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Royal Physician

( Egyptian Physician )

(chap 7)

~ Imhotep (Priest / Architect / Physician / God)
~ Royal Privilege (Foreign / Domestic)
~ Saladin’s Personal Physician
(The treatment of the King of Jerusalem)

Imhotep ~ Father of Medicine (2980 B.C.)

Imhotep, called "God of Medicine," "Prince of Peace," and a "Type of Christ." Imhotep was
worshipped as a god and healer from approximately 2850 B.C. to 525 B.C., and as a full
deity from 525 B.C. to 550 A.D. Even kings and queens bowed at his throne. Imhotep lived
during the Third Dynasty at the court of King Zoser. Imhotep was a known scribe, chief
lector, priest, architect, astronomer and magician (medicine and magic were used together.) For
3000 years he was worshipped as a god in Greece and Rome. Early Christians worshipped
him as the "Prince of Peace."

Imhotep was also a poet and philosopher. He urged contentment and preached cheerfulness.
His proverbs contained a "philosophy of life." Imhotep coined the saying "Eat, drink and be
merry for tomorrow we shall die."

When the Egyptians crossed the Mediterranean, becoming the foundation of the Greek
culture, Imhotep's teachings were absorbed there. Yet, as the Greeks were determined to
assert that they were the originators of everything, Imhotep was forgotten for thousands of
years and a legendary figure, Hippocrates, who came 2000 years after him became known as
the Father of Medicine.

Sir William Osler said, Imhotep was the real Father of Medicine. "The first figure of a
physician to stand out clearly from the mists of antiquity." Imhotep diagnosed and treated over
200 diseases, 15 diseases of the abdomen, 11 of the bladder, 10 of the rectum, 29 of the
eyes, and 18 of the skin, hair, nails and tongue. Imhotep treated tuberculosis, gallstones,
appendicitis, gout and arthritis. He also performed surgery and practiced some dentistry.
Imhotep extracted medicine from plants. He also knew the position and function of the vital
organs and circulation of the blood system. The Encyclopedia Britannica says, "The
evidence afforded by Egyptian and Greek texts support the view that Imhotep's reputation
was respected in early times. His prestige increased with the lapse of centuries and his
temples in Greek times were the centers of medical teachings."

James Henry Breasted says of Imhotep:

In priestly wisdom, in magic, in the formulation of wise proverbs; in medicine and architecture;
this remarkable figure of Zoser's reign left so notable a reputation that his name was never
forgotten. He was the patron spirit of the later scribes, to whom they regularly poured out a
libation from the water-jug of their writing outfit before beginning their work. The people sang
of his proverbs centuries later, and 2500 years after his death, he had become a god of
medicine in whom Greeks, who call him Imouthes, recognized their own Asklepios. A temple
was erected to him near the Serapeum at Memphis, and at the present day, every museum
possesses a bronze statue or two of the apotheosized wise man, the proverb maker, physician,
and architect of Zoser.

Outstanding physicians were deified and worshiped. Temples were erected to honor Imhotep,
the physician and Vizier of King Zoser of the 3rd dynasty. He was an astronomer, architect
and the builder of the Stepped Pyramid at Saqqara too. Imhotep was worshiped as the god
of Healing and Medicine. The Greeks later identified him with their own humanized god of
healing, Asclepias. His statue stands today in the Hall of Immortals at the International
College of Surgeons in Chicago.

Hesyre

Hesyre was the oldest known physician in history. He was the “Chief of Dentists and
Physicians” at the time of King Zoser (3rd dynasty, 2700 - 2625 BC).

Saladin’s Influence & Sharing

( Royal Privilege )

In the year 1095, Alexius Comnenus, Emperor of Byzantium, sent a series of frantic
messages to Pope Urban II in Rome. Couched in the elaborate style of the time and dwelling
at length on Comnenus' troubles, the messages could have been summarized in one word:
"Help." Asia's fierce Seljuk Turks had conquered the vast Anatolian reaches of the
Emperor's domain and were almost at the gates of Constantinople. Without help, Comnenus
told the Pope, Byzantium's undermanned army could not hold out and Constantinople, the
bastion of Christendom in the East, would surely fall to the Turks.

