İBN SINA (AVICENNA) IN THE LIGHT

RECENT RESEARCHES

ARSLAN TERZİOĞLU*

Born in Afshena near Bukhara in 980, Abû A li al-Husayn ib n A b­

dullah ibn Sînâ was the personal blend of the qualities im m anent to a physi-
cian, philosopher, chemist, pharm acist, astronom er, poet and a statesman
and, as a unique figüre and a renow ned m an of Islamic culture, he had
a rem arkable influence upon not only ali the Islamic countries from
Türkistan up to Andalusia; but also the whole m edicine in Europe six hun-
d red years long until the 17th century in as m uch as not to be shared mor-
tally. Know u n d e r the Latin form of his nam e as Avicenna in Europe, he
was an exceptional physician overshadowing the deeds of Hippocrates and
Galenos, by his m asterpiece, al-Kanunj î ’t-Tıbb (Qanun) which was translated
into Latin in Toledo a century after his death.1 He had a great fame in
the Islamic world. At the beginning of the 14th century in some chapters
of Menakib-i Arifin by A hm ed Eflâkî, together with Mevlânâ Celâleddin
Rûm î, he was praised and qualified by features becom ing nearly to a
p ro p h et2. If it had not been very well known that there would have never
been a p ro p h et anym ore succeeding Hz. M uham m ad; and he was com-
p ared to Mevlânâ C elâleddin Rûm î and Bedreddin-i Tebrizî as an esteem-
ed thinker of the Islamic realm .3 Since it is known that he famous muslim
physicians, ib n an-Nafis and Hacı Pasha were m entioned as the “Avicen-
na”s of th eir ages, he was apparently regarded as a grand authority of
m edicine in İslam.

* Prof. Dr., C hairm an at the H istory of M edicine an d Deontology D epartm ent of the
İstanbul Faculty of Medicine.
1 See C arra de Vaux: Avicenne, Paris 1900, p. 131; Casiri: Biblioteca Arabico-Hispana,
Vol. 1, M adrid 1760, p. 263; W üstenfeld, Ferdinand, Geschichte der Arabischen Arzte und Natur-
forscher, G öttingen 1840, p. 64-75; Sarton, George, Introduction to the History of Science, Vol. 1,
Baltimore (1927), p. 709 ff; Ullman, Manfred, Die Medizin im. Islâm, Leiden-Köln 1970, p. 152-156;
Terzioğlu, A rslan, ibn Sînâ ve Tababet, rep rin te d off Vademecum, İstanbul 1982, p. 1-20.
2 A hm ed Eflâkî, Ariflerin Menkıbeleri (Manakib al-Ârifin), translated by Tahsin Yazıcı, Vol.
1, İstanbul 1973, p. 452.
3 A hm ed Eflâkî, ibid, Vol. 1, p. 374.
424 ARSLAN TERZİOC.LU

A century after ibn Sînâ, the physician Nidhâmi-i A rûdi of Semerkand

(d. 1147) who lived in the era of G rand Seljuki em perors M elikshah and
Sencer, writes about Avicenna in his Chahâr Maqala as follows:
If Hippocrates and Galenos had been alive, they should have bowed
the Qanun of Avicenna in great reverance”.4
In the Islamic world, always called as the Sheikü’r-Reis (Chief of ali
Masters), Avicenna has always been depicted as the sovereign of ali scien­
tists, and figured ali the tim e with a crown upon his head (Figüre 1).
Even in a deep Catholic ruled Venice, the renowned painter Giorgione
philosophers of the world in his painting “The Three Philolosophers” in
1525 and noted his name “Avicenna” down at the skirts of his dress.5 The
physician Nidhâmi-i Arûdi of Semerkand (d. 1147) has spared a big part
physician N idhâm ii A rûdi of Sem erkand (d. 1147) has spared a big p art
for Avicenna and his work Qanun in his Chahâr Maqala; ibn an-Nafis and
his student ibn al-Quff, who both educated in N ureddin Hospital in
Damascus (founded by Seljuki ru le r N ureddin Zengî in 1154), have writ-
ten comm entaries of Qanun and thus expounded the pulm onary blood cir-
culation and postulated the capiUary system; ibn Abi Usaibia, also educated
at the afore-m entioned N ureddin Hospital, has included in his Tabaqat al-
Atibbâ the biography of Avicenna dictated by his own student al-Juzjanî
and the list of his works. These are the facts dem onstrating that studies
of Avicenna have begun and always been regarded im portant ever since
the Seljuki period.6 In the heyday of the O ttom an Empire, Marcus Fadalla,
the dragom an for the Venetian m erchants, has translated the biography
from Arabic language into Italian vvhich was dictated by Avicenna him self
and w ritten down by his student al-Juzjanî; this text has again been
translated into Latin by Nicolaus Massa. It is quite interesting to observe
in the famous encyclopedia of Zedler (published in Germ any in 1732) the
afore-m entioned inform ation was dealt with and added that Avicenna’s

