Yuhanna ibn Masawaih (circa 777–857), (Arabic: يوحنا بن ماسويه), also written Ibn Masawaih, Masawaiyh, and in Latin Janus Damascenus,[1] or Mesue, Masuya, Mesue Major, Msuya, and Mesuë the Elder was a Persian[2] or Assyrian physician trained by Jabril ibn Bukhtishu[3] who was a member of the Church of the East.[4][5] from the Academy of Gondishapur. According to The Canon of Medicine for Avicenna and 'Uyun al-Anba for the medieval Arab historian ibn Abi Usaybi'a, Masawaiyh's father was Assyrian and his mother a Slav.[6]
Born in 777 as the son of a pharmacist and physician from Gundeshapur, he came to Baghdad and studied under Jabril ibn Bukhtishu.[7]
He became director of a hospital in Baghdad, and was personal physician to four Abbasid caliphs. He composed medical treatises on several topics, including ophthalmology, fevers, leprosy, headache, melancholia, dietetics, the testing of physicians, and medical aphorisms. One of Masawaiyh's treatises concerns aromatics, entitled, On Simple Aromatic Substances.
It was reported that Ibn Masawayh regularly held an assembly where he consulted with patients and discussed subjects with his pupils. Ibn Masawayh attracted considerable audiences, having acquired a reputation for repartee.
He was also the teacher of Hunayn ibn Ishaq.[7] He translated various Greek medical works into Syriac, but wrote his own work in Arabic.[7] Apes were supplied to him by Caliph al-Mu'tasim for dissection.[7]
Many anatomical and medical writings are credited to him, notably the Disorder of the Eye (Daghal al-ʿayn), which is the earliest systematic treatise on ophthalmology extant in Arabic, and The Aphorisms, the Latin translation of which was very popular in the Middle Ages.[7]
He died in Samarra in 857.
For his life and writings, see:
