New Voices Talk Series 2025: Women’s Ideas in the History of Medicine

About the Series

The New Voices Talk Series is organized by Dr. Jil Muller, Deputy Director of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, and Dr. Fabrizio Bigotti, Director of the Center for the Study of Medicine and the Body in the Renaissance. The aim of the series is to highlight the essential yet often overlooked role of women in the history of medicine.

Anna Gili – 2 April, 4-6pm

Al-Maǧūsī, a Zoroastrian physician from the Fārs province, composed his Kitāb al-malakīduring the second half of the tenth century. This medical encyclopaedia in ten books which aims to synthesizes and systematizes all earlier medical knowledge into a unified whole also devotes great attention to women health issues. Al-Maǧūsī’s analysis encompasses topics such as foetal formation, growth, and female anatomy along gynaecological diseases, the diet of pregnant women and the role of midwifes, while also examining cures for gynaecologicalailments and specific surgical operations.

Based on the assumption that the Kitāb al-malakī should be studied as an organic treatise, my talk will present an overview of how and why reproduction, maternity, and fertility were considered relevant in the tenth century. I will also be assessing to what extent the Kitāb al-malakī relies on earlier sources and which innovations are contributed by al- Maǧūsī himself.

About the Speaker…

Anna Gili is a PhD student in Latin and Arabic philology at the University of Padua and the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (cotutelle de thèse). Her main research interest is the transmission of medical knowledge from Greek into Arabic and from Arabic into Latin during the Middle Ages. Her PhD project aims to critically edit and study the books on pathology in the medical encyclopaedia al-Kitāb al-Malakī, composed by ʿAlī ibn al-ʿAbbāsal-Maǧūsī (10th c.) and in its two Latin translations, namely the Pantegni by Constantine the African and the Liber regalis by Stephen of Antioch.

Participation and Registration

The event will be held online and is free of charge for all interested participants. To receive the Zoom link, registration is required: Register here.

Don’t miss this exciting event—join us as we explore the fascinating history of women’s medical knowledge!