Bukhtishu

Ibn Bakhtishu's Manafi' al-Hayawan (منافع الحيوان ), dated 12th century. Captions appear in Persian language.

The Bukhtīshūʿ (or Boḵtīšūʿ) were a family of either Persian[1][2][3] or Syrian Eastern Christian[4][5] physicians from the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, spanning six generations and 250 years. The Middle Persian-Syriac name which can be found as early as at the beginning of the 5th century refers to the eponymous ancestor of this "Syro-Persian Nestorian family".[6] Some members of the family served as the personal physicians of Caliphs.[7] Jurjis son of Bukht-Yishu was awarded 10,000 dinars by al-Mansur after attending to his malady in 765AD.[8] It is even said that one of the members of this family was received as physician to Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin, the Shia Imam, during his illness in the events of Karbala.[9]

Like most physicians in the early Abbasid courts, they came from the Academy of Gondishapur in what is now southwest Iran. They were well versed in the Greek and Hindi sciences, including those of Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and Galen, which they aided in translating while working in Gondishapur.[10]

In the course of their integration into the changing society after the Muslim conquest of Persia, the family acquired Arabic while preserving Persian as oral language for about 200 years.[6]

The family was originally from Ahvaz, near Gondeshapur, however they eventually moved to the city of Baghdad and later on to Nsibin in Syria.[11] Yahya ibn Khalid, the vizier and mentor to Harun al-Rashid, provided patronage to the Hospital and Academy of Gondeshapur and helped assure the promotion and growth of astronomy, medicine and philosophy, not only in Persia but also in the Abbasid Empire in general.[12]

  1. ^ Frye, R.N., ed. (1975). The Cambridge history of Iran (Repr. ed.). London: Cambridge U.P. p. 415. ISBN 978-0-521-20093-6. Among the Christians also there were some of Persian origin or at least of immediate Persian background, among whom the most important are the Bukhtyishu' and Masuya (Masawaih) families. The members of the Bukhtyishu* family were directors of the Jundishapur hospital and produced many outstanding physicians. One of them, Jirjls, was called to Baghdad by the 'Abbasid caliph al-Mansur, to cure his dyspepsia.
  2. ^ Philip Jenkins. The Lost History of Christianity. Harper One. 2008. ISBN 0061472808.
  3. ^ Richard Nelson Frye. Heritage of Persia. Mazda Publishers. 2004.
  4. ^ Bonner, Bonner; Ener, Mine; Singer, Amy (2003). Poverty and charity in Middle Eastern contexts. SUNY Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-7914-5737-5.
  5. ^ Ruano, Eloy Benito; Burgos, Manuel Espadas (1992). 17e Congrès international des sciences historiques: Madrid, du 26 août au 2 septembre 1990. Comité international des sciences historiques. p. 527. ISBN 978-84-600-8154-8.
  6. ^ a b Lutz Richter-Bernburg. BOḴTĪŠŪʿ. Enyclopaedia Iranica. Volume IV, Fasc. 3. 1990. ISBN 978-0-7100-9132-1
  7. ^ Islamic Culture and the Medical Arts: Greek Influences
  8. ^ Edward Granville Browne, Islamic Medicine, Goodword pub., 2002, ISBN 81-87570-19-9, p23
  9. ^ Imam Hossayn va Iran (امام حسین و ایران), by Zabihullah Mansouri (ذبیح الله منصوری). Tehran. Also: [1]
  10. ^ Max Meyerhof, "An Arabic Compendium of Medico-Philosophical Definitions," Isis 10, no. 2(1928): 348.
  11. ^ Donald R. Hill, Islamic Science and Engineering. 1993. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-7486-0455-3 p.4
  12. ^ Maz Meyerhof, "An Arabic Compendium"