Marian aretalogy of an impious Christian physician to Abbasid caliphs
An aretalogy fragment from the early Abbasid caliphate features the Christian physician Yūhannā ibn Māsawayhi, known also for being crude and impious.
Tagged: Ibn Abi Usaibia
Bakhtīshū chooses season for relaxation
The tale of Bakhtīshū’s great wealth evokes only the wonder and marvel of fabulous, season-dominating luxury.
Tagged: Ibn Abi Usaibia
ibn Butlān and ibn Ridwān in vicious intellectual competition
In the 11th century, the eminent physicians ibn Butlān and ibn Ridwān viciously disputed the question “which is warmer, the chick or the chicken?”
Tagged: Ibn Abi Usaibia, knowledge
managing patients: physicians serving early Islamic rulers
Physicians were highly influential figures in rulers’ courts in the early Islamic world, but managing ruler-patients was far from easy.
Tagged: Ibn Abi Usaibia
Christian fearlessness under early Roman persecution
Early Christians were known for fearlessness in facing death under Roman religious persecution.
Tagged: Ibn Abi Usaibia
early Islamic stories shift heroes from deeds to ideals
Compared to ancient Greek stories, early Islamic stories shift narrative weight from deeds to ideals.
Tagged: Ibn Abi Usaibia
poetic currency of ancient Islamic social distinction
Poetry was a common currency for claiming social distinction in the ancient Islamic world.
Tagged: Ibn Abi Usaibia
the perfect physician can revive the dead
Fulfilling a universal human hope is a physician who can revive the dead: the perfect physician.
Tagged: Ibn Abi Usaibia
Indian and Greek medicine competing in eighth-century Baghdad
Greek medicine prevailed over Indian medicine under the Abbasids at least in part through story-telling and courtly politics.
Tagged: Ibn Abi Usaibia
status dynamics in 12th-century Baghdad
Outsiders could achieve high status in ancient Baghdad, but the paths to high status were complex and volatile.
Tagged: Ibn Abi Usaibia
