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Premodern Armenian Medicine, Tsaghik and Potential New Evidence for the Early History of Smallpox

dc.contributor.authorHambardzumyan, Naira
dc.contributor.authorPostajyan, Vardanush
dc.contributor.authorZipser, Barbara
dc.date.accessioned2026-04-07T09:18:07Z
dc.date.available2026-04-07T09:18:07Z
dc.date.issued2025-12-30
dc.identifier.issn2084-140X
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11089/57969
dc.description.abstractThe paper presents new ethnomedical and philological evidence for a disease that is commonly identified as smallpox, predating the earliest known and convincing descriptions of the 10th century AD physician Rhazes. Our earliest source dates to the 7th century AD in Armenia. It refers to a disease called Tsaghik, which translates to flower, a name that is today in modern Armenian used to describe smallpox. We established a number of plant derived treatments for this disease. Moreover, we present preventative measures from Armenian folklore, some of which were still in use a few decades ago.en
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherWydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiegopl
dc.relation.ispartofseriesStudia Ceraneaen
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
dc.subjectAnania Shirakatsien
dc.subjectGrigor Magistros Pahlavunien
dc.subjectHamaspyuren
dc.subjectsmallpoxen
dc.titlePremodern Armenian Medicine, Tsaghik and Potential New Evidence for the Early History of Smallpoxen
dc.typeArticle
dc.page.number261-284
dc.contributor.authorAffiliationHambardzumyan, Naira - National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Institute of Literature after Manuk Abeghianen
dc.contributor.authorAffiliationPostajyan, Vardanush - Matenadaran Mesrop Mashtots Institute-Museum of Ancient Manuscripts of the Republic of Armeniaen
dc.contributor.authorAffiliationZipser, Barbara - Royal Holloway University of Londonen
dc.identifier.eissn2449-8378
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dc.contributor.authorEmailHambardzumyan, Naira - nairahambardzumyan@yahoo.com
dc.contributor.authorEmailPostajyan, Vardanush - keshishian.varty@gmail.com
dc.contributor.authorEmailZipser, Barbara - barbara.zipser@rhul.ac.uk
dc.identifier.doi10.18778/2084-140X.15.08
dc.relation.volume15


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