## 1. The Syriac Background



Before the rise of Islam, a multisecular tradition of learning (Brock
1977, 1994; Bettiolo 2005; Watt 2010) had already achieved in Syria
the transition "from antagonism to assimilation" (Brock
1982) of the Greek philosophical
 culture,[6]
 especially but not exclusively
 Aristotelian.[7]
 Within the theological schools of Edessa and Nisibi, during the 4th
and 5th centuries, not only were the exegetical works translated from
Greek into Syriac (e.g. those of Theodorus of Mopsuestia), but so were
philosophical works (in particular, Aristotle's logical writings
and Porphyry's *Isagoge*). The continuity between the
Neoplatonic schools of late Antiquity, with their typical approach to
the Aristotelian corpus (Hadot 1991), is best exemplified by Sergius
of Resh'ayna (d. 536), a physician who held a prominent position
in the Syriac Church (Hugonnard-Roche 2001, 2004). A former student of
Ammonius in the Neoplatonic school of Alexandria, Sergius translated
into Syriac some thirty treatises by Galen, the pseudo-Aristotelian
*De
 Mundo*,[8]
 a treatise by Alexander of Aphrodisias, *On the Principles of the
All* (lost in
 Greek),[9]
 the writings of Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite and Evagrius Ponticus
(Watt 2011); he is also the author of a treatise on Aristotle's
*Categories* and another one on the scope of Aristotle's
 writings.[10]
 After the Arab conquest of Damascus (635) and the whole of Syria
(636), the Christian intellectual communities living under the Umayyad
Caliphate (661-750) continued to assimilate Greek philosophy and
science, focusing in particular on the Aristotelian logical corpus
together with its Neoplatonic introduction, namely, Porphyry's
 *Isagoge*.[11]
 This tradition of learning (Gutas 1983; Brock 1993; Hugonnard-Roche
2004; 2007; 2009; 2011) lay in the background of many of the
Christians of Syria who took part in the translation movement fostered
by the early 'Abbasid Caliphate (Watt 2004, Janos 2015). Albeit
superseded in number and importance by the translations into Arabic,
translations into Syriac continued even amidts the growing
translations into Arabic, in the 'Abbasid capital of Baghdad.


## 2. Early translations into Arabic



Already in Damascus, under the Umayyads, some philosophical writings
had been translated into Arabic. Salim Abu l-'Ala',
secretary to the caliph Hisham ibn 'Abd al-Malik (r.
724-743), initiated the translation of the pseudo-Aristotelian
letters on government to Alexander the
 Great.[12]
 This collection forms the nucleus of the most famous among the
"mirrors for princes", the *Sirr al-asrar*
(Grignaschi 1967, 1976; Manzalaoui 1974), known in the Latin Middle
Ages and early modern times as the *Secretum
 secretorum*.[13]
 One of the Arabic translations of the pseudo-Aristotelian *De
Mundo* also traces back to this period (Grignaschi 1965-66).
However, it was under the 'Abbasids (750-1258), and in
particular in the first two centuries of their caliphate, that the
translations blossomed.



Apparently, the first translations of the 'Abbasid era were
produced under the caliphate of al-Mansur (r. 754-775): his
secretary Ibn al-Muqaffa' (d.
 756)[14]
 is credited with the translation (or production) of a compendium of
Porphyry's *Isagoge*, plus the *Categories*,
*De Intepretatione* and *Prior
 Analytics*.[15]
 It has been contended (Gabrieli 1932, Kraus 1934) that this
authorship rests on a mistake and that this work should be attributed
to his son, Muhammad ibn 'Abdallah al-Muqaffa' (*fl*.
under the reign of al-Ma'mun, see below); however, other
scholars accept the father's
 authorship,[16]
 with the result that a companion of Aristotelian logic was already
available in the first decades of the 'Abbasid caliphate, under
the ruler who founded Baghdad (762). His son and successor al-Mahdi
(r. 775-785) had the *Topics* translated for him by the
Nestorian Patriarch Timothy I (d.
 823).[17]
 It has been advanced that the ancient Arabic translation of the
*Rhetoric*, "edited" by Ibn al-Samh (d.
 1027),[18]
 traces back to the 8th century (Aouad 1989c, 456-7). Under the
reign of Harun al-Rashid (r. 786-809) a translation of
Aristotle's *Physics* was made by a certain Sallam
 al-Abrash.[19]
 Neither translation has come down to us.


## 3. The translations of the "circle of al-Kindi": Aristotle, the Neoplatonic tradition and the rise of *falsafa*.



A great deal of translations made under the reign of al-Ma'mun
(r. 813-833) and his successors are extant. The new
interpretation of Islam and of the role of the caliph promoted by
 al-Ma'mun,[20]
 as well as the increasing interest in the secular sciences of the
elites of Islamic
 society,[21]
 created the context for the development of the translations into
Arabic. Even though the court library (*Bayt
al-hikma*,"House of
 Wisdom")[22]
 cannot be viewed as an institutional center for the translations of
Greek works into
 Arabic,[23]
 a close relationship existed between the activities of the first
group of translators and the court. The leader of this group, the
encyclopaedic scientist and first *faylasuf* Abu Ya'qub
ibn Ishaq
 al-Kindi,[24]
 was appointed as the preceptor of the son of the successor of
al-Ma'mun, al-Mu'tasim (r. 833-842): one of
Kindi's works is addressed to al-Ma'mun, whereas his major
metaphysical writing, *On First
 Philosophy*,[25]
 is addressed to al-Mu'tasim. How do we know that there was a
group of translators and that al-Kindi was its leader? The ancient
sources give a hint to this, in so far as they mention, for instance,
that the earliest translation of Aristotle's
*Metaphysics* was made *for*
 him.[26]
 Also, the *incipit* of the well-known
 *Theology of Aristotle*
 claims that he acted as the revisor of this work, in fact an adapted
translation of parts of Plotinus' *Enneads* IV-VI.
Since it has been established (Endress 1973) that the same lexical and
syntactical features of the two translations just mentioned are shared
by other translations from Greek, one can be reasonably sure that
several translators exchanged among themselves and with al-Kindi: the
latter has been described as the *spiritus rector* of this
group (Endress 1997a; 2007). The translations of this circle include
works by Plato, Aristotle, Nicomachus of Gerasa, Alexander of
Aphrodisias, Plotinus, Proclus, John Philoponus and Olympiodorus. It
is worth noting that the texts of Plotinus, and in part those of
Proclus and Philoponus, did not circulate under the names of their
authors: Plotinus circulated under the name of Aristotle (Rosenthal
1974), Proclus under those of Aristotle and Alexander of Aphrodisias,
and Philoponus under the name of Alexander (see below).



**Plato**. An early translation of the *Timaeus*
is mentioned in the bio-bibliographical
 sources,[27]
 but it has not come down to us. The circulation of at least parts of
the
 *Symposium*,[28]
*Phaedo* (Aouad 1989a; Gutas 2012, 855), and
 *Republic*[29]
 should be acknowledged in the age of al-Kindi.



**Aristotle**. The early translation of the
*Metaphysics* made for al-Kindi has come down to
 us;[30]
 the translator is the otherwise unknown
 Ustath.[31]
 Other Aristotelian works translated within the Kindi's circle
are the *Prior
 Analytics*,[32]
*Sophistici
 Elenchi*,[33]
*De
 Caelo*,[34]
*Meteorologica*,[35] *De Generatione
animalium* and *De Partibus
 animalium*,[36]
*Parva Naturalia* and possibly the *De
 Anima*,[37]
 plus a paraphrasis of this work in clear Neoplatonic vein (Arnzen
1998; 2003; Gannage 2012, 533). As shown by Ullmann
(2011-2012), the Arabic translation of Books V-X of the
*Nicomachean Ethics* must be traced back to Ustath (see also
Schmidt-Ullmann 2012). In addition to the genuine Aristotelian works,
some pseudepigrapha were also either translated in this period, or
produced within the circle of al-Kindi: these are of pivotal
importance for the rise and development of *falsafa*. It has
been established on firm grounds (Endress 1973) that the circle of
al-Kindi produced the translation and reworking of significant parts
of the *Enneads* IV-VI (known as the *Theology of
 Aristotle*)[38]
 as well as the translation and reworking of Proclus'
*Elements of Theology* (known as the *Book by Aristotle on
the Pure Good*). The
 *Theology*[39]
 was the most influential of the two in the Arabic-speaking world,
whereas the *Book by Aristotle on the Pure
 Good*[40]
 was bound to become immensely famous in the Latin world, under the
title *Liber de Causis*. Other pseudo-Aristotelian writings
trace back to this period: the *K. al-tuffaha* (*Liber de
Pomo*), namely, a reworking of the *Phaedo* with Aristotle
replacing the dying Socrates (Aouad 1989a; Gutas 2012, 855), and a
*Physiognomic* (Thomann 2003).



