Moshe ben Maimon, or Abu 'Imran Musa ibn 'Ubayd Allah, better known as Moses Maimonides, is among the most celebrated rabbis in the history of Judaism and the author of works on many subjects.
His writings include influential philosophical and medical treatises in Arabic and two of the most important works on Jewish law. He is perhaps best known for his effort to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with biblical teaching. Born in 1138 in Córdoba, Spain, Maimonides eventually settled in Egypt, where he practiced medicine. He died in 1204
On Asthma, designed for the needs of an unidentified high-ranking patient, is in fact a complete regimen of health. In true Galenic fashion, Maimonides stresses that a healthy lifestyle is the most important preventive measure against chronic illnesses such as asthma. He advises the patient to pay close attention to the types of food ingested and describes good and bad foods in detail, including many recipes for beneficial dishes and drugs.
On Asthma, Volume 2 supplements the first volume by providing critical editions of all three surviving Hebrew translations of Maimonides' work. The volume also contains critical editions of Maimonides' treatise, one probably made by Giovanni da Capua at Rome c. 1300 and the other begun by Armengaud Blaine in Montpellier in 1294 but completed eight years later.
It concludes with a section of addenda and corrigenda to the first volume.
The Medical Works of Moses Maimonides is a series edited by Gerrit Bos of the University of Cologne and published under the auspices of the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative at Brigham Young University's Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.
