Yahya of Antioch, full name Yaḥya ibn Saʿīd al-Anṭākī (), was a Melkite Christian physician and historian of the 11th century. He was most likely born in

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. He became a physician, but the

anti-Christian Anti-Christian graffiti from the Alexamenos graffito">Alexamenos worships his god.") Anti-Christian sentiment, also referred to as Christianophobia or Christophobia, is the fear, hatred, discrimination, or prejudice against Christians and/or asp ...

policies of Caliph

Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah Abu Ali al-Mansur (; 13 August 985 – 13 February 1021), better known by his regnal name al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (), was the sixth Fatimid caliph and 16th Ismaili imam (996–1021). Al-Hakim is an important figure in a number of Shia Ism ...

(r. 996–1021) forced him to flee to

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

-held

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

. His chief work is a continuation of Eutychius' ''

Annals Annals (, from , "year") are a concise history, historical record in which events are arranged chronology, chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction betw ...

'', stretching from 938 to 1034. Drawing on a variety of sources, his history deals with events in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

, Egypt, as well as

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

and the

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

. Whilst in Antioch, he also wrote theological works in defence of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

and refutations of Islam and Judaism. He died . His history was published, edited and translated in 1924 by I. Kratchkovsky and A. Vasiliev into

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

in Volumes 18, 23, and 47 of the ''

Patrologia Orientalis The ''Patrologia Orientalis'' is an attempt to create a comprehensive collection of the writings by eastern Church Fathers in Syriac, Armenian, Arabic, Coptic, Ge'ez, Georgian, and Slavonic, published with a Latin, English, Italian or mostly ...

''. In 1997 it was translated into Italian by Bartolomeo Pirone. Polish translation is included in 2015/2016 Ph.D. thesis "Bliski Wschód w kronice Yaḥyi al-Anṭākīego" by Maciej Czyż, and a partial Russian translation by iktor von Rosenalso exists. A supposed English translation by J. H. Forsyth in 1977 is in fact only a study.J.H. Forsyth "The Chronicle of Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Antaki", (Univ. of Michigan Ph.D. thesis, 1977), Online here: https://archive.org/details/forsyth-1977-chronicle-yahya-antaki/Forsyth_1977_Chronicle_Yahya_Antaki/

Sources

References

External links

Volume 18 of the ''Patrologia Orientalis'', including the first part (sections 1-135) of Yahya's history, at the ''Internet Archive'' (pp. 698–833)

Volume 23 of the ''Patrologia Orientalis'', including the second part (sections 136-312) of Yahya's history, at the ''Internet Archive'' (pp. 346–520)
* Volume 47 of the ''Patrologia Orientalis'', including the third and final part (sections 312 onwards) of Yahya's history, at the ''Internet Archive'' (pp. 372–559) 1066 deaths 11th-century Byzantine physicians 11th-century Byzantine historians Arab Christians Byzantine theologians 11th-century Egyptian people Year of birth unknown Byzantine people of Arab descent 11th-century Christian theologians 11th-century Byzantine writers {{Byzantine-bio-stub