Ibn Butlan

Al-Mukhtar ibn al-Hasan ibn Butlan was a prominent Arab Christian physician educated in Baghdad under Abu al-Faraj ibn al-Tayyib. He practiced in Baghdad, Aleppo, Cairo, and Constantinople before retiring to a monastery in Antioch. Ibn Butlan became famous across both the Islamic world and medieval Europe for his holistic and preventative approach to medicine.

His magnum opus, Taqwim al-Sihha (Taqwin of Health), arranged hygienic and dietary rules in tabular form, analyzing the effects of climate, food, rest, sleep, emotional state, and exercise on human wellness. Translated into Latin as Tacuinum Sanitatis, it became one of the most widely circulated and lavishly illustrated medical texts in late medieval Europe.