Job of Edessa

Job of Edessa

Khurāsān under the Abbasid Caliphate. He played an important role in transmitting Greek science to the Islamic world through his translations into Syriac

Life

Job was a native of

Syriac Orthodox church. All known manuscripts of his works were produced in Syriac Orthodox circles.^[4]

In copies of his Book of Treasures, Job is given the title resh asawātā ('chief physician').

Job of Edessa was primarily known as a translator of

Muḥammad ibn Khālid ibn Barmak.^[5] He probably also translated Aristotle.^[4]

Two original works by Job have survived:

The Book of Treasures (Syriac: Ktābā d-simātā), an encyclopedic work of natural philosophy divided into six sections analysing the world according to a theory of elements. Job covers anatomy, astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, metallurgy, metaphysics, meteorology, physics, physiology, psychology and zoology.^[2]^[4] The astronomy shows no Ptolemaic influence, suggesting that it was composed before Job translated Ptolemy.^[5]
On Canine Hydrophobia (or On Rabies)^[2]^[4]

In these he cites several of his earlier works by title, namely:^[4]

On Urine (probably several treatises)
On the Causes of Fevers
On the Soul
On the Causes of the Coming Into Existence of the Universe From the Elements
On the Five Senses
On Essences
On Faith
Ten Syllogisms Taken From the Nature of Things, Which Prove that Christ is Both God and Man

These are now lost, but his treatises on

al-Bīrūnī.^[3] Scholars disagree whether he wrote some works in Arabic or if they circulated only in translation.^[4]

^ Syriac: Iyob or Ayyub Urhāyā; Arabic: Ayyūb al-Ruhāwī (see Roggema 2008 and 2011).
^ ^a ^b ^c Brock 1997, pp. 65–66.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Roggema 2008.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Roggema 2011.
^ ^a ^b Mingana 1935, p. xix.

Brock, Sebastian (1997). A Brief Outline of Syriac Literature
. St. Ephrem's Ecumenical Research Institute.

Roggema, Barbara (2008). "Job of Edessa". In David Thomas; Barbara Roggema (eds.). Christian–Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History. Vol. 1 (600–900). Brill. pp. 502–509.
doi:10.1163/1877-8054_cmri_COM_23616
.

Roggema, Barbara (2011). "Iyob of Edessa". In
George A. Kiraz; Lucas Van Rompay (eds.). Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition. Gorgias Press. Published online by Beth Mardutho, 2018.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link
)