Urban went Comnenus one better. At the Council of Clermont in France in November,
1095, in what historian Philip Hitti has called "probably the most effective speech in history,"
he not only rallied troops to save Constantinople but set in motion a series of "holy wars" to
free the Holy Land and Jerusalem from 400 years of Muslim rule. They were wars that would
later be called Crusades and which would call forth onto the stage of medieval history some of
that period's most remarkable figures, One of them, a hero to both Islam and Christianity, was
Al-Malik al-Nasir al-Sultan Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, better known as Saladin.

By the time Saladin made his appearance, Urban's exhortations had succeeded beyond his
most extravagant hopes. The crusaders had saved Constantinople, conquered the Holy
Land, and had ruled what they called the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem for 70 years. The
crusaders being a tiny minority in a sea of hostile Muslims, their rule was not an easy one. On
the other hand, with Islamic power fragmented among the Seljuk-dominated caliph of
Baghdad, the rival Fatimids of Cairo and a semi-independent warlord in Syria called Nur al-
Din, crusader rule also seemed permanent.

Saladin, son of a high-ranking Kurdish officer in Nur al-Din's army, was an Arab by culture,
language and inclination. Born in Tikrit, Iraq, in 1138, he was called Yusuf ibn Ayyub
(Yusuf son of Ayyub) but later assumed the additional name of Salah al-Din (Rectifier of
the Faith). From these beginnings, he became one of the few Muslims of the times famous
enough to win a westernized version of their names. The crusaders, and later all of Europe,
shortened Salah al-Din to Saladin—the name under which he was later romanticized in the
West in countless poems and legends.

Late in the year 1168, Saladin took part in an expedition commanded by his uncle and sent
to Egypt by Nur al-Din to head off a Frankish take-over. Nur's soldiers eluded the Franks
and entered Cairo as liberators. Saladin's uncle died two months later and in March, 1169,
Saladin, at 31, was appointed Sultan of Egypt. Arab chroniclers relate that at this time
Saladin gave up wine and other pleasures and made a vow to deliver the Holy Land from the
Franks.

Two years later, the last Fatimid caliph died (Aramco World, September-October, 1969)
and Saladin founded his own dynasty, the Ayyubids. Using Egypt as a power base, he also
began the long task of unifying Islam in order to fulfill his vow.

There followed an 18-year period during which Saladin put his Egyptian base in order, his
two chief rivals—King Amalric of Jerusalem and his erstwhile suzerain, Nur al-Din—died, and
Saladin unified the country between the Nile and the Tigris under his rule. This was a
period of sporadic clashes with the forces of the Leper King, Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and
his successor, King Guy of Lusignan, of truces almost invariably broken by the Franks and
restored, thanks to Saladin's legendary tolerance. But open warfare was carefully avoided.
Then, in 1186, the treacherous Reginald of Chatillon, bandit-knight and master of the
Castle of Kerak in Jordan, who had previously made it known that he intended to conquer
Mecca itself, attacked a large caravan traveling through the desert beneath his mountain eyrie.
For Saladin this was the last straw. He proclaimed a holy war against the crusaders and
vowed to kill Reginald with his own hand.

On July 4, 1187, a vast force under Saladin's banner defeated the Frankish army in the
battle of the Horns of Hattin—in which Saladin struck down the captured Reginald as
promised. Then on October 2, almost 90 years after the first crusaders took the Holy City,
came the supreme moment of Saladin's career—the capture of Jerusalem.

This momentous event, however, sent ripples of indignation across Europe and brought on
the Third Crusade, led by Richard the Lion Hearted and King Philip II of France. Five
years later, after a period of battles, sieges, counter-sieges and diplomatic negotiations,
Saladin and Richard signed a peace treaty under which the Muslims kept Jerusalem and the
interior and the crusaders were permitted to retain, for a short while longer, their tenuous hold
on the coastal towns. Saladin, having fulfilled his oath, withdrew to Damascus where, at the
age of 55, he died, already a hero and soon to be a legend.

The legend, of course, was embellished after his death with such myths, half-truths,
superstitious beliefs and romance, that the real Saladin nearly vanished. Fortunately, Arab
historians who were his contemporaries and the Latin chroniclers who lived in the Holy Land
preserved a more realistic picture.

