Severus Sebokht ( syc, ܣܘܪܘܣ ܣܝܒܘܟܬ), also Seboukt of Nisibis, was a
Syrian scholar and bishop who was born in
Nisibis
Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...
,
Syria in 575 and died in 667.
Although little is known about his early life, he was one of the leading figures in Syria in the 7th century. He taught at the
Theological School of Nisibis. In 612, he left the post because of a doctrinal dispute with the
Syriac Church of the East. He was a member of the
Syriac Orthodox Church. He was a resident of the monastery of
Qenneshre, which was situated near the banks of the
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...
. His student
Jacob of Edessa
Jacob of Edessa (or James of Edessa) ( syr, ܝܥܩܘܒ ܐܘܪܗܝܐ, Yaʿqub Urhoyo) (c. 640 – 5 June 708) was Bishop of Edessa and prominent Syriac Christian writer in Classical Syriac language, also known as one of earliest Syriac grammaria ...
(d. 708), the major representative of “Christian Hellenism".
He was a teacher of the philosophy of
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
. In 638, he wrote a major treatise on
syllogisms. He translated from Persian into
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
the commentaries on Aristotle of
Paul the Persian.
He was perhaps the first Syrian to mention the Indian number system.
He wrote a major treatise on the
Astrolabe. His treatise contained 25 chapters and provided detailed explanations of the measurements of the movements of heavenly bodies.
[Grigory Kessel et al., “Treatise on the Astrolabe - prooemion and scholion (based on Ammonius?)” in Syriac Scientific and Philosophical Literature last modified November 9, 2017, http://syriaca.org/work/9747.]
See also
*
History of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system
The Hindu–Arabic numeral system is a decimal place-value numeral system that uses a zero glyph as in "205".
Its glyphs are descended from the Indian Brahmi numerals. The full system emerged by the 8th to 9th centuries, and is first described o ...
*
Astrolabe
*
Paul the Persian
References
External links
*
PDF version
Severus-Sebokht(Encyclopædia Britannica)
{{Authority control
7th-century Syriac Orthodox Church bishops
575 births
667 deaths
People from Nusaybin
7th-century astronomers
7th-century mathematicians
7th-century writers
7th-century Byzantine writers
Byzantine astronomers
7th-century Byzantine scientists