**Nicomachus of Gerasa**. The *Introduction to
Arithmetic* was translated within the circle of al-Kindi
(Altmann-Stern 1958, 35; Endress 1997a, 55; Freudenthal 2005).



**Alexander of Aphrodisias**. (i) Commentaries. The first
book of Alexander's commentary on the *De Gen. corr.*,
lost in Greek, is said to have been translated by Qusta ibn
 Luqa,[41]
 a physician and translator who came from Baalbek to Baghdad in the
first decades of the 9th century and had exchanges on medical and
philosophical matters with
 al-Kindi.[42]
 (ii) Personal works. Of prominent importance are two writings lost in
Greek: *On Providence* (Fazzo-Wiesner 1993) and a cosmological
treatise known in Arabic as *On the First Cause, the effect and its
movements* (ed. Endress 2002). From the circle of al-Kindi comes
also the translation of a series of Alexander's genuine
*Quaestiones*, intermingled in the manuscript sources with
propositions of Proclus' *Elements of Theology*,
attributed to Alexander (Endress 1973; overview on the Arabic
Alexander by Genequand 2011 and 2017).



**Plotinus**. Around AD 840 parts of *Enneads*
IV-VI (devoted in the Porphyrian edition of Plotinus'
writings to soul, the intelligible world and the One) were translated
into
 Arabic.[43]
 The problems about this translation, and in particular about the
transformation of parts of it into the *Theology of Aristotle*,
are dealt with in a separate
 entry.[44]
 For present purposes, it will suffice to mention the fact that at the
beginning of the *Theology of Aristotle* an author, speaking as
if he were Aristotle, proclaims to have devoted this treatise to the
First Cause, Intellect and Soul, after having dealt with matter, form,
the efficient and final causes in his *Metaphysics*. This
proclaimed "Aristotelian" authorship of the *Theology* granted Plotinus' doctrine an extraordinary impact on
subsequent Arabic philosophy, especially in the East of the Muslim
world.



**Proclus**. As we have seen before, the *Elements of
Theology* were translated into Arabic within the circle of
al-Kindi (Endress 1973; on later circulation, see Wakelnig 2006, 2011;
up-to-date survey by Endress 2012); some propositions were attributed
to Alexander of Aphrodisias under various titles--*On the
First Cause*, *On the Existence of Spiritual Forms with no
matter*, *On the Difference between eternity and time*,
*On Coming-to-be*, *On the Body* (van Ess 1966; Endress
1973; Zimmermann 1994). This collection of Proclus' propositions
is sometimes labelled as *Account of what Alexander has extracted
from Aristotle's book called Theology* (Endress 1973, 53;
Zimmermann 1986, 189-90; Goulet-Aouad 1989a, 133; Fazzo 2003,
64-5). Another writing by Proclus, extant in Greek only through
the quotations by John Philoponus in his *De Aeternitate
mundi*, was translated into Arabic in this period: the
*Eighteen arguments on the Eternity of the Cosmos against the
Christians* (Endress 1973, 15-16; Endress 2012,
1657-61; see also Wakelnig 2012).



**John Philoponus**. The bio-bibliographical sources
mention his commentary on the *Physics*, translated partly by
Ibn Na'ima al-Himsi and partly by Qusta ibn
 Luqa.[45]
 Also, fragments of an adapted translation of parts of the *De
Aeternitate mundi* were
 known[46]
 under the name of Alexander of Aphrodisias (Hasnaoui 1994; Giannakis
2002-3; Gannage 2012, 535-7).



**Olympiodorus**. A commentary on the *De Gen.
corr.*, lost in Greek, is said to have been translated by
 Ustath.[47]



In addition to these works, translated within the circle of al-Kindi,
two doxographies were translated into Arabic in this period: the
*Placita* of the pseudo-Plutarch, accounting for Greek
cosmologies from the Presocratics to the
 Stoics,[48]
 and the *Refutation of all the Heresies* by Hyppolitus of
Rome; the latter was reworked in light of the theological discussions
of the 9th century Baghdad and attributed to Ammonius, the Alexandrian
commentator of
 Aristotle.[49]



