The Book of Asaf

The origins of the medical work called The Book of Asaf (Sefer Asaf) are still obscure. In the first passage here, the author, “Asaf,” roots himself in a long medical tradition, highlighting the role played by a Persian king named Artaxerxes, perhaps indicating that Persian influence shaped the composition of this work. Indeed, later Persian and Islamic legends remember a man named Asaf ibn Barakhyā as a knowledgeable and important figure in the court of King Solomon. The work also includes a number of Persian terms that seem to date to the eighth or ninth centuries. The second section may also provide a date for this work, as the Hebrew month Nisan and the Persian month Bahmen coincided only in the middle of the eighth century. The earliest extant manuscript, however, was copied in Italy in the thirteenth century.