““In ways that have not yet been properly understood, philosophy had a second beginning in Abbasid society by the end of the ninth century after the death of al-Kind¯ı, clearly in response to additional demand, but this time in a largely Aristotelian vein. The protagonist in this case was the Nestorian Christian Abu Bishr Matt ¯ a ibn Y ¯ unus, who came from Dayr Qunn ¯ a on the Tigris ¯ south of Baghdad. His Aristotelianism, which can be surmised to have been based on the philosophical curriculum known, if not actually practiced, at the monastery at Dayr Qunna, can be traced directly to the Alexandrian commen- ¯ tators of late antiquity and reaches beyond them to Alexander of Aphrodisias and Themistius.42””
