Translating Late Byzantine Medical Texts into Latin in the Sixteenth Century: The Cases of John Zacharias Aktouarios and the Dynameron

This article examines two late Byzantine medical works printed in the first half of the sixteenth century: the treatises of John Zacharias Aktouarios and the Dynameron (traditionally attributed to Nicholas Myrepsos). The translations were part of a humanist initiative to return to the sources and translate all Greek medical books into Latin, displacing the existing translations from Arabic and adding new material. These Byzantine texts (before the term became current) were regarded as repositories of Greek medical knowledge and presented as significant contributions to medicine.