4 See N idhâm i-i A rûdi, Tıb İlmi ve Meşhur Hekimlerin Mahâreti, translated by Abdülbâkî
G ölpınarlı, pub. by Sühely Unver, İstanbul 1936, p. 17.
s T his pain tin g is 121x141 cm in size a n d available at K unsthistorisches Museum in Vi-
enna. See Volpe, Carlo, Giorgione, (Milan 1976-1977), p. 6, Table XI.
6 For Avicenna’s own biograp hy, dictated by al-Juzjanî, see ib n Abi Usâibia, ‘Uyûn al-
Anbâ f i Tabaqat al-Atibbâ, ed. August Müller, Bd. 2, C airo 1882-1884, p. 2-9; ib n al-Qiftî, Ta’rih
al-Hukamâ, ed. Julius L ippert, Leipzig 1903, p. 413-426; G ohlm an, W.E., The Life of ibn Sînâ,
a critical edition an d annotated translation, New York 1974, p. 16-113.
 İBN SINA IN TH E LIGT RECENT RESEARCHES 425

p arents had been from Belkh, an Uzbek region, a n d thus, Avicenna, who
were bo rn in an Uzbek territory, m ust have been an Uzbek Turk.7
The tim e when the O ttom an Turks reigned, Avicenna has had a great
influence upon the Turkish m edicine, and his life story together with his
works have frequently been referred and treated by Turkish scholars. For
instance, in the Osmanlı Müellifleri (O ttom an authors), Bursalı M ehm ed
Tahir writes as follows: According to the fam ous poet and court physician
of Süleyman Çelebi, ‘A hm edî narrates th at Avicenna translated his fam o­
us two books, Qanun and Shifa into Turkish in Verse”.8 But these Turkish
translations of Qanurı and Shifa have never been found yet. If these texts
are found some day it will be a very valuable possession for the History
of Medicine as it would be older that the Turkish translation done by Tokatlı
Mustafa A hm ed bin Hüseyin Effendi in 1765.
D uring the reign of Sultan Selim I, the biography of Avicenna writ-
ten by A hm ed bin Ali Zümbülî was published in Kanun üd-Dünya by al-
M ahallî9; later a book on Avicenna by Husayn M ehdî was presented to
Sultan M urad III (1546-1593); Gencine-i Hikmet w ritten by Ziyaeddin Yahya,
the work of Giritli Aziz Efendi in 1847 (1263 H. another one by Abdülkerim
in 1863 (1297) H.), a book p rep a re d by Ebüzziya Tevfik in 1884; some
booklets concerning Avicenna by Maraşlı Kâmil in 1891 (1307 H.); ali of
them display that the life an d works of Avicenna kept on being studied
in the O ttom an Turkey until the end of the 19th century.10 W hen he lived
in Paris and in London, Ali Suavi published a newspaper called Ulûm (1869)
and then dealing with the Turkish nationality of Avicenna in his articles,
he em phasized that Avicenna m eant a H ippocrates or an Aristoteles for
the Turks. In the introduction of Miftah ül-Emraz (1895)written by Colonel
Dr. M ehm ed Şakir İbrahim (the chief physician’s deputy at H aydarpaşa
Hospital), Avicenna has been stated as a Turkish physician.11
By the order of Kemal Atatürk, the great founder of Turkish Republic
and the Turkish C ultural Renaissance, in com m em oration of the 900th

7 See Zedler, Jo h an n H ein rich , Grosses volstârıdiges \Jniversal-Lexicon, 2, Bd. H alle und
Leibzig 1732, Sp. 1197119a
* Bursalı M ehm ed Tahir, Osmanlı Müellifleri, Vol. 2, İstanbul 1972, p. 11.
9 A hm ed N ur al-Din ‘Ali ibn Zumbul al-Mahallî, Kanûn f i al-Dünya, Revan Library of
the Seraglio, No: 1638.
10 See Terzioğlu, A rslan, Zur Avicenna (ibn Sînâ), Forscfıung in der lurkei, XXVII Congreso
Internacional de H istoria de la M edicina, 31 Agusto-6 Septiem bre 1980, Actas, Vol. II, Bar-
celona 1981, p. 751; Ünver, Süheyl, İbn Sînâ, İstanbul 1955, p. 67, footnote 2.
11 Ünver, Süheyl, “İbn Sînâ (Ali Suavi’ye göre)”, Türk Tıp Tarihi Arkivi, 8 (1938), p. 116-118;
Ünver, Süheyl, İbn Sînâ, Hayatı ve Eserleri Hakkında Çalışmalar, İstanbul 1955, p. 102-103.
426 ARSLAN TERZİOĞLU