It seems that Saladin was a slender man of medium height with a dark complexion, dark hair,
eyes and beard, and a rather melancholy expression. He had tremendous endurance and
simple tastes in food. He liked fresh fruit and sherbet, drank barley-water when he was
suffering, and enjoyed boiled rice. When not in the field he liked nothing better than an
evening surrounded by scholars, friends and poets, discussing theology and law or listening to
readings of the Koran, which if well rendered could move him to tears. He kept a small book in
his pocket in which he wrote down quotations from his favorite authors, and he would often
read aloud from it to illustrate a point in his conversation. Saladin liked chess, but his favorite
pastime was polo—largely because it involved horses. Horses were his weakness and he
offered them frequently as special gifts. He could reel off the pedigree of an Arabian mare
without a moment's hesitation.

Although Saladin had all the wealth of Egypt and Syria at his disposal, the trappings of
power had no attraction for him. When he became supreme ruler of Egypt after the death of
the Fatimid caliph, for instance, he preferred a small simple house to the caliph's fabulous
palace (4,000 rooms, a 120,000-volume library and sackfuls of jewels). Knowing that others
liked ostentation, however, he gave away most of the contents of the palace.

Unlike the colorfully-dressed crusaders, Saladin usually wore a simple wool or linen cloak.
As a youth, as a concession to the treachery that lurked behind every Egyptian curtain, he
wore a coat of mail under his robes. His personal retinue—loyal men who were willing to die for
him, and often did—followed his example. In his later years he wore a padded coat while on
horseback to keep off the chill.

In contrast to the deference shown to other autocrats, there was no need to fawn in Saladin's
presence. Ignoring protocol, he commanded loyalty by his personal bearing and example, his
gentle character and his magnanimity. During audiences for example, the jostling petitioners
often trod on the very cushion where the Sultan sat smiling.

More important, perhaps, was his relationship with his officers and principal emirs. During
one long tour of inspection, his friend Baha al-Din, who later wrote a history of Saladin, was
riding in front of the Sultan and inadvertently splashed mud all over him, ruining his clothes.
"But he only laughed and refused to let me go behind," the historian related. Discussion was
free and unrestrained by any need for flattery. At one officers' meeting the Sultan asked for
a drink but nobody paid any attention. He had to repeat his request several times, a secretary
recounted, before he was served. For his followers to have felt so free in his presence, Saladin
must have inspired a trust which was unthinking.

Little is known about Saladin's wife, except that he married her in Egypt and that she stood
by him through thick and thin and gave him 16 sons. There is no record that Saladin ever took
on the four wives allowed by Islam. It is evident that his campaigns were a personal sacrifice,
since he had to leave his wife and children for long spells, and it was well known that nothing
pleased him more than sitting in the cool gardens of his palace in Damascus, playing with his
younger children. His eldest son, al-Afdal, became one of his principal lieutenants, but there
is more than one hint in the chronicles that his favorite was his third eldest, al-Zahir.

If Saladin was an unusual sovereign, he was a more unusual—even unique—general. In
addition to his talents as commander, strategist and planner, Saladin was chivalrous to a
fault, a trait that made him famous in the West.

Although he could be inflexible and even cruel when the occasion demanded, he genuinely
disliked bloodshed. In fact, the only stain on his record was the execution of about 300
knights of the two main military orders, the Templars and the Hospitalers, at Tiberias a few
months before he captured Jerusalem. And even that act when considered in the context of
those unsettled times, was no awful crime. When the crusaders first occupied Jerusalem in
1099 they killed thousands, including women and children. When Saladin recaptured the city,
there was no killing and no desecration of holy places, and Christian pilgrims were allowed
free access to their places of worship.

The Sultan, far from becoming drunk with power, seemed to feel that his new responsibilities
demanded more and more restraint. At the famous siege of Acre several years later the most
colorful of Saladin's adversaries, Richard the Lion Hearted, violated an agreement and
slaughtered the city's entire 3,000-man garrison. Saladin apparently forgave Richard this
villainy: during a later skirmish in front of Jaffa, Richard's horse was killed under him and
Saladin sent him a steed to replace it, with the message: "It is not right that so brave a warrior
should have to fight on foot."

Saladin always preferred negotiation and diplomacy to fighting. War to him was a necessary
means of reaching certain objectives—a last resort when arbitration had failed. Over-lenience
to his enemies and a somewhat naive faith in their oaths were considered faults, and he
repeatedly found himself in difficulties because of his efforts to wage a humane war. Although
he was pictured in the West as the death knell of Christendom and its worst enemy, he
appeared to have a two-level approach to the Christians. He never wavered in his zeal to drive
the Franks out of the Holy Land and restore the banner of Islam over Jerusalem. But when
dealing with individual Christians he showed respect and even admiration for their beliefs, as
can be seen in his decision not to tear down the Church of the Holy Sepulchre but, on the
contrary, to allow priests to hold prayers there and receive pilgrims from across the sea.

