Simeon Seth

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Simeon Seth(i) or Symeon Seth(i) (Greek: Συμεών Μάγιστρος Αντιοχείας του Σήθι, "ٍSymeōn Magister of Antioch, son of Sēth", sometimes also "Simeo" and "Sethus") was an 11th-century Jewish Byzantine doctor, scholar, and grand Chamberlain (protovestiarius) under Emperor Michael VII Doukas, originally from Antioch. He was a contemporary of Michael Psellos.

He wrote the Σύνταγμα κατα στοιχείων περί τροφῶν δυνάμεων (in Latin: Syntagma de alimentorum facultatibus or De cibarium facultate, "On the Properties of Foods")^[1], which criticizes Galen and emphasizes eastern medical traditions: "Simeon Seth was the great Orientalist of Byzantine medicine... [he] selected the best, not only from the Greek materia medica but also from Persian, Arabic, and Indian sources".^[2] The Syntagma is an important source for Byzantine cuisine and dietetics.

Simeon's work Σύνοψις τῶν φυσικῶν (Conspectus rerum naturalium, "On natural things" )is a treatise on the natural sciences. It is divided into five books. The first concerns the earth; the second, the elements; the third, the sky and the stars; the fourth, matter, form, nature, and the soul (sense perception); the fifth, the final cause and divine providence. The work is heavily influenced by the philosophy of Aristotle.^[3]

He also learned astronomy from Arabic sources.^[4]

He translated the book of fables Kalilag and Damnag from Arabic to Greek in about 1080.^[5] The protagonists in the Greek version are named "Stephanites" and "Ichnelates."^[6]

[edit] Other

• "Simeon Seth'Na" is also the name of a certain thoroughbred Arabian horse.

[edit] Bibliography

• Marc Émile Prosper Louis Brunet, Siméon Seth, médecin de l’empereur Michel Doucas; sa vie, son oeuvre. Première traduction en français du traité "Recueil des propriétés des aliments par ordre alphabétique", Delmas, Bordeaux, 1939. (not seen)
• David Deakle, "Simeon Seth on Cannabis (Cognoscenti of Cannabis II)", 2001 doi:10.1300/J175v01n02_03

[edit] Notes

1. ^ The full text of the 1658 Paris edition is available online
2. ^ Owsei Temkin, "Byzantine Medicine: Tradition and Empiricism", Dumbarton Oaks Papers 16:95-115 (1962) at JSTOR
3. ^ A. Delatte, Anecdota Atheniensia et alia, Volume 2 (Paris, 1939), 1-89 (edition of text with historical introduction).
4. ^ David Pingree, "Gregory Chioniades and Palaeologan Astronomy", Dumbarton Oaks Papers 18:133-160 (1964)
5. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906 s.v. Kalilah wa-Dimnah; date from G.H. Gérould, "The Ballad of the Bitter Withy" (not seen), cited by Phillips Barry, "The Bridge of Sunbeams", The Journal of American Folklore 27:103. (Jan.-Mar., 1914), pp. 79-89 at JSTOR
6. ^ L.-O. Sjöberg, Stephanites und Ichnelates: Überlieferungsgeschichte und Text (Uppsala, 1962).