In Mesopotamia during the eleventh century a Muslim visir asked a Nestorian bishop to compose a book of spiritual instructrions which would enable him to drive away the anguish of his soul. This guidebook, widely disseminated in the Medieval period and until now inaccessible to the non-Arabist, orginated from this simple request. The book, “On Driving Away Anguish from the Soul”, is a text of wisdom literature. Organized like a “virtue list” along with the corresponding vices, it is a cultured work but a surprisingly accessible one. It draws from the wisdom of the Greek philosophers, Persian emperors, Christian monks of the East, as well as from Muslim sages and Bedouin folk wisdom. This text is a precious testimony of the Medieval Arabic cultural environment both in the variety of its roots and the homogeneity of its language.
(WARNING! This is the first part of the work, with arabic text and italian translation. For the complete work you have to look also for the second part: PCAC 10 Patrimonio Culturale Arabo Cristiano vol. #10)
