Qusta ibn Luqa

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Qusta ibn Luqa

Qusta ibn Luqa (820-912) (Costa ben Luca, Constabulus). was a Melkite

Melkite

The term Melkite is used to refer to various Christianity churches and their members originating in the Middle East. The word comes from the Syriac language word malkaya , meaning "imperial"....
physician, scientist and translator, of Byzantine Greek

Byzantine Greeks

Byzantine Greeks or Byzantines or Romaioi, is a conventional term used by modern historians to refer to the medieval Greeks or Hellenization citizens of the Byzantine Empire, centered mainly in Constantinople, the southern Balkans, the Greek islands, Asia Minor and the large urban centres of the Near East and Northern Egypt....
extraction. He was born in Baalbek

Baalbek

Baalbek is a town in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, altitude 1,170 m , situated east of the Litani River. It is famous for its exquisitely detailed yet monumentally scaled temple ruins of the Roman Empire period, when Baalbek, known as Heliopolis was one of the largest sanctuaries in the Empire....
. Travelling to parts of the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
, he brought back Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
texts and translated them into Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages languages such as Hebrew language and Aramaic language....
.

Biography
Qusta ibn Luqa al-Ba'albakki, i. e. from Baalbek or Heliopolis

Heliopolis

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Qusta ibn Luqa (820-912) (Costa ben Luca, Constabulus). was a Melkite

Melkite

Byzantine Greeks

Baalbek

Byzantine Empire

Greek language

Arabic language

Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages languages such as Hebrew language and Aramaic language....
.

Biography

Qusta ibn Luqa al-Ba'albakki, i. e. from Baalbek or Heliopolis

Heliopolis

Heliopolis, meaning "sun city" in Ancient Greek, can refer to*Heliopolis , the ancient city in Egypt*Heliopolis , a suburb in modern Cairo, Egypt...
, Lebanon a Melkite, a Christian of Greek origin, was born in 860 and flourished in Bagdad. He was a Philosopher, Physician, mathematician and astronomer.

Translations of Diophantos, Theodosius of Bithynia

Theodosius of Bithynia

Theodosius of Bithynia was a Greek people astronomer and mathematician who wrote the Sphaerics, a book on the geometry of the sphere. Born in Tripolis , in Bithynia, Theodosius is cited by Vitruvius as having invented a sundial suitable for any place on Earth....
's Sphaerica, Autolycos, Hypsicles

Hypsicles

This article is about Hypsicles of Alexandria. For the historian, see Hyspicrates .Hypsicles was an ancient Greek mathematician and astronomer known for authoring De ascensionibus and the spurious Book XIV of Euclid's Elements....
, Aristarchos, Theophrastus

Theophrastus

Theophrastus , a Greek native of Eressos in Lesbos Island, was the successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. His interests were wide-ranging, extending from biology and physics to ethics and metaphysics....
’ Meteora, Galen

Galen

Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamum , was a prominent Ancient Rome physician and philosopher of Greek origin, and probably the most accomplished medical researcher of the Roman period....
’s catalogue of his books and Heron

Heron

The herons are wading birds in the Ardeidae family. Some are called egrets or bitterns instead of herons.Within the family, all members of the genera Botaurus and Ixobrychus are referred to as bitterns, and - including the Zigzag Heron or Zigzag Bittern - are a monophyletic group within the Ardeidae....
's Mechanics were made or revised by him, or made under his direction. He wrote commentaries on Euclid

Euclid

Euclid , floruit 300 BC, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematics and is often referred to as the Father of Geometry. He was active in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I ....
and a treatise on the spherical astrolabe

Astrolabe

astrolabe is a historical astronomical Measuring instrument used by classical astronomy, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses included locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets and stars; determining local time given local latitude and vice-versa; surveying; and triangulation....
. He was a prominent figure in the Graeco-Arabic translation movement that reached its peak in the 9th century. At the request of wealthy and influential commissioners, Qusta translated Greek works on astronomy, mathematics, mechanics and natural science into Arabic. He also produced works of his own: more than sixty treatises are attributed to him. He wrote mainly on medical subjects, but also on mathematics and astronomy. Qusta ibn Luqa wrote a treatise on the spherical astrolabes. Only a small part of his production has so far been edited. The extant editions of Qusta’s medical works show that he was thoroughly acquainted with Hippocratic-Galenic humoral medicine– the theoretical system that constituted the basis of formal medicine in Islam

Islam

Islam is a Monotheism, Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure....
.

His original works, many listed in the Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadim, dealt with contemporary science, medicine, astronomy and philosophy. A Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
translation of his work ‘On the Difference between the Spirit and the Soul’ (De Differentia Spiritus et Animae) was one of the few works not attributed to Aristotle that was included in a list of ‘books to be 'read,' or lectured on, by the Masters of the Faculty of Arts, at Paris in 1254,’ as part of their study of Natural Philosophy, . This translation was made by Joannes Hispalensis, (John of Seville

John of Seville

John of Seville was a twelfth-century translator, perhaps however working at Galicia n Limia , for he signed himself "Johannes Hispalensis atque Limiensis", during the Reconquista, the Christian campaign to regain the Iberian Peninsula....
, fl. 1140)

Of him Ibn al-Nadim

Ibn al-Nadim

Abu'l-Faraj Muhammad bin Ishaq al-Nadim , whose father was known as al-Warraq was a of unknown origin although some sources refer to him as Persian people Shi'ite Muslim scholar and bibliographer....
says: "He is an excellent translator; he knew well Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
, Syriac, and Arabic; he translated texts and corrected many translations. Many are his medical writings." Qusta was with Hunayn Ibn Ishaq

Hunayn ibn Ishaq

Hunayn ibn Ishaq...
the author who best served Greek culture in the Arab civilization.

He was also involved, with his fellow-Christian Hunayn ibn Ishaq

Hunayn ibn Ishaq

Hunayn ibn Ishaq...
, in an epistolary exchange with the Muslim astronomer, Abu Isa Yahya ibn al-Munajjim, who had invited them to embrace Islam. Both refused, and provided their reasons for rejecting al-Munajjim's Islamic faith.

He died in Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in South Caucasus between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea....
in A.D. 912.

Qusta ibn Luqa

Biography

See also

External links