anniversary of Avicenna’s death, a congress was organized in İstanbul

University on Ju n e 21st 1937 in accom panim ent with the famous Turkish
professors Dr. Şem settin Günaltay (the P resident for the Association, of
Turkish History, then), Dr. Akil M uhtar Ö zden, Dr. Neşet Ö m er İrdelp,
Dr. Süheyl Ünver, Dr. Fahrettin Kerim Gökay and Dr. Sadi Irm ak, and this
congress has given the Turkish studies on Avicenna a novel im petuous in
Turkey. T he papers delivered at this Congress were published by the
Association of Turkish H istory12 and, having been one of the most impor-
tant reference books on the subject so far, this book has given the scien-
tific researches on Avicenna two m ain directions:
1. Study of scientific, philosophical, literary works of Avicenna and
their translation into Turkish.
2. Scientific researches upon the Turkish nationality of Avicenna. Here
it is an owe to com m em orate respectfully O rd. Prof. Süheyl Ünver, Prof.
Dr. Şerafettin Yaltkaya, Prof. Dr. Hilm i Ziya Ülken and Prof. Dr. A hm ed
Ateş because of th eir estim able efforts on the subject.
We are also thankful to Prof. Şem settin Günaltay, Prof. Dr. Süheyl
Ünver, Kilisli Rıfat Bilge and Prof. Dr. Şevket Aziz Kansu (passed away
a short tim e ago) for th eir valuable contributions dem onstrating Avicen­
na’s Turkish nationality.
In the afore-m entioned book of papers delivered at the Congress for
the 900th anniversary of Avicenna, concerning Avicenna’s nationality,
about the origin of the nam e “Sînâ” many evidences have been m ention-
ed in a study done by Prof. Dr. Şem settin Günaltay: “Sînâ” which was the
nam e of Avicenna’s g ran d fath er’s grandfather does not exist in Persian
language by reason that there is no phonetical stem com posed of “S”, “Y”
and “N”, while the Turkish language contains lots of words deriving both
of “Sin”, “Sın”. This is a gram m atical fact that A bu’l-Kasım Kâşânî men-
tions “Sînâ” am ong the Turkish nam es in his work, Tarih-i Olcayto Sultan,
and the nam e “Jaya Sînâ is known as a title for the dignitary in Uygur
language.13 But the Japanese Medical historian Sakae Miki asserts14 that
the nam e “ibn Sînâ” m eans “the son of C hina” and thus he should be of

12 See Büyük Türk Filozof ve Tıb Üstadı İbn-i Sînâ, Şahsiyeti ve Eserleri Hakkında Tetkikler, pub.
by the Association of Turkish History, VII serial, no: 1, İstanbul 1937, p. 18-19.
13 See Günaltay, Şemseddin, “İbn-i Sînâ, Milliyeti, Hayatı”, Büyük Turk Filozofu ve Tıb Üstadı
İbn-i Sînâ, pub. by the Association of Turkish History, Serial VII, no: 1, İstanbul 1987, p. 18-19.
14 Miki, Sakae, What is Medicine? Medicine is common to the east and the west. What is the His­
tory of Medicine?, Osaka 1976, p. 47
 İBN SÎNÂ IN TH E LIGT RECENT RESEARCHES 427

Chinese origin basing on them claims that the chapters concerning “pulse”,
resembles the Chinese treatm ent m ethod of pulsation and, also, the Arabic
word for C hina is “Sin-as-Sin” ; yet these are illogical and inconvincing
claims com pared with the sound evidences presented by Şem settin
Günaltay.
Additionally, in a m anuscript at the Ali Emirî collection (No: 685, Sheet
219), a Turkish poem of ib n Sînâ found by Kilisli Rıfat is considerably im ­
p o rta n t in regard with the subject (Figüre 2).
A nother Turkish-Islamic scholar al-Bîrûnî, contem porary with ibn
Sînâ, states in the introduction of his pharm aceutical book Kitab as-Saydala
th at he has learn t Arab and Persian, since the Turkish was not a language
of science at that time, and this fact explains the reason why Avicenna wrote
his m edical works in Arabic and Persian languages instead of Turkish.15
Actually the first book, including the passages on m edicine as well, in
Turkish language was Kutadgu Bilig w ritten by Yusuf Has Hâcib in
1069-1070, succeding the death of both ibn Sînâ and Bîrûnî.
W hat should be stated at once here is the fact that G erm an linguist
and physician Otto Alberts tries to prove in one of his studies (published
in 1901) that Yusuf Has Hâcib, who had lived in Türkistan and K hurâsân
like this great scholar, should have been a student o f Avicenna’s, having
been twenty years old when he died.16 As a m atter of fact Turkish has been
a language for scientific texts just after Avicenna died, the time when Yusuf
Has Hâcib was a grown up.
The effects of Avicenna on his student (Yusuf Has Hâcib) is quite evi-
d ent as it was reflected in Kutadgu Bilig, the fact of which has been made
em inently clear by the G erm an scholar O tto Alberts. ib n Sînâ had been
quite influenced by his master, the great Turkish philosopher and physi­
cian al-Fârâbî and, the fact that these effects were in herited by his own
student Yusuf Has Hâcib is crucially im portant for the history of Turkish
Culture. For m agnifying the argum ent, we would like to give the tvvo lines
of Mevlâna C elâleddin R ûm î’s poetry in Persian.
Aslem Türk-est
Eğerçi hin d û gûyem

