| The term was later
used by the Roman medical encyclopedist
Celsus (ca 30 BC–38 AD). Nonetheless,
to the Greeks—including Hippocrates
(ca 460–370 BC), Galen (129–200 AD),
and Paulus Aegineta (625–690 AD)—the
term elephantiasis was associated with
ambiguity, implying both filariasis and
leprosy [3]. It was not until 807–870 AD
that Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabbari first
described elephantiasis as Daa al-Fil
(daa = disease, fil = elephant) and denoted
treatments in Firdows al-Hikmat
(Paradise of Wisdom), the first existent
medical book in medieval Persia [4].
Other medieval Persian physicians such
as Rhazes (ca 865–925), Akhawayni
(?–983), Haly Abbas (930–994), Avicenna
(981–1037), and Jorjani (1042–1137)
followed al-Tabbari’s concept of elephantiasis
in their medical books |