924-1015

Assyrian physician and scholar who translated Greek medical works, mainly those of Galen and Hippocrates, into Arabic and Syriac. Amid the scholarly atmosphere of tenth-century Baghdad, Ibn Masawaih, a Christian given the Latin name of Mesue, or Masawaih the elder, joined a small group of Arab-speaking Christian and Muslim scholars whose translations of classical Greek texts gave rise to the Islamic revival of learned medicine. Ibn Masawaih also conducted original research, aided by his dissection of apes, and is credited with more than 30 original medical works, including Daghal al-ain (Disorders of the eye) and a pharmacological compendium.