Thanks to this first set of translations, learned Muslims became
acquainted with Plato's Demiurge and immortal soul; with
Aristotle's search for science and knowledge of the causes of
all the phenomena on earth and in the heavens, culminating in the
doctrine of the Unmoved Mover; with Alexander's cosmology and
explanation of providence; with Plotinus' hierarchy of the
principles One, Intellect and Soul; with Proclus' systematic
account of how the One--indisputably identified with
Aristotle's Unmoved Mover--gives rise to the multiplicity
of our universe; finally, with John Philoponus' philosophical
arguments for creation. The translation of Proclus' arguments in
favour of the eternity of the cosmos against the Christians, as well
as of John Philoponus' reply to them, also made learned Muslims
acquainted with the fact that the Greek philosophers were at odds on
some crucial issues. The adaptations which appear in the reworking
both of Plotinus' *Enneads* (D'Ancona 2006) and of
Hyppolitus doxography attributed to Ammonius (Rudolph 1998) show the
strategy to deal with this problem typical of the circle of al-Kindi:
a strategy which would be successful in the long run. The idea of the
basic unity of the Greek philosophical tradition and the twin claim of
its intrinsic harmony with the Qur'anic doctrine of the
*tawhid* (divine oneness) will be established by the
endorsment, apparent in Kindi's own works, of the Aristotelian
model of the accumulation of knowledge by trial and error
(*Metaphysics*, A and *alpha elatton*).



> 
> His [Kindi's] treatise *On the First Philosophy*
> demonstrates in an elaborate deduction, dependent directly or
> indirectly on the *Platonic Theology* of Proclus, the absolute
> unity of the First Cause. Philosophy is engaged to defend the
> *tawhid*, the fundamental tenet of Islamic monotheism, against
> the temptation of dualism. Concepts provided by the Christian
> Neoplatonism of Johannes Philoponus and by Arabic excerpts from
> Plotinus and Proclus (available to him under the name of Aristotle)
> are used to describe the First Cause as the Creator of the world, the
> efficient cause of a *creatio ex nihilo* (*ibda'*).
> The perennial *hikma* of the ancient philosophy is thus shown
> to give guidance towards unequivocal and irrefutable knowledge,
> 'even though they may have fallen short slightly of some of the
> truth'. (...) Al-Kindi's creed will be echoed for
> centuries later by Ibn Rushd in his *Decisive Word* in defense
> of philosophy: 'The truth will not contradict the truth'.
> (Endress 1990, 6-7)
> 


## 4. The translations of Hunayn ibn Ishaq, his son Ishaq and their associates: the complete Aristotelian corpus and Alexander of Aphrodisias's universe



Another group of translators takes the floor a bit later: the one of
the Nestorian physician and scientist Hunayn ibn Ishaq (d. 873)
(Bergstrasser 1913, 1925; Gabrieli 1924; Meyerhof 1926a, 1926b;
Haddad 1974; Strohmaier 1990) his son Ishaq ibn Hunayn (d. 911), and
their associates. In addition to the medical corpus of
 Galen,[50]
 this group of translators made available in Syriac and/or in Arabic
other works by Plato, Aristotle, Theophrastus, some philosophical
writings by Galen, as well as works by Alexander of Aphrodisias,
Porphyry, perhaps Iamblichus, Themistius, Proclus, and John
Philoponus.



**Plato**. The Arabic translation of the *Timaeus*
made by Ibn al-Bitriq within the circle of al-Kindi was either
corrected by Hunayn ibn Ishaq, or superseded by the latter's
 translation.[51]
 The *Laws* were also translated by
 Hunayn,[52]
 but neither translation has come down to us. Hunayn ibn Ishaq is
credited also with an exegesis of the
 *Republic*.[53]
 To his son Ishaq is attributed the translation of a dialogue which
might be the *Sophist*, together with a commentary, possibly by
 Olympiodorus.[54]



