Inventions & Discoveries · Medicine and health

The Canon of Medicine

1025 · 11th century · Also known as Canon of Medicine, Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb, Canon medicinae

The Canon of Medicine is an encyclopedia of medicine in five books compiled by Ibn Sina (Avicenna), begun in Gorganj and completed in Hamadan in 1025. It sets out the medical knowledge of the Islamic world, shaped by Greco-Roman medicine, particularly Galen, and by Persian, Chinese and Indian medicine, listing about 800 simple drugs and 650 compound ones. Translated into Latin, it became the standard textbook in European universities into the early modern period and was still taught in Padua as late as 1715.

The Canon of Medicine
Image: Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

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First known
1025
Where
Hamadan, Persia
Credited to
Avicenna
Built onGalenic medicine162 CEHospital (bimaristan)805
Led toQuarantine1377

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Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). The Canon of Medicine. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/the-canon-of-medicine
MLA
“The Canon of Medicine.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/the-canon-of-medicine. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “The Canon of Medicine.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/the-canon-of-medicine.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘The Canon of Medicine’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/the-canon-of-medicine (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