Jabril ibn Bukhtishu


Jabril ibn Bukhtishu, also written as Bakhtyshu, was an 8th-9th century physician from the Bukhtishu family of Assyrian Nestorian physicians from the Academy of Gundishapur. He was a Nestorian and spoke the Syriac language.
Grandson of Jirjis ibn Jibril, he lived in the second half of the eighth century.
He was physician to Ja'far the Barmakide, then in 805-6 to Harun al-Rashid and later to al-Ma'mun; died in 828-29; buried in the monastery of St. Sergios in al-Madain.
He wrote various medical works and exerted much influence upon the progress of science in Baghdad. Works attributed to him include Kitāb ṭabā’i‘ al-ḥayawān wa-khawāṣṣihā wa-manāfi‘ a‘ḍā’ihā, written for Nasir al-Dawla; Risāla fī al-ṭibb wa-al-aḥdāth al-nafsāniyya ; and Kitāb naʿt al-hayawān. He was a member of the Bakhtyashu family. He took pains to obtain Greek medical manuscripts and patronized the translators.