**Aristotle**. The *K. al-Fihrist* credits Hunayn
ibn Ishaq with the translation of the
 *Categories*.[55]
 Hunayn also translated the *De Interpretatione* into Syriac
and Ishaq made the Arabic translation of
 it.[56]
 The *Prior Analytics* were translated into Syriac partly by
Hunayn and partly by Ishaq, and into Arabic by a certain
 Tayadurus.[57]
 The *Posterior Analytics* were translated into Syriac, partly
by Hunayn and in their entirety by
 Ishaq.[58]
 The latter also made a Syriac translation of the
 *Topics*,[59]
 but the translation which has come down to us is the Arabic one, made
by Abu 'Uthman
 al-Dimashqi[60]
 (books I-VII) and by Ibrahim ibn 'Abdallah (book
 VIII).[61]
 The *K. al-Fihrist* tentatively attributes to Ishaq a
translation of the
 *Rhetoric*,[62]
 but the extant anonymous Arabic version does not bear the features of
the translations of this period and has been ascribed to an earlier
 stage.[63]
 Ishaq also translated the *Physics* into
 Arabic.[64]
 As for the *De Caelo*, the *K. al-Fihrist* mentions a
revision made by Hunayn on Ibn al-Bitriq's
 version.[65]
 Hunayn is also the author of a compendium of the
*Meteorologica* (Daiber 1975). The *De Generatione et
corruptione* was translated into Syriac by Hunayn and into Arabic
by Ishaq; two other translations are mentioned, by Abu 'Uthman
al-Dimashqi and Ibn
 Bakkus.[66]
 All the translations mentioned are lost, although not without having
left some
 traces.[67]
 As for the *De Anima*, in the *K. al-Fihrist* we are
told that Hunayn translated it into Syriac in its entirety, and that
Ishaq made another partial translation, plus a complete translation
into
 Arabic.[68]
 Ishaq ibn Hunayn also retranslated (or revised) the
 *Metaphysics*.[69]
 He is also credited with the translation into Arabic of the
*Nicomachean
 Ethics*.[70]
 In addition to the genuine Aristotelian works, some spuria were also
translated by Hunayn and his associates: Hunayn himself possibly
translated the *Problemata Physica* (Filius 2003,
593-98); also the compilation of the so-called *De
Lapidibus* has been ascribed to him (Zonta 2003, 652-54).
Ishaq ibn Hunayn made the Arabic version of the *De Plantis*
(Drossaart Lulofs-Poortman 1989; Hugonnard-Roche 2003b,
499-505), and Abu 'Uthman al-Dimashqi is credited with the
translation of the *De Virtutibus et
 vitiis*.[71]



**Theophrastus**. The translation of the
*Metaphysics* is attributed to Ishaq ibn Hunayn in one of the
extant manuscripts, and linguistic analysis confirms this authorship,
even though the *K. al-Fihrist* attributes the translation to
Yahya ibn
 'Adi.[72]



**Nicolaus Damascenus**. His compilation *On the
Philosophy of Aristotle* was translated into Syriac by Hunayn ibn
Ishaq: the extant fragments from the first five books are extant and
 edited.[73]
 The commentary on the *De Plantis* too was translated by
Hunayn ibn Ishaq (Drossaart-Lulofs 1965, 16).



**Galen**. The compendium of Plato's
*Timaeus* has been translated into Syriac by Hunayn ibn Ishaq
and from Syriac into Arabic by Hunayn's pupil 'Isa ibn
Yahya ibn Ibrahim: the Arabic text has come down to us and forms
volume I of the *Plato
 Arabus*.[74]



**Alexander of Aphrodisias**. (i) Commentaries. The
commentary by Alexander on Book *Lambda* of the
*Metaphysics*, lost in Greek together with the rest of
Alexander's commentary beyond book *Delta*, is said to
have been translated into Syriac by Hunayn ibn
 Ishaq.[75]
 The Arabic translation, based in all likelihood on this Syriac
version, is lost, but several extracts of it survive in
Averroes' commentary on the *Metaphysics* (Freudenthal
1885; Bouyges 1952, clxxviii-clxxix). (ii) Personal works. Hunayn ibn
Ishaq translated *Qu*. III 3 on sense-perception (Ruland 1978),
and his son Ishaq in all likelihood is the translator of
Alexander's *De
 Anima*.[76]
 Two Arabic translations of the treatise *On the Principles of the
 All*[77]
 have come down to us: one by Ishaq ibn
 Hunayn[78]
 and the other by Abu 'Uthman al-Dimashqi (Genequand 2001,
31-9; Genequand 2017, 14-16). Even more important for the
subsequent developments of *falsafa* was Ishaq's Arabic
translation of the short treatise *On Intellect* (see Finnegan
1956; Badawi 1971, 31-42; Goulet-Aouad 1989, 134; Geoffroy
2002).