15 See Al-Bîrûnî, Kitab as-Saidala, the copy of the m an u scrip t at K urşunlu Camii in B ur­
sa, No: 149, sheet: 6a; Togan, Zeki Velidî, Abû’l-Rayhân Muhammed b. Ahmed al-Bîrûnî al-Hwârismî,
İslâm A nsiklopedisi, Vol. 2, İstanbul 1949, p. 636 ff.
16 Alberts, Otto, Der Dichter des in uigurisch-türkischen Dialect geschriebenen Kudatku-Bilik
(1069-70 njchr.) ein Schüler des Avicenna, A rch. Gesch. Phil. NF, Bd. 7 (Berlin 1901), p. 319-336.
428 ARSLAN TLRZİOC.LU

which means:
T hough I write in Persian
I am Turkish in origin
Turkish language has not been m atured enough at that tim e to be utilized
in an artistic or a scientific text, and this was the historical case
necessitating. Avicenna to choose Arabic and Persian, thus it is certain
that this fact can not be used as an evidence for asserting that Avicenna
was not Turkish. Just as A ndreas Vesalius was not Italian although he spent
a greater p a rt of his life at Padua University in Italy and he wrote in Latin
as a requisite of the era; and ju st as A lbert Einstein and Sigm und Freud
were Jewish in origin in spite of the fact th at they drew up th eir crucially
im portant works in G erm an and in English instead of Hebrew.
In view of the recent anthropological studies by Prof. Şevket Aziz Kan-
su concerning the m orphology of Avicenna’s cranium , has also m anifested
th at he belonged to a “Turanî”, that is Turkish race.
In 1969 when Avicenna’s bones, in his tomb at H am adan, were mov-
ed into the newly-built m ausoleum (Figüre 3-4), the photographs taken
by Said Nefisi were sent to Prof. Feridun Nafiz Uzluk, who was the chair-
m an at the History of M edicine D eparm ent in Ankara Faculty of Medicine
(Figüre 5). By giving these pictures to me, Prof. Uzluk sent them to Prof.
Şevket Aziz Kansu, the President at the Institute of Turkish History, then,
in o rd er to make him carry out some anthropological studies. The results
of which he has drudged through long and en d u rin g efforts, were
presented by Prof. Şevket Aziz Kansu in a p aper at the V lIIth Congress
of Turkish History in Ankara in 1976. They can be sum m arized as follows.
1. Basing on the craniological pictures, the anthropological studies
on the cranium of Avicenna dem onstrate that it is com prising ali the
features belonging to a genius and shows that he died at the age of 57.
2. T he anthropological studies of the cranium m anifests that Avicen­
na belonged to Turkish race, ra th e r than Aryan or Semitic races (Persian
or Arabic).17
In Europe, the m edical work Qanun of this great scholar of Bukhara
had been educated as a course book at the universities of France, Central
Europe, Italy, Germ any and H olland up to the 17th century; he was

17 See Kansu, Şevket Aziz, “İbn Sinâ’n ın Başının M orfolojisi Ü zerine Bir Gözlem” (Sur
la M orphologie du crân e d ’Avicenna), Abstract Book of VlIIth Congress for the Turkish History,
Vol. 1, A nkara 1979, p. 26-32.
 İBN SÎNÂ IN THE LIGT RECENT RESEARCH ES 429

qualified and figured as the em peror o f ali physicians (Figüre 1) and

eulogized as greater than H ippocrates an d Galenos; and the circle of
Turkish physicians can not apparently be as p ro u d as of any m eans other
than that Avicenna belongs to Turkish-Islamic culture.
O rganization of a Congress for the 900th A nniversary of Avicenna,
as well as the scientific studies on this scholar triggered by this Congress,
have proved that he has been one of the greatest representatives of the
Turkish-Islamic culture, and thes fact has encouraged us to hold the In ­
ternational Congress for Avicenna at the Faculty of M ecidine of İstanbul
University at the beginning of Ju n e 1980. O n 31 August-7 Septem ber 1980
at the International Congress for the History of M edicine in Barcelona,
the devotion of a special section for Avicenna displays how influential he
has been yet on the scientific circles of E urope.18
O ut of the papers delivered both by Prof. Dr. Petrov and Dr. Yu. A.
Atabekov at the Congress in Barcelona, it has been m ade that studies on
Avicenna in Russia have gained speed since 1956. Before Avicenna’s bones,
in his old tomb at H am adan, were moved into his newly-built m ausoleum ,
the pictures o f them taken by Said Nefisi were given to an o th er Russian
scientist, V.N. Ternovsky (Figüre 6). Since 1956, the anthropological studies
carried out both by Ternovsky and by the other Russian scientists M.M.
Gerasimov, Prof. Dr. Yu. A. Atabekov and Sh. Kh. K ham idullin, have been
evaluated especially by the A ndijan State Medical Institute in Uzbekistan
(Figures 7, 8, 9), and a büst of Avicenna has been erected by the sculptor.
Ye. S. Sokolova (Figüre 9-10). O n this occasion, in the h onour of the
m illenarian b irth anniversary of Avicenna, a book by Yu. A. Atabekov and
sh. Kh. K ham idullin was published in Taksheknt in 1980, entitled as A
Büst of Abu Ali ibn Sînâ, a Scientific Reconstruction of Great Scholar’s Image in
English and Russian, a copy of which was presented to me in Barcelona
by Prof. Yusuf Atabekov with the dedication in Turkish: “A gift to our
respectable frien d Prof. Terzioğlu.”
In this book, the results of M.M. Gerasim ov’s anthropological resear-
ches have been p u t forw ard as follows:

