An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15959 entries, 13943 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 1, 2024

ALEXANDER OF TRALLES [Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Τραλλιανός; Alexander Trallianus]

7 entries
  • 1790

Breviarium medicinae. Tr: Gerardus Cremonensis. Add: Serapion the Younger: In medicinis simplicibus. Tr: Simon a Cordo Januensis and Abraham Judaeus Tortuosiensis. Galenus: De virtute centaureae; Johannes Platearius: Practica brevis; Matthaeus Platearius: De simplici medicina "Circa instans".

Venice: Bonetus Locatellus, for Octavianus Scotus, 1497.

Serapion the Elder and Serapion the Younger were Syrian Christians who wrote in Arabic. Breviarum medicinae was an abridgement of the opinions of the Greek and Arabic physicians concerning diseases and their treatment. It also includes transcriptions from Alexander of Tralles, an author with whom few of the other Arabic writers seem to have been much acquainted.

Matthaeus Platearius, a physician from Salerno, is thought to have produced a twelfth-century Latin manuscript on medicinal herbs titled "Circa Instans" aka ("The Book of Simple Medicines"), later translated into French as "Le Livre des simples medecines." It was an alphabetic listing and textbook of simples that was based on Dioscorides "Vulgaris", which described the appearance, preparation, and uses of various drugs. Matthaeus Platearius and his brother Johannes were the sons of a female physician from the Salerno school who was married to Johannes Platearius I; it is possible that she was Trotula. ISTC No. is00466000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.



Subjects: BOTANY, BYZANTINE MEDICINE, MEDIEVAL MEDICINE , MEDIEVAL MEDICINE › Italy, MEDIEVAL MEDICINE › Italy › Schola Medica Salernitana, PHARMACOLOGY › PHARMACEUTICALS › Materia medica / Herbals / Herbal Medicines
  • 34

Practica Alexandri yatros greci cum expositione glose interlinearis Jacobi de Partibus et Januensis in margine posite.

Lyon: F. Fradin, 1504.

First printing of an incomplete medieval Latin translation by Jacques Despars of the main medical work of Alexander, a Byzantine physician from Tralles in Lydia, Asia Minor (now  Aydin, Turkey). Digital facsimile  from Google Books at this link



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Late Antiquity, BYZANTINE MEDICINE
  • 11111

Alexandrū Trallianū Iatrū Biblia Dyokaideka. Alexandri Tralliani medici libri XII. Rhazae De pestilentia libellus ex Syrorum lingua in Graecam translatus. Edited by Jacques Goupil.

Paris: Robert Estienne, 1548.

First edition of the Greek text of the works of Alexander of Tralles, together with an edition of Rhazes on the plague. Both texts were edited by Jacques Goupil. The work was issued by the distinguished scholar printer, Robert Estienne. Digital facsimile from Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.



Subjects: BYZANTINE MEDICINE, Collected Works: Opera Omnia, INFECTIOUS DISEASE › VECTOR-BORNE DISEASES › Flea-Borne Diseases › Plague (transmitted by fleas from rats to humans), MEDIEVAL MEDICINE › Medieval Persian Islamic Medicine
  • 35

Hieronymi Mercurialis Variarum lectionum libri quatuor. In quibus complurium, maximeq́ue medicinae scriptorum infinita paenè loca vel corrupta restituuntur, vel obscura declarantur. Alexandri Tralliani De lumbricis epistola, ejusdem Mercurialis opera, & diligentia Graecè, & Latinè nunc primùm edita ...

Venice: Gratiosus Perchacinus excudebat, sumptibus Pauli & Antonii Meieti frat., 1570.

Includes the first printed edition of the Greek text and Latin translation by Mercuriale of Alexander's De vermis epistola.  Alexander's original description of worms and vermifuges make him the first parasitologist. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Late Antiquity, BYZANTINE MEDICINE, PARASITOLOGY, Renaissance Medicine
  • 8966

Alexander von Tralles. Original-Text und Übersetzung nebst einer einleitenden Abhandlung. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Medicin. 2 vols.

Vienna: Wilhelm Braumüller, 18781879.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Late Antiquity, BYZANTINE MEDICINE, PARASITOLOGY
  • 35.1

Médecine et thérapeutique byzantines: Oeuvres médicales d’Alexander de Tralles, le dernier auteur classique des grands médecins grecs de l’antiquité. Ed. F. Brunet. 4 vols.

Paris: Geuthner, 19331937.


Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Late Antiquity, BYZANTINE MEDICINE, Collected Works: Opera Omnia, PARASITOLOGY
  • 11100

The Latin Alexander Trallianus: The text and transmission of a late latin medical book. By D. R. Langlow. Journal of Roman Studies Monograph no. 10.

London: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, 2006.


Subjects: BYZANTINE MEDICINE, MEDIEVAL MEDICINE