Hunayn ibn Ishaq

Timeline

1. c. 809–830Hilla · MesopotamiaHunayn was born near Hilla in Iraq to a Nestorian (Syriac Christian) family, learning Syriac and Greek from childhood, and studying medicine and languages under the famous physician Yunus ibn Abi al-Shaykh in Basra and elsewhere.
2. c. 830–860Baghdad · MesopotamiaSummoned to Baghdad by Caliph al-Mu'tasim and others, Hunayn directed the translation program of the House of Wisdom, rendering Galen's great medical works and others from Greek via Syriac into Arabic, personally revising the quality of the translations and forming a systematic methodology of translation.
3. c. 860–873Baghdad · MesopotamiaIn his later years Hunayn continued translating and writing; his family and students (such as Ishaq, son of Ishaq, and others) carried on the translation work, forming an influential school of translation. His Arabic versions of Greek medical works became the foundational texts of medical education in the Islamic world.