed on this subject: the first of which is the noted Heptameron, or Magical Elements of Peter de Abano, Philosopher, now extant, and printed at the end of Agrippa's works; the second, that which Trithemius calls Elucidarium Necromanticum Petri de Abano; and a third, called by the same author Liber experimentorum mirabilium de Annulis secundem, 28 Mansiom Lunæ."
To quote Barrett: "His body, being privately taken out of his grave by his friends, escaped the vigilance of the Inquisitors, who would have condemned it to be burnt. He was removed from place to place, and at last deposited in St. Augustin's Church, without epitaph, or any other mark of honor. His accusers ascribed inconsistent opinions to him; they charged him with being a magician, and yet with denying the existence of spirits. He had such an antipathy to milk, that seeing anyone take it made him vomit. He died about the year 1316 in the sixty-sixth year of his age."
