Encyclopædia of Philosophical and Natural Sciences as taught in Baghdad about AD 817, or Book of Treasures

Abstract

JOB of Edessa, “Job the Spotted”, or Ayyub ar-Ruhawi, was born in Edessa, possibly about A.D. 760, and seems to have survived until about A.D. 835. He was a member of the Nestorian church, and has achieved fame as one of the earliest and most prolific translators of Aristotle and Galen into an oriental language. Besides translations, he wrote many original works, of which only two are extant, namely, a treatise on canine hydrophobia, and the “Book of Treasures” which Dr. Mingana has here edited and translated from a manuscript the sole copy in a European libraryin his own collection. The “Book of Treasures”, probably written about A.D. 817, is a kind of philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia; it affords a clear perspective of the intellectual background of Bagdad under Harun ar-Rashid and Al-Ma'miin, and shows that, while Aristotle and other Greek writers were regarded as the great masters of secular knowledge, independence of thought was more prevalent than might be expected.

Encyclopædia of Philosophical and Natural Sciences as taught in Baghdad about A.D. 817, or Book of Treasures

By Job of Edessa. Syriac Text edited and translated with a Critical Apparatus by A. Mingana. (Vol. 1 of Woodbrooke Scientific Publications.) Pp. xlviii + 470. (Cambridge: W. Heffer and Sons, Ltd., 1935.) 42s. net.