Donkey milk knowledge archive · Historical source

Ibn Butlan, Tacuinum sanitatis: donkey milk in the tables of health (1531 print)

Around the middle of the eleventh century the Baghdad physician Ibn Butlan set out the rules of health in tables. The Latin printed version of 1531 says that ass’s milk benefits those who are wasting away, and that it is thin because the she-ass keeps the coarse part for herself.

Historical account: The information reproduced here reflects the knowledge of its time. It is not scientifically substantiated, is not a recommendation and cannot be applied to today. Donkey milk is a food, not a remedy.
c. 1060Baghdad (original); printed in StrasbourgRegimen of health in tabular form
Author
Ibn Butlan (Abu l-Hasan al-Mukhtar ibn Butlan, d. c. 1066), Latin “Elluchasem Elimithar”
Work
Taqwim al-sihha, Latin Tacuinum sanitatis; print: Tacuini sanitatis Elluchasem Elimithar Medici de Baldath, Strasbourg: Johann Schott 1531
Passage
Table “De Lacte, & Condimentis aliis …” p. 60 with explanations p. 61 (section “Lac”); introductory canons p. 15
Time & place
mid-11th century (Arabic original); printed Strasbourg 1531 · Baghdad (original); printed in Strasbourg
Type of source
Regimen of health in tabular form

In the original words

What the original says

Et lac Asininum confert consumptis.

And ass’s milk [according to the Tacuinum] benefits those who are wasting away.

Latin (1531 print)Tacuini sanitatis Elluchasem Elimithar (Straßburg: Schott 1531), S. 61, Erläuterung zu „Lac“

Et caussa subtilitatis lactis asinini est: quia asina lactans, propter suam grossiciem, grossum ipsius retinet ad sui nutrimentum

And the reason for the thinness of ass’s milk is that the nursing she-ass, because of her own coarseness, keeps back the coarse part [of the nourishment] for her own sustenance.

Latin (1531 print)Tacuini sanitatis (Straßburg 1531), S. 15, einleitende Canones über Butter, Kolostrum und Milch

English rendering: our own translation by the DON DONKEY’S editorial team, following the sense of the text.

Digitised copy · c. 1060Tacuini sanitatis, Strasbourg 1531, p. 61: explanations on milk, sour milk and cheese; the line on ass’s milk is in the section “Lac”.

A look at the original

What the passage looks like

Tacuini sanitatis, Strasbourg 1531, p. 61: explanations on milk, sour milk and cheese; the line on ass’s milk is in the section “Lac”.

The page comes from a freely accessible digitised copy. Click to open the passage at the library.
Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma, Digitalisat über Google Books / Internet Archive; gemeinfrei

View in the digitised copy →

Background

Who, when, what kind of text

Ibn Butlan was a Christian physician from Baghdad who travelled through Syria and Egypt to Constantinople in the eleventh century and died around 1066. His Taqwim al-sihha, literally “ordering of health”, presents foods, drinks, air, exercise, sleep and emotions in tables. Each line gives the nature, benefits, harms and remedy of an item, much like an astronomical table.

The work was translated into Latin in the thirteenth century. As the Tacuinum sanitatis it became famous above all through lavishly illustrated fourteenth-century manuscripts. In 1531 the Strasbourg printer Johann Schott published a Latin version together with writings by Ibn Wafid (Albengnefit) and al-Kindi. He calls the author “Elluchasem Elimithar”, physician of Baghdad.

Content

What the source reports about donkey milk

In the table on milk and milk dishes, milk appears as a whole. The explanation on the facing page states that milk consists of whey, curd and butter, whose proportions vary with the animal. Two short sentences follow: ass’s milk benefits those who are wasting away, camel’s milk mixed with the animals’ urine benefits those with dropsy.

The introductory canons of the print explain why ass’s milk was considered thin: the nursing she-ass keeps the coarse part of her food for herself, as befits her nature. The same section places sheep’s milk between cow’s and ass’s milk, ass’s and mare’s milk between camel’s and goat’s milk, and names women’s milk as the most balanced.

At a glance

Figures & facts from the source

c. 1066death of Ibn Butlan; the Taqwim was written shortly before
1531Latin print by Johann Schott in Strasbourg
pp. 60–61table on milk and milk dishes with explanations
p. 15reason for the thinness of ass’s milk in the canons
3components of milk according to the text: whey, curd, butter

Timeline

Where this source stands in the history of donkey milk

Each dot is a source from our knowledge archive – from Greek antiquity to the present day.

c. 1060400 BC050010001500170018001900today

Critical assessment

How reliable is this source?

Source value

The 1531 print can be checked page by page. It reproduces a Latin translation whose exact origin and editing are not known in detail; the introductory canons and explanations differ in details from the illustrated manuscripts.

Brief and tabular

The statement on ass’s milk consists of a single sentence. It shows how firmly donkey milk was linked with wasting in the eleventh century, but gives no further reason. The explanation of its thinness follows humoral theory.

Today’s assessment

The statement that ass’s milk benefits those who are wasting away is a finding of medical history, not advice valid today. Classing it as a thin milk matches its low fat content as known today, but at the time it was not based on measurement.

Our assessment

The Tacuinum shows how donkey milk was seen in Islamic Baghdad, and later in Latin Europe, as part of an ordered way of life. The concise tabular form made such judgements easy to pass on.

References

Sources to check

More sources and studies in the research archive. Summarised by the DON DONKEY’S editorial team, as of November 2026.