Musician Doctors In The Middle Ages

Abstract

Since the earliest known ages of history, music has played a role in the treatment of people and overcoming their inner distress. It is possible to see this issue clearly in a wide geography from Ancient Greece to India, from China to Central Asia. While the ancient philosopher Platon saw it as the only means to train the soul, Apollo, known for playing the lyre beautifully in Greek mythology, relieved people's troubles by performing this instrument in the best way possible. While Confucius pointed out the positive changes that music can make in human life, Fârâbî revealed that people's moods can change in a moment with different chords and rhythms. In Turkestan and Transoxiana, the activity of invoking the spirit, which is usually undertaken by women, was actively used in the treatment of patients, and these healer women treated the sick by summoning spirits, clapping their hands and other strange movements. The physicians of the Middle Ages, on the other hand, both worked as a physician in cities such as Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo, and treated patients by playing the oud and blowing the ney. This issue was more than realized in the great hospital opened by Nureddin Zangi in Damascus, which was at the center of the Crusades. Physicians working here have effectively benefited from music in the treatment of mental illnesses. Among these names, we can count important physicians such as Abu'l-Hakem al-Bahilî and his son Abu'l-Macd Efzaluddin who migrated from Andalusia to the region. Pioneers such as Ibn Sînâ, Fârâbî, Râzî and Kindî, who are known for their philosophy as well as their medicine, also pointed out the constructive role music plays in the treatment of patients. Reys physician and philosopher Abu Bakr ar-Razi advocated that melancholic patients should be treated by keeping them busy with various activities and advised them to be treated with music as well as hunting and fishing. Yakub al-Kindi, one of the first Islamic philosophers, revealed that there is a close connection between music and human health. Al-Kindi brought the relationship between music and breath to the agenda and drew attention to the positive contribution of music to human health. These studies later became a source of inspiration for the modern hospitals in the Anatolian Seljuk and Ottoman periods.