Tacuinum sanitatis
medieval handbook on health and wellbeing / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Tacuinum (sometimes Taccuinum) Sanitatis[1] is a medieval handbook mainly on health. It is based on the Taqwim al‑sihha تقويم الصحة ("Maintenance of Health"), an eleventh-century Arab work an health by Ibn Butlan of Baghdad.[2] The text exists in several variant Latin versions.
It describes in detail the beneficial and harmful properties of foods and plants. It explains the six essential elements for well-being:
- sufficient food and drink in moderation,
- fresh air,
- alternations of activity and rest,
- alternations of sleep and wakefulness,
- secretions and excretions of humours, and finally
- the effects of states of mind.
Tacuinum Sanitatis says that illnesses result from imbalance of these elements.