Avicenna the name by which a famous Persian physician and writer of the 11th century is generally known, although his Arabic name was Ibn Sina. He was born near Bokhara, where his father was a Persian official, and lived his life in various Persian cities, including Ispahan. He is often referred to as an Arabic philosopher; this is perhaps because he did his studying of philosophy, medicine, astronomy, and mathematics in Arabic, the medium through which he knew the writers of classical Greece such as Aristotle.
