Flora, fauna, and famine in thirteenth-century Egypt A Physician on
the Nile begins as a description of everyday life in Egypt at the
turn of the seventh/thirteenth century, before becoming a harrowing
account of famine and pestilence. Written by the polymath and
physician ʿAbd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī, and intended for the
Abbasid caliph al-Nāṣir, the first part of the book offers
detailed descriptions of Egypt’s geography, plants, animals, and
local cuisine, including a recipe for a giant picnic pie made with
three entire roast lambs and dozens of chickens. ʿAbd
al-Laṭīf’s text is also a pioneering work of ancient
Egyptology, with detailed observations of Pharaonic monuments,
sculptures, and mummies. An early and ardent champion of
archaeological conservation, ʿAbd al-Laṭīf condemns the
vandalism wrought by tomb-robbers and notes with distaste that
Egyptian grocers price their goods with labels written on recycled
mummy-wrappings. The book’s second half relates his horrific
eyewitness account of the great famine that afflicted Egypt in the
years 597–598/1200–1202. ʿAbd al-Laṭīf was a keen observer
of humanity, and he offers vivid first-hand depictions of
starvation, cannibalism, and a society in moral free-fall. A
Physician on the Nile contains great diversity in a small compass,
distinguished by the acute, humane, and ever-curious mind of its
author. It is rare to be able to hear the voice of such a man
responding so directly to novelty, beauty, and tragedy. An
English-only edition.
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