“ibn Sînâ’s cranium is nearest to the Ferghano-Pamir type of the Euro-

pean race in shape, it is gracile and slender in profile. Its biological age

18 See International Avicenna Congress on the Occasion of his lOOOth Birthday, Scientific Sessi-
ons, Program m e and Abstracts, 1-5 Ju n e 1980, p. 82-83; it was published by th e İstanbul Fa­
culty of Medicine, İstanbul 1980, p. 48.
430 ARSLAN T K R /K K 'L U

is about 50 years. T he superciliary p ortion is not well pronounced with

the m iddle p art of the eyebrow throw n up. The forehead is broad with
small projecting tubers and a very small angle of retreat. The orbital cavi-
ty is highly overt with thin pointed up p er b order and relatively pronounc­
ed lower tuber. The nose is of m edial prom inence with a wavy profile of
the nasal bones and rath e r sharply p rom inent crest. The sygomatic bone
is thin, faintly profiled. C oupled with the cited form of the supercliary
root of the nose and orbital cavity, it im parts a hardly perceptitible
M ongolian resem blance. The shape of the eyes and nature of the u p p e r
eyelid should agree with proposition accordingly. The eye m ust be typical
of the Eastern E uropean race, convex and relatively wide-open... Both of
the cited anthropological characteristics of Avicenna’s cranium are similar,
excepting a few divergences in describing the prognathism of the u p p er
jaw and stage of the developm ent of the M ongolian type...”.19
This anthropological identification of the Russian scientists above,
as well as the büst and oil-painting (Figüre 10, 12) realized basing on these
researches, prove that Avicenna belongs to Turkish race. O ne m ust em-
phasize th at the profile and aquiline nose of the scholar, sculptured by
Sokolova, basing on the scientific researches in Russia, show a great
resem blance to the p o rtra it of Sultan M ehm ed II, the C onqueror, painted
by Gentili Bellini, and to the C onqueror’s figüre on the bronze m edal done
by Bertoldo di Giovanni (Figüre 10, 11). As a m atter of fact, basing on the
Avicenna’s craniological photographs, the deductive conclusion, reached
by the anthropological studies (as stated before) by Prof. Dr. Şevket Aziz
Kansu, supports this anthropological identification m uch m ore clearly:
“... Avicenna had the craniological characters of Mid-Asia Turkish com-
m unity in as m uch as that the vertex space between the porion and bregna
was high enough for a Brachcephalic-H ypsicephalic cranium and he had
also L epthorin type of nose (aquiline nose) which prove he had belonged
to the Homo-Alpinus anthropo-racial type o f Mid-Asiatic Turks. It is well
known th at the anthropologically distinguished character of Turkish
ethnics living in Asia-Minor and C entral Asia (which vvas called as “Of-
ficina genturm ”, the laboratory of hum ans, by many anthropologs) per-
tains to Homo A lpinus and partially to Hom o D inaricus hum an type. In
this paper, our anthropological diagnose, reached through the Avicenna’s

19 Atabekof, Yu. A., an d Sh. Kh. K ham idullin, A Büst of Abu Ali ibn Sînâ, a Scientific Re-
construction of the Great Scholar’s image, Tashkent 1980, p. 82-83; Gerasimov, M.M., ibn Sînâ’s
Portrait, Uzbek Academy of Sciences Publishing House, Tashkent 1956, p. 7-11.
 İBN SÎNÂ IN TH E LIGT RECENT RESEARCHES 431

craniom orphological views, clearly dem onstrate the Turkish nationality

of our genius...”.20
Thus, the anthropological studies have so far determ ined that Avicen­
na belonged to the Turkish race, on the m illenarian anniversary of his
b irth . This point has been presented and its scientific consequences have
been em phasized in our p ap er delivered at the Avicenna section of the
Congress in Barcelona.21 At this Congress, the m edical historian from
Moscow, Prof. Petrov gave us the colour pictures of Avicenna’s p o rtra it
which was realized according to the anthropological researches in Russia;
since they display the distinguished characteristics of Turkish race, these
colour pictures u red us to com pare them with the ancient and authentic
m iniatures of Avicenna.
As narrated by Nidhâmi-i Arûdi in his Chahâr Maqala, Sultan M ahmûd
of Ghazna has made Abu Nasr Irak (a friend of Avicenna’s like al-Bîrûnî)
p ainted a p o rtra it of the scholar and, duplicating this picture 40 times,
o rd ered them to be distributed on the prem isses of his em pire; and sent
out decrees for the one who has identifıed the person on the picture to
be caught and brought back to his palace to give inform ation about Avicen­
na.22 U nfortunately it has not been obtained even a copy of this p o rtrait
so far. W hile searching how an d at which battle or p lu n d er the original
of this p o rtra it was lost, I ran across a book which has not attracted the
attention of any researcher until then, called Seljuknâme w ritten by A h­
m ed bin M ahm ûd (d. 977/1569-1570) who has dealt with how Avicenna’s
books, personal belongings an d properties disappered. This m anuscript
which was drawn up in the 16th century, basing on the ancient original
sources has two copies existing as one in the Bodleian Library in Oxford
and the latter Bâdi Effendi Library in E dirne and, contains this following
im portant inform ation:
“Sultan Mas’ûd (son of M ahm ûd of Ghazna) saw the Prince of Isfahan
Alâ ud-Dawla Abû Ja’fer acted hyprocritically and m ade an agreem ent with
Seljuks. He o rd ered the P rince of K hurâsân, Amid, fam ed as Abu Sahi
K ham dûnî to make an attack över Alâ ud-Dawla, accom panied with in-

