al-Antaki, Yahya ibn Said
- Died
- 458 AH
- Born in
- Egypt
Yahya ibn Said al-Antaki (c. 370–458 AH / 980–1066 CE) was an Arab Christian historian and physician from Egypt who later settled in Antioch, best known for his historical chronicle continuing the universal history of Sa'id ibn Bitriq .
Life and Relocation
Abu al-Faraj Yahya ibn Sa'id ibn Yahya al-Antaki was a relative of the Melkite Alexandrian patriarch and physician Sa'id ibn Bitriq (Eutychius) . He spent the first forty years of his life in Egypt, where he witnessed and later documented the persecutions endured by non-Muslim subjects under the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah . Following the permission granted by al-Hakim allowing Christians to leave Egypt in 404 AH (1013 CE), he emigrated and arrived the following year in 405 AH (1014 CE) in Antioch, which was under Byzantine rule at the time . He remained in Antioch until his death in 458 AH (1066 CE) .
Scholarship and Historiography
Al-Antaki composed his historical chronicle Silat Tarikh Sa'id ibn Bitriq (also titled Dhayl Tarikh Sa'id ibn Bitriq) as an explicit sequel to Sa'id ibn Bitriq's universal chronicle Nazm al-Jawhar (The String of Gems) . His chronicle opens at the year 326 AH (938 CE), where Ibn Bitriq had concluded, and covers historical events, the tenures of patriarchs, and imperial and caliphal affairs down to 425 AH (1034–1035 CE) .
In the introduction to his history, al-Antaki recorded that he initially compiled what had reached him of verified earlier reports, but after obtaining newer historical works he revised the text entirely into a second redaction . Following his move to Antioch in 405 AH (1014 CE), he accessed additional historical sources, extracted further material to insert, and settled upon his final revision . A medical commentary on the questions of Hunayn ibn Ishaq, titled Tafsir Yahya ibn Sa'id li-Masa'il Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-Tibbiyya, is also attributed to him based on a manuscript preserved in Rabat .
Answer updated
List of Works
Tarikh al-Antaki (The Chronicle of al-Antaki), also known as Silat Tarikh Sa'id ibn Bitriq (The Continuation of the History of Sa'id ibn Bitriq), is an Arabic historical chronicle composed as a sequel to the universal chronicle of Eutychius (Sa'id ibn Bitriq). It documents historical events across the Islamic world, the Byzantine Empire, and neighboring peoples, continuing from the point where its predecessor concluded in 326 AH (938 CE) through to 425 AH (1034–1035 CE).