Books The reformation of morals | ||
Died 13 August 974 AD, Baghdad, Iraq | ||
Abū Zakarīyā’ Yaḥyá ibn ʿAdī (John, father of Zachary, son of Adi) known as Yahya ibn Adi (893–974) was a Syriac Jacobite Christian philosopher, theologian and translator working in Arabic.
Biography
Yahya ibn Adi was born in Tikrit (modern-day Iraq) to a family of arabised Syriac Jacobite Christians in 893.
In Baghdad he studied philosophy and medicine under Abu Bishr Matta ibn Yunus, who had also taught Al-Farabi.
He translated numerous works of Greek philosophy into Arabic, mostly from existing versions in Syriac. These include: Plato's Laws; Aristotle's Sophistical Refutations (from a Syriac translation by Theophilus of Edessa) and Topics (from a translation by Hunayn ibn Ishaq); and Theophrastus' Metaphysics.
He also composed a number of philosophical and theological treatises, the most significant being Tahdhib al-akhlaq and Maqala fi at-tawhid. He taught a number of Christian and Muslim students, including Ibn Miskawayh, Ibn al-Khammar and Ibn Zura.
He died in 974 and is buried in the Syriac church of St Thomas in Baghdad.