20 Kansu, Şevket Aziz, op. cit., p. 28.

21 Terzioğlu, A rslan, Zur Avicenna (ibn Sînâ)-Porschung in der Turkei, XXVII Congresso In ­
te rn a tio n a l de H istoria de la M edicina, 31 agusto-6 septem bre 1980, Actas, Vol. II, Barcelo­
na 1981, p. 750-756.
22 See N idhâm i-i A rûdi, Chahâr Maqala, the m anuscript at the Museum o f Turkish Isla-
mic A rt in İstanbul, which was copied in 1431, No: T 418; N idhâm i-i A rûdi, Tıp İlmi ve Meş­
hur Hekimlerin Mahareti, translated by A bdülbâkî G ölpınarlı, publ. by Süheyl Ünver.
432 ARSLAN TERZİOGLU

num erable soldiers and with a big army. Naturally Alâ ud-Dawla also
answered back with a reprisal attack and they fought for a while. Alâ ud-
Dawla did not cease, so his army was ruined, but he saved his own life and
fled from the battle fleld with some so-ever they found in the city, they
destroyed and ru in e d the houses. Sheik Khakîm Abû Ali ibn Sînâ was the
vizier and counselor of Alâ ud-Dawla. So they seized ali his work, books
and belongings, and hid his books in the book stock of Ghazna. These
books were kept there until Meliq of Jibal, H aşan bin Husayn captured
Ghazna and they were ali b u rn ed down then”.23
It has been found out that Avicenna’s books were b u rn ed down when
Ghazna was captured by Alâ ad-Dîn Husayn from G hurlus in 545
(1150-1151). It is known that, by defeating Bahram shah, the sovereign of
the people of Ghazna, Alâ ad-Dîn Husayn was called as “Jihansûz” which
m eans “b u rn er of the w orld”.24
Even if it is accepted that the afore-m entioned p o rtra it of Avicenna-
painted by Abu Nasr Irak by the o rd er of M ahm ûd of Ghazna-which was
in great resem blance with the scholar himself, was ru in e d du rin g the
destruction of Ghazna, since it is known th at the p o rtra it was duplicated
fourty-times, again by the order of M ahmûd of Ghazna, one copy of it could
have likely been found somewhere in Türkistan, Afganistan or Iran. For
instance the picture (Figüre 13) in Chahâr Maqala by A rûdi, showing
Avicenna at the bed-side of a patient, m ight as well have been drawn ac-
cording to one of the duplicates, despite the fact that it was copied in H arât
m uch later in 1431. Also it is quite interesting to observe at this picture
that Avicenna’s countenance has been drawn with pro tru d ed cheek-bones
and slanting eyes, which is very typical for a Turk of Türkistan. By a plea-
sant chance, a p o rtra it of Avicenna which has not been known until now,
has been found out by us in a private collection of a foreign physician,
and with the perm ission of its owner, it is now going to be introduced for
the first tim e to the sphere of scientists at this Congress.
Bought in İstanbul nearly 30 years ago, this m iniature is 12x17 cm.
in size and has apparently been cut off from a Turkish m anuscript on
m edicine as vvritten in the Turkish text on the reverse side (Figüre 14-15).
The sim ilarity betw een the m iniature at Hünemâme to this one suggests

23 A hm ed bin M ahm ûd, Selçuknâme I, edited by Erdoğan Merçil, İstanbul 1977, p. 14-15.
24 See Bosworth, C.B., The Political and Dynastic History of Iranian World (A.D. 1000-1217),
The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. V, The Saljuq and Mongol Periods, ed. J.A. Böyle, Cam-
bridge 1968, p. 160.
 İBN SINA IN TH E LIGT RECENT RESEARCHES 433

