Yahya ibn Adi

Yahya ibn Adi (893 to 974) was a Syriac Orthodox Christian philosopher, theologian and translator working in Arabic, born in Tikrit and active for most of his career in Baghdad. He studied under Abu Bishr Matta ibn Yunus, who had also taught al-Farabi, and he went on to teach both Christian and Muslim students, among them Ibn Miskawayh, Ibn al-Khammar and Ibn Zura. His central contribution was the translation of Greek philosophical texts into Arabic, including Plato's Laws and works of Aristotle and Theophrastus, largely from earlier Syriac versions, and he also wrote original treatises of his own, including Tahdhib al-Akhlaq and Maqala fi at-Tawhid. His career exemplifies the role Christian scholars played in transmitting and advancing Greek philosophy within the Islamic world during the Abbasid period.