Bukhtishu

The Bukhtīshūʿ (or Boḵtīšūʿ) were a family of either Persian or Syrian Eastern Christian physicians from the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, spanning six generations and 250 years. The Middle Persian-Syriac name which can be found as early as at the beginning of the 5th century refers to the eponymous ancestor of this "Syro-Persian Nestorian family". Some members of the family served as the personal physicians of Caliphs. Jurjis son of Bukht-Yishu was awarded 10,000 dinars by al-Mansur after attending to his malady in 765AD. It is even said that one of the members of this family was received as physician to Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin, the Shia Imam, during his illness in the events of Karbala.

Like most physicians in the early Abbasid courts, they came from the Academy of Gondishapur in what is now southwest Iran. They were well versed in the Greek and Indian sciences, including those of Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and Galen, which they aided in translating while working in Gondishapur.

In the course of their integration into the changing society after the Muslim conquest of Persia, the family acquired Arabic while preserving Persian as oral language for about 200 years.

The family was originally from Ahvaz, near Gondeshapur, however they eventually moved to the city of Baghdad and later on to Nsibin in Syria. Yahya ibn Khalid, the vizier and mentor to Harun al-Rashid, provided patronage to the Hospital and Academy of Gondeshapur and helped assure the promotion and growth of astronomy, medicine and philosophy, not only in Persia but also in the Abbasid Empire in general.

Consisting of a first, Middle Persian term meaning "redeemed" and a Syriac component for Yeshua/Jesus, the name can be translated as "Redeemed by Jesus" or "Jesus has redeemed". However, in his book Kitāb ʿUyūn al-anbāʿ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʿ (كتاب عيون الأنباء في طبقات الأطباء), the Arab, 12th century historian Ibn Abi Usaibia renders the meaning as "Servant of Jesus" (في اللغة السريانية البخت العبد ويشوع عيسى عليه السلام) in Syriac language.

There are no known remaining records of the first two members of the family. And the remaining records of the chain start from Jurjis. But the genealogical sequence follows as:^{[citation needed]}

Jurjis, the father of Bukhtishu II and grandfather of Jibril ibn Bukhtishu, was a scientific writer and was the director of the hospital in Gondeshapur, which supplied physicians to courts in Iraq, Syria, and Persia. He was called to Baghdad in 765 AD to treat the stomach complaint of the Caliph al-Mansur. After successfully curing the caliph, he was asked to remain in attendance in Baghdad, which he did until he fell ill in 769 CE. Before allowing him to return to Gondeshapur, the caliph invited him to convert to Islam but he declined, saying that he wanted to be with his fathers when he died. Amused by his obstinacy, the caliph sent an attendant with Jurjis to ensure he reached his destination. In exchange for the attendant and a 10,000 dinar wage, Jurjis promised to send his pupil Isa ibn Shahla to the caliph, since his son, Bukhtishu II, could not be spared from the hospital at Gondeshapur.

Bukhtishu II was the son of Jurjis ibn Bukhtishu and the father of Jibril ibn Bukhtishu. He was left in charge of the hospital at Gondeshapur when his father was summoned to treat the stomach complaints of Caliph al-Mansur. Jurjis never intended for Bukhtishu II to go to Baghdad and tend to the caliphs and had offered to send one of his pupils in his stead. Nevertheless, Bukhtishu II was in turn called to the city to treat the Caliph al-Hadi, who was gravely ill. He was unable to establish himself in Baghdad until 787 AD, when Caliph Harun al-Rashid was suffering violently painful headaches. He successfully treated Harun al-Rashid and in gratitude the caliph made him physician-in-chief, a post he held onto until his death in 801 C.E.