Pethion — ܦܬܝܘܢ
edition published: 2016-08-17-04:00
language: en
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Pethion; ܦܬܝܘܢ; Pethion; Peṯyūn; Pethyun; Pēthyun; Pethiōn; Pet(h)jôn; Pet(h)jôn
identifier: http://syriaca.org/person/996
identifier: http://viaf.org/viaf/sourceID/SRP|person_996
Author of an ecclesiastical history whose accounts regarding Christian physicians were cited by Elijah of Nisibis.
floruit: 0765/1018, 8th cent.-9th cent.?
Whether this Pethion is to be identified with other Pethions of approximately the same period has been the subject of much discussion. He must have been active after 765-768, since Elijah of Nisibis cites him for events of this period, and before 1018, the likely date Elijah completed his work. Thus, as Wright recognized, he cannot be identified with the Catholicos Pethion, who died in 740 or 741. Berti suggests that he may be the same as Pethion of Elam, the addressee of Catholicos Timothy's letter 9 and the head of the School of Beth Lapaṭ (Gondeshapur). This would make sense, given the fact that Elijah's citations of Pethion's work have to do with the Christian physician George of the Bokhtishoʿ family connected with Beth Lapaṭ. The works of Ibn Sīnā (Canon of Medicine) and Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa (History of the Physicians), cite him as "Pethion the Translator" for events through the 850s. He thus seems to be identified with a Pethion appearing in Ibn al-Nadīm's Fihrist, who was apparently alive after the death of Ibn Kullāb in 854/855. For more details, see the entries linked above.
state: East Syrian
Clavis Historicorum Tardae Antiquitatis Ecclesiastical history Pethyon
Eliae metropolitae Nisibeni opus chronologicum, I [Text] Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium Scriptores Syri Scriptores Syri Series Tertia 178-179
Eliae metropolitae Nisibeni opus chronologicum, I [Translation] Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium Scriptores Syri Scriptores Syri Series Tertia 85
A Short History of Syriac Literature 194-195
Geschichte der syrischen Literatur mit Ausschluß der christlich-palästinensischen Texte 214 214