Hunayn Ibn Ishaq.html



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Hunayn ibn Ishaq (Syriac: Hunein Bit Ishak, Arabic: أبو زيد حنين بن إسحاق العبادي‎, ’Abū Zayd Ḥunayn ibn ’Isḥāq al-‘Ibādī; known in Latin as Johannitius (809-873) was a famous and influential Assyrian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating scientific and medical works in Greek into Arabic. Although Arabic historical sources refer to him as an Arab¹²³, as well as some modern sources⁴⁵⁶⁷, other modern sources refer to him as Assyrian⁸.

Biography

Hunein was born in Al-Hira, near Kufa, the son of a Nestorian pharmacist. As a young man, Hunayn went to Baghdad where he enrolled in a medical school under the direction of Masawaiyh. Hunein learned Greek and began privately to translate Greek medical texts into Arabic. In 830, he was put in charge of the Bayt al Hikmah (House of Wisdom), a college of scholars supported by the Abbasids for the purpose of translating Greek texts. He translated many treatises of Galen and the Galenic school into Syriac, and thirty-nine into Arabic; through his renderings some important works of Galen escaped destruction. Hunayn also translated Aristotle's Categories, Physics, and Magna Moralia; Plato’s Republic, Timaeus, and Laws; Hippocrates’ Aphorisms, Dioscorides’ Materia Medica, Ptolemy's quadri-partition, and the Old Testament from the Septuagint Greek.

In addition to his work of translation, he wrote treatises on general medicine and various specific topics, including a series of works on the eye which remained influential until the fifteenth century.

Later medieval sources knew him by the Latinized name, Joannitius. His son Ishaq ibn Hunayn helped him with his translations and wrote other books by himself.

Work

Ishaq was considered one of the best translators of his time. Bilingual from his childhood in Arabic and Syriac, he was considered a better translator, since he considered more than one text.⁹ In this manner Hunain translated several Greek works on the sciences, mostly dealing with medicine and philosophy. He is also credited with an Arabic Old Testament, and trained many translators of the House of Wisdom later responsible the better translations of the time.¹⁰ Hunain describes his work as follows, on his collation of multiple texts of De methodo medendi:

“For the first six books only a single manuscript, and besides that a very faulty one, was at my disposal at the time. I was therefore unable to produce these books in the manner required. Later I came across another manuscript and collated the text with it and corrected it as much as possible. It would be better if I could collate a third manuscript with it if only I were fortunate enough to find one.”^{citation needed}

Hunayn and the Caliph

Hunayn is also famous for his ethics as a physician. Supposedly Caliph Al-Mutawakkil decided to test Hunayn by offering him a large sum to create a poison to use against an enemy; when Hunayn put him off, he offered him more money. Hunayn then lectured him that it was against his professional ethics to harm rather than heal. Al-Mutawakil had Hunayn imprisoned, and threatened to execute him for his defiance. When Hunayn still refused, Al-Mutawakil had him released from prison and richly rewarded for his ethical behavior and integrity.

See also

• List of Arab scientists and scholars

Notes

References

• A brief introduction to Hunayn bin Ishaq
• O'Leary, De Lacy (1948) How Greek science passed to the Arabs Routledge and K. Paul, London;

External links

• Aprim, Fred "Hunein Ibn Ishak - (809-873 or 877)";