**Porphyry**. The *Isagoge*, already known to some
extent through a compendium of Aristotelian logic ascribed to Ibn
al-Muqaffa', was translated by Abu 'Uthman
 al-Dimashqi.[79]
 This is the only writing by Porphyry whose Arabic translation is
extant; other translations are mentioned in the bio-bibliographical
sources or otherwise attested by Arab authors. These sources mention
an *Introduction to the Categorical Syllogisms* translated by
Abu 'Uthman
 al-Dimashqi.[80]
 A commentary on the *Categories* is recorded in the *K.
 al-Fihrist*[81]
 and served as a source for Ibn
 Suwar's[82]
 "edition" of Hunayn's translation of the
*Categories* (Elamrani Jamal 1989, 511). A commentary on the
*Physics*, lost in Greek, is also
 mentioned.[83]
 A translation of the commentary on the *Nicomachean Ethics*,
lost in Greek, is attributed to Ishaq ibn
 Hunayn.[84]



**Iamblichus**. The anonymous translation of a commentary
on Pythagoras' *Golden Verses* attributed to Iamblichus
possibly belongs to this
 period.[85]




**Themistius**. Ishaq's Arabic translation of the
paraphrasis of the *De Anima*, mentioned in the
bio-bibliographical
 sources,[86]
 is extant and edited (Lyons 1973; see also Browne 1986, 1998 and the
overview by Elamrani Jamal 2003, 352-53). The Arabic translation
of a *Letter* by Themistius *On Government* is
attributed to Abu 'Uthman al-Dimashqi (Gutas 1975, 47).



**Nemesius of Emesa**. The *De Natura hominis* was
translated into Arabic either by Ishaq or by his father Hunayn (see
Samir 1986, Zonta 1991, Chase 2005).



**Proclus**. Ishaq retranslated the *Eighteen
Arguments on the Eternity of the Cosmos against the
 Christians*.[87]



**John Philoponus**. Even though there are no compelling
reasons to ascribe it to the milieu of Hunayn, the translation of
Philoponus' treatise *Against Aristotle on the Eternity of
the
 World*[88]
 might trace back to this
 period.[89]



**Olympiodorus**. A paraphrasis of the
*Meteorologica* translated by Hunayn ibn Ishaq and corrected by
his son Ishaq (Badawi 1971, 13) has been discovered and edited by
'A. Badawi (Badawi 1971, 95-190). The text, however, is
very different from the one preserved in Greek (Schoonheim 2003,
326).



Together with the translations of the Galenic corpus, Hunayn, Ishaq
and other translators associated with them put at the disposal of
learned Muslims the Aristotelian corpus in its entirety. This
enterprise paved the way to the understanding of Aristotle's
thought as a systematic whole based on the theory of demonstrative
science and crowned by the *Metaphysics*, an understanding
which is apparent both in al-Farabi and in
 Avicenna.[90]
 The translation of Alexander's treatises *On the Principles
of the All* and *On Intellect* helped to shape the
metaphysical cosmology and noetics of Medieval Arabic philosophy. A
hierarchy of separate, intellectual substances is seen as striving
towards Aristotle's Unmoved Mover, also called the "True
One" by both al-Farabi and Avicenna, in a purely Neoplatonic and
Kindian vein. In doing so, these separate substances imitate the
motionless causality of the First Principle by their eternal circular
movement (Pines 1986; Martini Bonadeo 2004). This warrants the
regularity of the laws of nature in the sublunar world. The Agent
Intellect also belongs to this hierarchy of separate substances: the
"light" shed by the Agent Intellect is seen as the
condition for the intellect that is a faculty of the human soul,
namely the potential intellect, to actually know the intelligibles
(Walzer 1970).



> 
> In texts in which al-Farabi lays down his program for philosophical
> education, such as the *Enumeration of the Sciences*, he
> explains that metaphysics has three parts. The first one studies
> beings qua beings; the second studies the principles of the
> theoretical sciences, such as logic and mathematics; the third studies
> beings that are neither bodies nor in bodies and discovers that they
> form a hierarchy leading to the First or One, which gives existence,
> unity, and truth to all other beings. It also shows how all other
> beings proceed from the One. (...) The presentation of the third
> part shows that al-Farabi has abandoned al-Kindi's view of the
> One as beyond being and intellect, and that he equates some features
> of Aristotle's Prime Mover who is an Intellect with those of the
> Neoplatonic One. He also distinguishes the First or God from the agent
> intellect. As the First knows only itself, emanation is necessary and
> eternally gives rise to the world. Al-Farabi intends to tidy up all
> the unresolved questions of Aristotle's *Metaphysics* and
> to develop a theological teaching. (Druart 2005, 334)
> 


