{"product_id":"9781479820078","title":"A Physician on the Nile : A Description of Egypt and Journal of the Famine Years (Library of Arabic Literature)","description":"\u003cp\u003eFlora, fauna, and famine in thirteenth-century Egypt\n\u003cbr\u003e A Physician on the Nile begins as a description of everyday life in Egypt at the turn of the seventh\/thirteenth century, before becoming a harrowing account of famine and pestilence. Written by the polymath and physician ʿAbd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī, and intended for the Abbasid caliph al-Nāṣir, the first part of the book offers detailed descriptions of Egypt's geography, plants, animals, and local cuisine, including a recipe for a giant picnic pie made with three entire roast lambs and dozens of chickens. ʿAbd al-Laṭīf's text is also a pioneering work of ancient Egyptology, with detailed observations of Pharaonic monuments, sculptures, and mummies. An early and ardent champion of archaeological conservation, ʿAbd al-Laṭīf condemns the vandalism wrought by tomb-robbers and notes with distaste that Egyptian grocers price their goods with labels written on recycled mummy-wrappings.\n\u003cbr\u003e The book's second half relates his horrific eyewitness account of the great famine that afflicted Egypt in the years 597-598\/1200-1202. ʿAbd al-Laṭīf was a keen observer of humanity, and he offers vivid first-hand depictions of starvation, cannibalism, and a society in moral free-fall. \n\u003cbr\u003e A Physician on the Nile contains great diversity in a small compass, distinguished by the acute, humane, and ever-curious mind of its author. It is rare to be able to hear the voice of such a man responding so directly to novelty, beauty, and tragedy.\n\u003cbr\u003e An English-only edition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"New York University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52904757657909,"sku":"EB_LI0714_M04-04_AD","price":86.0,"currency_code":"AED","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0971\/7773\/1381\/files\/9781479820078-1.jpg?v=1789405527","url":"https:\/\/kinokuniya.ae\/ar\/products\/9781479820078","provider":"Books Kinokuniya UAE","version":"1.0","type":"link"}