that it was drawn in the O ttom an period by a Turkish artist bound to Royal
M iniature School o f the Seraglio, probably at the end of the 15th century.
Also the Turkish m edical text on the reverse side displays the linguistic
character of that p eriod (Figüre 15, 16). In our p o in t of view, the m ost im ­
p o rta n t feature of this m iniature is the great resem blance of its Avicenna
figüre vvith slanting eyes as a Central-Asiatic Turk, vvith the o th er one25
depicted in Chahâr Maqala vvritten by A rûdi in 1431 of vvhich m anuscripts
is available in the Turkish Islamic Arts M useum (Figüre 13). So m uch so
th at Avicenna, vvho has been posed as kneeeling at this picture, has stret-
ched out his hands and arm s in a vvay alm ost identical vvith the o th er pic­
ture. But in the m iniature of Chahâr Maqala vvhile there is nothing at his
left hand; in the o th er picture he has been dravvn as holding a bovvl of
m edicam ent vvith his h and ju st in the same position. In the m iniature of
Chahâr Maqala, Avicenna has been described as kneeling near the bed-side
of the nephevv to the sovereign of Tabaristan, Kâbus Veshmgir, vvho vvas
suffering from the malady of love; vvhile in this picture, Avicenna, again
at his knees, is about to give m edicin to his p atient vvho is vveeping in af-
fliction. The sim ilarity betvveen the tvvo pictures occurs to m ind these tvvo
possibilities:
1. E ither this nevvly-found m iniature has been depicted exemplarily
from the original Avicenna m iniature at Chahâr Maqala,
2. O r both of them have been dravvn inspiring from an older
m iniature. In that case vvhat should be ansvvered is the question vvhether
they vvere done in exem plification of the Avicenna m iniature (or one of
its copies) dravvn by Abu Nasr Irak by the order of Sultan M ahmûd of Ghaz-
na. This m anuscript of Chahâr Maqala, vvhich had been copied for
Baysungur in H arat in 835 H. (1431), vvas once in the collection of Sheik
ul-Islam A shir Effendi (1729-1804), vvho vvas m entioned as Reis ul-Ulemâ;
in 1748, am ong other 457 m anuscripts, this one vvas also donated to A shir
Effendi Library at Sultan H am am and then, on M arch 27th 1339 (1911)
it vvas transferred to Evhaf-ı İslâmiye, that is the Turkish-Islamic Arts Museum
today.
As vve have not had any inform ation yet, about vvhich year this
m anuscript vvas brought to Turkey, before 1748; it is in vain to assert that
the m iniature of possibly 15th century has been copied from the original
Avicenna m iniature told above.

25 See Nidhâmi-i A rûdi, Chahâr Maqala, the m anuscript at the Museum of Turkish-Islamic
A rt in İstanbul, which vvas copied in 1431, no: T 418.
434 ARSLAN TERZİOĞLU

A lthough ali other well-known m iniatures of Avicenna differ from on

an o th er in respect of design, com position ete., these two figures are quite
sim ilar and, this resem blance consolidates the thesis suggesting them to
be copied from a unique original picture.
In conclusion, either the new sources like this newly found m iniature,
of Avicenna and the new studies dealt with shortly through our speech,
or the recent anthropological researches are im pelling us to m ore affir-
mative consequences about the studies on Avicenna, especially about his
Turkish nationality.
We would like to pay our respects, bowing down before the m em ory
of this most esteem ed seholar and the greatest physician ever before, who
has stili been influential ali över the world m edicine even the m illenarian
year succeeding his birth.
ÇjALENVS : AVICENA : FPOCRT^ÎS
Figüre 1 — In this picture which on the cover o f Canon of Avicenna published at Pavia in
1510, the scholar has been described sitting down on a throne with a crown upon
his h ead in the m iddle of the figüre betw een H ippocrates on the left and Gale-
nos on the right.
Figüre l a — This picture, showing Avicenna on the th ro n e (at the centre) as the sovereign
of m edicine, an d H ippocrates, Galenos, ar-Razi and o th er 14 G reek and Isla-
mic scholars kneeling aro u n d him , takes place in a book called Trattato circa
le nature delle herbe w ritten by Giovanni Cadom osto (O sterreichische Natio-
V
nal bibliothek, V ienna, Cod. 5264, fol. IV ) at Venice, d u rin g the era of Sul­
tan M ehm ed the C onqueror, in the th ird q u arter o f the 15 th century.
Figüre 1 b — Being called as “T he T hree Piholosophers”, this pain tin g was done by the
Italian pain ter G iorgione in 1525, an d the w riting o f Avicenna on the skirts
of the person at the centre suggests us that he has been great scholar, ibn Sînâ.

