Ibn Miskawayh

(c. 930 - 1030)

Ibn Miskawayh was born in Rayy, in present-day Iran, and worked as a secretary, archivist, and librarian for the Buyid rulers of Persia and their viziers. He drew heavily from Islamic thought as well as Greek and pre-Islamic Persian sources. The Shiite Buyid rulers operated under the Abbasid caliphs, but they had a tense relationship with the caliphate. According to one story, Ibn Miskawayh saved from destruction an entire library—one hundred camel loads—when it was attacked by religious warriors.