Pietro d'Abano

Template:Short description Template:Infobox person Pietro d'Abano, also known as Petrus de Apono, Petrus Aponensis or Peter of Abano<ref name=Colliers>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> (Template:Circa<ref>His date of birth is also given as 1246 and 1250.</ref><ref name="dict">Premuda, Loris. "Abano, Pietro D'." in Dictionary of Scientific Biography. (1970). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Vol. 1: p.4-5.</ref>Template:Snd1316), was an Italian philosopher, astrologer, and professor of medicine in Padua.<ref>Kibre, Pearl & Siraisi, Nancy G. (1978) Science in The Middle Ages, ed. David Lindberg, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. p. 135.</ref> He was born in the Italian town from which he takes his name, now Abano Terme. He gained fame by writing Conciliator Differentiarum, quae inter Philosophos et Medicos Versantur. He was eventually accused of heresy and atheism, and came before the Inquisition. He died in prison in 1315 (some sources say 1316<ref name="Barrett">Template:Cite book</ref>) before the end of his trial.<ref name = 'Tsoucalas'>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Biography

Bust of Pietro d'Abano at the University of Padua in Palazzo del Bo, Padua.

He lived in Greece for a period of time<ref name=Colliers/> before he moved and commenced his studies for a long time at Constantinople (between 1270 and 1290). Here, he learned the Greek language.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> Around 1300 he moved to Paris, where he was promoted to the degrees of doctor in philosophy and medicine, in the practice of which he was very successful, but his fees were remarkably high. In Paris, he began to have issues with the inquisition.<ref name=":0" /> Here, he became known as "the Great Lombard". In 1306, he left Paris and returned to Padua.<ref name=":0" /> Here, he gained a reputation as a physician. In Padua he befriended an older scholar Paolo Tosetti.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Also an astrologer,<ref>An important text, Astrolabium planum in tabulis ascendens, was attributed to him.</ref> he was charged with practising magic: the particular accusations being that he brought back into his purse, by the aid of the devil, all the money he paid away, and that he possessed the philosopher's stone.<ref name="EB1911">{{#if: |

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Gabriel Naudé, in his Antiquitate Scholae Medicae Parisiensis, gives the following account of him:

He carried his enquiries so far into the occult sciences of abstruse and hidden nature, that, after having given most ample proofs, by his writings concerning physiognomy, geomancy, and palmistry, he moved on to the study of philosophy, physics, and astrology. These studies proved extremely advantageous to him. The first two led to his introduction to all the popes of his time and gained him a reputation among scholars. Beyond that, his mastery of astrology is shown by

• the astronomical figures he had painted in the great hall of the palace at Padua
• his translations of the books of the great learned rabbi Abraham Aben Ezra
• his own books on critical days
• the improvement of astronomy
• and the testimony of the renowned mathematician Regiomontanus, who praised his mastery of astrology in his public oration at Padua on Al-Farghani's masterwork Elements of astronomy on the celestial motions.Template:Citation needed

Writings

Conciliator differentiarum philosophorum et precipue medicorum

In his writings he expounds and advocates the medical and philosophical systems of Averroes, Avicenna,<ref name=Colliers/> and other Islamic writers. His best known works are the Conciliator differentiarum quae inter philosophos et medicos versantur and De venenis eorumque remediis,<ref name="EB1911"/> both of which are extant in dozens of manuscripts and various printed editions from the late fifteenth through sixteenth centuries. The former was an attempt to reconcile apparent contradictions between medical theory and Aristotelian natural philosophy, and was considered authoritative as late as the sixteenth century.<ref>The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.</ref> Part of the conciliator differentiation revolves around reconciling apparent differences between what was known regarding the five since at the time and Aristotelian natural philosophy.<ref name=":0" />

Regarding Touch, Pietro aligned both Aristotle's views with at the time modern medical information regarding nerves.<ref name=":02">Template:Cite book</ref> On this, Pietro explains that while nerves are important in the sensation of touch, they are not the only part of the body responsible for the sensation.<ref name=":02" /> He goes on to state that because nerves exist throughout the body, the heart must also be involved.<ref name=":02" /> Furthering this idea, he explains that flesh and nerves are the medium of the sensation, and take this sensation back to the heart.<ref name=":02" /> This aligns with Aristotle's vision of the heart being the central organ regarding touch. Pietro adds nerves as the secondary organ in this matter.<ref name=":02" />

The famous grimoire called the Heptameron, though anonymous, has been traditionally attributed to Abano. The Heptameron is a concise book of ritual magical rites concerned with conjuring specific angels for the seven days of the week, whence the title derives. He is also credited with writing De venenis eorumque remediis, which expounded on Arab theories concerning superstitions, poisons and contagions.<ref name=Colliers/>

Inquisition, Trial and Death

Generic portrait of Petr[us] de abano conciliator, woodcut from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493. The reversed "c" is a standard Latin abbreviation for the prefix "con-".

Pietro d'Abano was taken to trial two times. In the first case he was acquitted and he died before the second trial reached a verdict. He was found guilty however, and his body was ordered to be exhumed and burned; but a group of friends had secretly moved it from place to place finally resting in St. Augustine's Church without burial Honors. The Inquisition had to content itself with the public proclamation of its sentence and the burning of Abano in effigy.<ref name="EB1911" /> By Naudes account, the effigy burning was done to hopefully discourage people from reading his writing.<ref name="Barrett" />

He was considered the best magician of the era by many authors, yet Barrett refers to the opinion that it was not on the score of magic that the Inquisition sentenced Pietro to death, but rather his denial of the influence of spirits (angels and demons). He instead attributed the unnatural to celestial bodies, meaning during his second trial it was not for the crime of magic but for heresy.<ref name="Barrett" />

There is a mild uncertainty as to when exactly he died and how old he was but it is widely accepted that he died in 1316 at the age of 66.<ref name="Barrett" />

Further reading

• Francis Barrett (1801) The Magus
• Joan Cadden (1997) "Sciences/silences: the nature and languages of 'sodomy' in Peter of Abano's Problemata Commentary". In: Karma Lochrie & Peggy McCracken & James Schultz (edd.), Constructing medieval sexualities, University of Minnesota press, Minneapolis & London, pp. 40–57.

External links

• The Heptameron