Saladin was especially chivalrous towards women and children. Once he was besieging a
castle near Aleppo and after protracted and costly efforts, managed to capture it. Then, a
little girl, the sister of Aleppo's ruler, came to his camp and Saladin received her with gifts and
kindness. As all little girls will, she asked for one thing more: the castle which he had just
captured. Without a moment's pause, Saladin gave her the fortress which had cost him a siege
of 38 days.

During one of his periodic attacks on the Castle of Kerak, Saladin learned there was a
wedding party underway inside. He politely inquired in which wing it was being held, and then
directed his catapults elsewhere. (The bride sent out cakes and other samples from the
wedding feast.) After the capture of Jerusalem, the widow of his treacherous enemy, Reginald
of Chatillon, asked Saladin to release her imprisoned son. He agreed, providing she ordered
the garrison of Kerak to surrender the castle, which had so far remained out of his grasp. To
show his good faith, Saladin released the prisoner and returned him to his mother—in advance.
The widow failed to persuade the garrison to surrender, and sent her son back to Saladin.
When the garrison of Kerak was finally starved into surrendering, Saladin returned the son
to his mother, and to top it all rewarded the garrison for its bravery in fighting without its
commander: he bought back their wives and children from the Bedouin of the area who had
taken them in exchange for food.

French romances of the 14th century try to make out Saladin as being in love with the Lady
Sibylla, wife of the Prince of Antioch, Bohemond III. In fact, there is no evidence that
Saladin ever actually met the lady, but there was at least indirect contact, Some chroniclers
say she acted as Saladin's spy in the crusader camp, providing him, with valuable information
about internal rivalries and disputes among the Frankish kings and barons. Her motives
remain obscure. She was a native daughter of the land and her reputation was said to have
been less than spotless; there is a suggestion that Bohemond was forced into marrying her
after divorcing his first wife, Perhaps she had more sympathy for the Muslims than for her
husband's people. Imad al-Din, an historian of the times and the Sultan's chancellor, reports
that Saladin rewarded her information with beautiful presents.

The use of such a highly-placed female spy indicates Saladin's good generalship, but there
is further proof of this quality. Although he was supreme commander of the Muslim armies,
which at times counted up to 70,000 men, he was often overruled in the councils of war by his
officers and had to bow to their will. Such free discussion gave scope for initiative, and
Saladin was always open to suggestions. A humble coppersmith from Damascus once came
forward and claimed he had discovered a chemical compound which could destroy the
supposedly fireproof Frankish siege-towers near the walls of Acre. Saladin allowed the
young man to try out his discovery, and sure enough, to the surprise of the Franks, the
discovery—a preparation of naphtha--brought the towers down.

Besides providing a focal point for Islam at a time when it was threatened from without and
within, Saladin helped his people in more fundamental ways. He encouraged the
establishment of institutes of higher learning in Cairo, Damascus and Jerusalem. He also set
up courts of law. Unlike other potentates, before and since, Saladin did not set himself above
the law. A merchant once filed a lawsuit against the Sultan, claiming Saladin had seized the
property of a former slave of his on the pretext that the slave actually belonged to him. The
merchant produced documents in support of his claim, and demanded that Saladin give back
the property. If AI-Malik al-Nasir al-Sultan Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub were not the
man he was, the merchant would have disappeared from the face of the earth for such seeming
impudence. But Saladin hired a lawyer and himself appeared in court, where he sat beside
the merchant and testified that the slave had always belonged to him until he had been freed,
and that therefore the property had passed on to his heirs. Then the lawyer took over and
produced witnesses who proved the merchant's documents were forgeries, and the merchant
lost the case.

Saladin, as usual, took pity on the defeated. He gave the merchant a robe and enough money
to cover the expenses of the trial and his journey home—just to show there were no hard
feelings.

After peace with the Franks was achieved Saladin gave up plans for a pilgrimage to Mecca
to turn his attention to affairs of state which had been neglected during the wars. This
champion of Islam never had the supreme satisfaction of performing the hajj to Mecca, which
countless thousands of his subjects had been able to enjoy, thanks to his protection.

