Secondary sourceBook1544

Rhazes Opera, Title Page

Abu Bakr al-Razi · 1544

The title page of a 1544 printed Latin edition of the collected works of Rhazes.

The title page of a Latin printed edition of Rhazes's collected works, showing his lasting influence in Europe.

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Title page of a 16th-century Latin printed book in black letter type. Heading reads Abubetri Rhazae Maomethi, followed by a long Latin description, names of translators, and the imprint Basileae in officina Henrichi Petri, 1544. Handwritten marks appear near the bottom. — Rhazes, Opera, title page. Basel: Henricus Petrus, 1544. Rare Books collection.

About this source

What it is

This is the title page of a printed book called Opera, a Latin collection of the works of Rhazes (named here as Abubetri Rhazae Maomethi). It was printed in Basel in 1544 at the press of Henricus Petrus, and is held in a rare books collection.

Why it matters

Centuries after his death, Rhazes's medical writings were still being translated and printed in Europe, showing how influential his work remained in Latin medical education long after it was first written in Arabic. The names of translators on the title page remind us that his ideas reached European readers through a chain of scholars and translators.

Look closer

Why might a European printer in the 1500s still want to publish the works of a Persian physician from centuries earlier?
What do the translators' names tell us about how knowledge travelled between cultures?
What is lost or changed when a text is translated from Arabic into Latin?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Al-Razi on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.