Masawaiyh

Yuhanna ibn Māsawayh ibn Masawayh ( Masojah ) the Elder, Abu Zakariya, John Mesue Latin senior (c. 777 in khuz at Nineveh; † around 857 in Samarra ). Was a Persian physician and writer.

Yuhanna was Nestorian Christian and came from a family of doctors in Gundischapur ( Persia ). He studied bar Nun ( 823-828 ), who later became Catholicos Gabriel ibn Bukhtishu, whose successor he was later, and Isho. He was appointed Caliph Harun ar - Rashid of the head of a hospital and also served his successors al-Ma'mun, Al - Mutasim, Al - Wathiq and al-Mutawakkil. From Al- Ma'mun, he was entrusted with the management of translation activities in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, Yūhannās own translations, however, are not known.

His most popular work, the axioms of Medicine, a collection of 132 aphorisms, which emphasizes the dependence of the physical from the mental constitution, was disseminated in Latin translation in the Latin West and was attributed to the Latin incunabula John of Damascus. In addition, numerous other medical journals, some only in fragments preserved.

Works

• Opera. - Venice: Peregrino Pasquale, 1489-91. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Dusseldorf