Yahya of Antioch

Who is Yahya of Antioch?

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 Egypt. He became a physician, but the anti-Christian pogroms of Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah forced him to flee to Byzantine-held Antioch.

His chief work is a continuation of Eutychius' Annals, stretching from 938 to 1034. Drawing on a variety of sources, his history deals with events in the Byzantine Empire, Egypt, as well as Bulgaria and the Kievan Rus'. Whilst in Antioch, he also wrote theological works in defence of Christianity and refutations of Islam and Judaism. He died ca. 1066.

His history was published, edited and translated into French in Volume 18 of the Patrologia Orientalis in 1928, and into Italian.