## 5. The translations of Abu Bishr Matta ibn Yunus, Yahya ibn 'Adi and the Baghdad Aristotelians: the "Humanism" of the Buyid Age



Towards the middle of the 10th century, another set of translations
into Arabic was produced by the Nestorian Christian Abu Bishr Matta
ibn Yunus (d. 940) (Endress 1991a, Martini Bonadeo 2011a) and his
pupils. Abu Bishr Matta received his Aristotelian education at the
monastery of Mar Mari and came to Baghdad, where in the first decades
of the 10th century he had al-Farabi, a Muslim, and Yahya ibn
'Adi, a Jacobite Christian, among his
 pupils.[91]
 He did not know Greek and his translations were made on the basis of
the Syriac translations already
 extant.[92]




**Plato**. Another translation of the *Laws* is
attributed to Yahya ibn 'Adi by the ancient
 sources.[93]




**Aristotle**. Abu Bishr Matta translated into Arabic the
Syriac version of the *Posterior Analytics* made by Ishaq ibn
 Hunayn[94]
 and the Syriac translation of the
 *Poetics*.[95]
 Even though he did not know Greek, the ancient sources mention also a
translation by him *into* Syriac (hence, from Greek) of the
*Sophistici
 Elenchi*.[96]
 The sources mention also a partial translation of the *De
Caelo* by
 him,[97]
 as well as a translation of the *De Generatione et
 corruptione*.[98]
 Abu Bishr Matta also translated the *De Sensu et
 sensato*[99]
 and Book *Lambda* of the *Metaphysics*, together with
Alexander of Aphrodisias'
 commentary.[100]
 To his pupil Yahya ibn 'Adi--who was also a Christian
theologian and the author of philosophical
 treatises[101]--is
 attributed the Arabic version of the Syriac translation of the
*Topics* made in the previous century by Ishaq ibn
 Hunayn.[102]
 Yahya ibn 'Adi is credited also with the Arabic translation of
the *Sophistici Elenchi* from the Syriac version of Theophilus
of
 Edessa,[103]
 as well as with that of the
 *Poetics*.[104]
 One of the Christian pupils of Yahya ibn 'Adi, Abu 'Ali ibn
al-Samh, was the "editor" of the ancient translation of
the *Rhetoric*: it is this text which has come down to
 us.[105]
 Abu 'Ali ibn Zur'a, another Christian of this milieu, might
have translated an Alexandrian compendium of the *Nicomachean
Ethics* known as *Ikhtisar al-Iskandaraniyyin* (*Summa
Alexandrinorum*) (Dunlop 1982; Zonta 2003, 197). The 10th century
Baghdad Aristotelian Abu l-Faraj ibn
 al-Tayyib[106]
 translated the pseudo-Aristotelian *De Virtutibus et vitiis*
and *Divisiones* (ed. Kellermann-Rost 1965; see also Ferrari
2006, 30), and might be also the translator of the pseudo-Aristotelian
*Economics* (Zonta 2003, 549).



**Theophrastus**. Ibn al-Nadim, whose information about
Yahya ibn 'Adi is first hand, maintains that the latter
translated Theophrastus' *Metaphysics*; however, in light
of Ishaq's authorship mentioned above, this claim has been
interpreted as a revision of or an editorial work on Ishaq's
 translation.[107]




**Nicolaus of Damascus**. Abu 'Ali ibn Zur'a, a
Christian philosopher of the circle of Yahya ibn 'Adi, translated
into Arabic (in all likelihood from the Syriac version made in the
previous century by Hunayn ibn
 Ishaq[108])
 the *Compendium of Aristotle's
 Philosophy*.[109]
 The same Abu 'Ali ibn Zur'a began to translate
Nicolaus' compendium of the *De
 Animalibus*.[110]



**Alexander of Aphrodisias**. (i) Commentaries. Abu Bishr
Matta translated Alexander's commentary on the *De
Generatione et corruptione*, lost in Greek but partially preserved
in
 Arabic,[111]
 as well as the commentary on the
 *Meteorologica*.[112]
 He also made a partial translation of the commentary on the *De
 Caelo*.[113]
 (ii) Personal works. Abu Bishr Matta translated Alexander's
treatise *On
 Providence*[114]
 (which was also known to the circle of al-Kindi [Fazzo-Wiesner
1993]).



