Arabic name: Yuhanna Ibn Sarabiyun A PHYSICIAN and geographer of the 9th century CE. His medical work was well-known in the European Latin world after the translation of some of his books. He wrote a Small and a Great Compendium, both in Syriac. The Syriac originals are unfortunately lost, but we still have fragments of different Arabic translations, as well as complete Latin and Hebrew versions of the Small Compendium. This book is a medical encyclopedia in seven books. As a geographer, Ibn Sarabiyun authored a book on geography: Kitab ‘aja'ib al-aqalim al-sab'a ila nihayat al-'imara, containing a description of the various seas, islands, lakes, mountains and rivers of the world. His descriptions of the Euphrates, Tigris and the Nile are very significant. His account of the canals of Baghdad is our main basis of the reconstruction of the medieval plan of that city. This reconstruction was done by Guy Le Strange (1900) who also used many other authorities, chiefly Ya'qubi. Ibn Serapion's account of the network of the water system and Ya'qubi's description of the highroads coming from Baghdad complete one another very well.
