Yahya ben al-Bitriq

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Yahya ben al-Bitriq

c. 754-775

Islamic scholar and translator who was known for his translations of ancient Greek and Roman writings into Arabic. Although many of his translations were in regard to medicine under the caliphate of al-Munsur, he also translated other scientific works. In particular, he made the first translation of Aristotle's Meteorologica into Arabic, although it was not an exact translation, and he sometimes reduced it to summarization and paraphrase. Yet this translation would be that used by Gerard of Cremona (1114-1187) to provide the first Latin text of the work to the West, which would be the basis for European commentaries until late in the thirteenth century.

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