When all the accounts of the Sultan's life and times are weighed, it seems that in his own
sphere of activity, Saladin was a man of real greatness, with nothing Low or vain or petty
about him. All his life he had impressed others by his example and even his enemies the
crusaders (who often praised him) could console themselves that they had been vanquished by
no ordinary adversary.

Saladin's epitaph might well have been his parting words to aI-Zahir shortly before his death.
"I commend thee to Almighty God," he said, placing his hand on his son's head. "He is the
source of all good. Do the Will of God, which is the Way of Peace. Beware of bloodshed; de
not trust in that, for spilled blood never sleeps. Strive to gain the hearts of thy subjects and
watch over all of their interests, for thou art appointed by God and by me to look after their
welfare. I have become as great as I am because I have won the hearts of men by gentleness
and kindness. Never nourish iii feeling toward any man, for Death spares none. Be prudent
in thyself. God will pardon the penitent, for He is gracious."

Excerpts attributed to : Elias Antar a veteran correspondent for the Associated Press in
the Middle East.

This article appeared on pages 26-31 of the May/June 1970 print edition of Saudi
Aramco World.

It would be worth mention that the British Royal Family has enjoyed the continued service of
Homeopathic Physicians for unbroken six generations. If King Richard had captured
Saladin’s Physician, as planned, England would have enjoyed a much longer period of
Medical Privilege, than having to wait. This brings us to our next historical figure in Crusader
Medicine.

Saladin’s Personal Physician

Maimonides (March 30, 1135 or 1138–December 13, 1204) was a Jewish rabbi, physician,
and philosopher in Spain and Egypt during the Middle Ages. He was one of the various
medieval Jewish philosophers who also influenced the non-Jewish world. Although his
copious works on Jewish law and ethics were initially met with opposition during his lifetime, he
was posthumously acknowledged to be one of the foremost rabbinical arbiters and
philosophers in Jewish history. Today, his works and his views are considered a cornerstone
of Orthodox Jewish thought and study.

Maimonides' full name was Moshe ben Maimon (Hebrew: משה בן מימון) and his Arabic name
was الإسرائيليأبو عمران موسى بن ميمون بن عبد الله القرطبي (Abu Imran Mussa bin Maimun ibn
Abdallah al-Qurtubi al-Israili). However, he is most commonly known by his Greek name,
Moses Maimonides (Μωυσής Μαϊμονίδης), which literally means, "Moses, son of Maimon",
like his name in Hebrew and Arabic. Several Jewish works call him Maimoni, מימוני. However,
more Jewish works refer to him by the Hebrew acronym of his title and name — Rabbi Moshe
ben Maimon — calling him the RaMBaM or the Rambam (רמב"ם).

Maimonides was born in 1138 in Córdoba, Spain, then under Muslim rule during what some
scholars consider to be the end of the golden age of Jewish culture in Spain. Maimonides
studied Torah under his father Maimon who had in turn studied under Rabbi Joseph ibn
Migash. The Almohades conquered Córdoba in 1148, and offered the Jewish community
the choice of conversion to Islam, death, or exile. Maimonides's family, along with most other
Jews, chose exile. For the next ten years they moved about in southern Spain, avoiding the
conquering Almohades, but eventually settled in Fes in Morocco, where Maimonides
acquired most of his secular knowledge, studying at the University of Fes. During this time, he
composed his acclaimed commentary on the Mishnah.

Following this sojourn in Morocco, he briefly lived in the Holy Land, spending time in
Jerusalem, and finally settled in Fostat, Egypt; where he was doctor of the Grand Vizier
Alfadhil and also possibly the doctor of Sultan Saladin of Egypt. In Egypt, he composed
most of his oeuvre, including the Mishneh Torah. He died in Fostat, and was buried in
Tiberias (today in Israel). His son Avraham, recognized as a great scholar, succeeded him as
Nagid (head of the Egyptian Jewish Community), as well as in the office of court physician,
at the age of only eighteen. He greatly honored the memory of his father, and throughout his
career defended his father's writings against all critics. The office of Nagid was held by the
Maimonides family for four successive generations until the end of the 14th century.

He is widely respected in Spain and a statue of him was erected in Córdoba alongside his
synagogue, which is no longer functioning as a Jewish house of worship but is open to the
public. There is no Jewish community in Córdoba now, but the city is proud of its historical
connection to Rambam.