The original of this pain tin g is available at K unsthistorische Museum in V ienna and
it is 73x91 cm. in size.
 u£ < /■

X >>
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V J 2 » - l / s

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Dü-şenbih, şenbih güni gitm e şarka

Ne yek-şenbih ne cum’a güni garba
Se-şenbih çâr-şenbih güni zinhâr
Şimâle gitm e iy sâdık şîrîn yâr
C enûba kılm a penc-şenbihde niyyet
K ılu p tu r Bû ‘Ali böyle vasiyyet

Figüre 2 — This poem w ritten in Turkish by Avicenna has been found out by Kilisli Rıfat
Bilge in a m anuscript nu m b ered 685 and sheet 219 at Ali E m irî L ibrary in
İstanbul.
Figüre 4 — Avicenna’s new m ausoleum at H am adan.
Figüre 5 — These pictures were taken when Avicenna’s bones were moved from his old tomb
into his new m ausoleum at H am adan, and they have trig erred new a n th ro p o lo ­
gical studies on the subject in Turkey.
Figüre 6 — T he anthropological studies in Russia have based on these pictures which were
taken while Avicenna’s bones vvere transferred to his nevv mausoleum at Hanıa-
dan. (See Atabekov, Yu. A., Sh. Kh. K hanıidullin, A Büst of Abu Ali ibn Sînâ, a
Scientific Reconstruction o f the Great Scholar’s image, Tashkent 1980).
Figüre 7 — T he profile of Avicenna, reco n stıu cted by M.M. Gerasimov basing on the an­
thropological studies in Russia. (For fu rth e r inform ation see Gerasimov, M.M.,
ibn Sînâ’sPortrait, Tashkent, Uzbek Academy of Sciences Publishing House, Tash-
kent 1956, p. 7-11).
Figüre 8 — P roportions and m esures designed by the Russian scientists th ro u g h the a n ­
thropological studies in Uzbekistan basing on the pictures which were taken vvhile
the bones o f the scholar were tran sferred into his new mauseleum from the old
one. (See Atabekov, Yu. A., Sh. Kh. K ham idullin, A Büst of Abu Ali ibn Sînâ, a
Scientific Reconstruction of the Great Scholar’s image, Tashkent 1980).
Figüre 9 — Designed through the anthropological studies at Uzbekistan in Russia, this profile
picture has ben the base of the büst sculpted by Sokolova.
F ig ü re 10 — T h e b ü s t o f A v ic e n n a e r e c te d by th e s c u lp to r S o k o lo v a o n th e b a sis o f th e a n ­
thropological studies carried out in Russia. (Atabekov, Yu. A., Sh. Kh. Khami-
dullin, A Büst of Abu Ali ibn Sînâ, a Scientific Reconstruction of the Great Scholar ’s
image, Tashkent 1980).
Figüre 11 — The P rofile of Sultan M ehm ed the C on q u ero r draw n on a bronze m edal by
Bertoldo di Giovanni.
F ig ü re 12 — T h e p o r t r a i t o f A v ic e n n a p a i n t e d o n th e b a s is o f th e a n th r o p o lo g ic a l s tu d ie s
in R u ssia , in 1978, T h is p ic t u r e h a s b e e n g iv e n by P ro f. P e tro v to u s a t th e C o n ­
g re s s in B a r c e lo n a in 1980. T h e p i c t u r e h a s b e e n p u b l is h e d f o r th e f ir s t tim e
by u s in T u rk e y o n th e 3 0 th p a g e o f th t h i r d iss u e o f Bifaskop in J u n e 1980.
F ig ü re 13 — T h e p i c t u r e is s h o w in g A v ic e n n a c u r i n g t h e n e p h e w to K ab u s V eşm g ir, th e so-
v e r e ig n o f R ay a n d T a b a ris ta n , f r o m t h e m a la d y o f love. T h is p i c tu r e ta k e s
p la c e in a m a n u s c r ip t o f Chahâr Maqala by N id h â m i- i A r û d i, c o p ie d f o r S u lta n
A k s u n g u r a t H a r a t in 835 H . (1431). T h is m a n u s c r ip t is a v a ila b le a t th e M use-
u m o f T u rk is h Is la m ic A r t in İ s ta n b u l.
Figüre 14 — T he m iniature o f Avicenna, first presented at the scientific circles by Prof. Dr..
A rslan Terzioğlu at the In ternational Avicenna Congress on August I7th 1983.
(The Copyright o f this m in iatu re belongs to A rslan Terzioğlu and, it can never
be duplicated, copied o r published in any case; ali rig h ts reserved).
 1 L» j b £
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Figüre 15 — This m edical text takes places on the reverse side of the m iniature of Avicen­
na which vvas first p resented at the scientific circles by Prof. Dr. A rslan Terzi­
oğlu at the In tern atio n al Avicenna Congress on August 17th 1983. In view of
the turkologs, the text possesses the characteristics of the O ttom an Turkish
in the 15th century (The Copyright o f this picture belongs to Arslan Terzioğlu,
it can never be duplicated, copied or published in any case; ali rights reserved).
Resim 1 — G alen’in bilinen en eski resmi. G alen hayatta iken büstü yapılm am ıştı. En eski
resm i ise, 472’de tahta çıkan Batı Roma im p arato ru A nicius O lbyrius’un kızkar-
deşi Ju lian a Anicia adına 487 veya 512 yılında yazılan ve halen Viyana Millî Kü­
tüphan esind e b ulunan b ir D ioskorides yazm asındadır (varak 3b). Aslı çok
bozulmuş olan bu resim Poulton tarafından yeniden çizilmiştir (Singer, a.gx\, s. 48)
Resim 2 — K ân u n ü ’d-Dünya, (Topkapı Sarayı Revan Kit. No: 1639)’da Galen (Calinus).