**Themistius**. Themistius' paraphrasis of the
 *Physics*[115]
 was known in the circle of Abu Bishr Matta (Endress 1977, 35) and
some notes which trace back to it are reproduced in the Leiden
manuscript mentioned above, which contains the text of the
*Physics* as it was studied in the Baghdad
 school.[116]
 In this milieu his paraphrasis of the *De Caelo*, lost in
Greek, was also translated (by Abu Bishr Matta) and revised (by Yahya
ibn
 'Adi).[117]
 Abu Bishr Matta translated from Syriac into Arabic three other works:
the paraphrasis of the *Posterior Analytics*, that of Book
*Lambda* of the *Metaphysics*, and a writing connected
with the
 *Topics*.[118]



**Proclus**. Two works by him were known to Yahya ibn
'Adi: the *De Decem dubitationibus circa providentiam*
(Endress 1973, 30 and Endress 2012, 1668-9) and the
*Elementatio Physica* (Endress 1973, 27-28 and Endress
2012, 1661).



**Simplicius**. The commentary on the *Categories*
is mentioned in the bio-bibliographical
 sources[119]
 and was known to Ibn Suwar, the "editor" of the so-called
"Organon of Baghdad" (see Hugonnard-Roche 1993).



**Olympiodorus**. Abu Bishr Matta translated into Arabic
his commentary on the *Meteorologica*, in all likelihood from
the Syriac version made by Hunayn ibn
 Ishaq.[120]
 The commentary on the *De Gen. corr.*, translated also by
Ustath at the beginning of the translation movement, was translated by
Abu Bishr Matta and revised by Yahya ibn
 'Adi.[121]
 A commentary of his on the *De Anima*, unknown in Greek, is
also mentioned as extant in
 Syriac.[122]
 Finally, an otherwise unknown "Allinus" who wrote a
commentary on the
 *Categories*[123]
 might be Elias, the pupil of Olympiodorus; however, other names have
been advanced; a "book by Allinus" was translated by Ibn
Suwar (Elamrani Jamal 1989, 151-2; Martini Bonadeo 2011c).



Typical of this period was the detailed exegesis of Aristotle's
*ipsissima verba* made possible by the translations into Arabic
of the old versions (often Syriac), as well as of the commentaries.
Far away from Baghdad, Avicenna will argue time and again against the
interpretations of Aristotle advanced within the context of the
Baghdad school of philosophy (Pines 1952; Gutas 2000). Nevertheless,
he will continue to rely on the corpus of the Greek sources made
available in the previous centuries, not only in the trivial sense of
the access they provided to the Greek thought for an Arabic
readership, but also in the less evident sense of the philosophical
agenda set by the thinkers who assimilated the Greek heritage.
Together with the meticulous exegesis of the text of Aristotle, the
ideal of carrying on the search for the lore and science of the
Ancients, taken as a whole, is a prominent feature of the
philosophical circles of this era, apparent both in the production of
collections like the *Siwan al-hikma* (*The Repository of
 Wisdom*)[124]
 and in the ideal of the attainment of happiness through
philosophy.



> 
> The overriding objective of the Islamic humanists was to revive the
> ancient philosophic legacy as formative of mind and character.
> (...) The philosophers considered the ultimate aim of man to be
> happiness (*eudaimonia*/*sa'ada*). Happiness, they
> thought, is achieved through the perfection of virtue, preeminently by
> the exercise of reason. Attainment of this happiness, or perfection,
> was said to be something divine, as Aristotle had stated in the
> *Nicomachean Ethics*. They depicted this attainment in noetic
> terms, as the conjoining of man's (particular) intellect with
> the divine (universal) intellect. The end of man was conceived as
> being his self-realization as a god-like being--we may say his
> 'deification'. By rising above the perturbations of sense
> and the disquiet of the emotions to the serene realm of the intellect
> and the divine, the philosophical man escapes worldly anxiety
> (*qalaq*) and reaches tranquillity (*sakina*). (Kraemer
> 1992, 6 and 19)
> 



The attitude to the search for happiness in the intellectual life (see
Endress 2014) and the endeavour to rely on the heritage of the
Ancients as a guidance in search of the "science of the things
in their truth (*'ilm al-ashya'i
bi-haqa'iqiha*)" and personal achievement bridges the
gap between the beginnings of *falsafa* in the age of al-Kindi
and the developments of the Muslim West, when Averroes would conceive
his project of commenting upon the Aristotelian corpus (Endress 1998;
2004).