‘The healer of all illnesses’: the origins and development of Rûm’s gift to the Tang court: theriac

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the second year of the Qianfeng era (667 ad), an envoy of the Rûm (Fu Lin) King arrived with a gift of theriac (diyejia) for the Tang Empire. From then on, the theriac was recorded in Chinese materia medica books, and even a Muslim medical formulary, namely Huihui Yaofang. In fact, since the ancient Greek and Roman Empires, theriac has been a highly renowned Western antidote, which even evolved to be regarded as a panacea. By tracing the Wuzang lun proclamation that ‘theriac is the healer of all illnesses’ back to its source, this article tries to bring to life an ancient narrative tapestry that tells of a medicine’s journey across Europe and Asia. This study would benefit our understanding of the connections between medicine’s transmission and cultural communication between the ancient East and West.