Kusan shekara ɗari bayan Herodotus, shahararren masanin kimiyya, masanin falsafa kuma masanin tarihi na Girka, Aristotle (Aristotélēs, 384–322 BC), ya yi magana game da ‘Palestine’ bai ambaci kalmar ‘Cana’an’ ba – galibi saboda ‘Palestine’ ta shafi wani yanki na tarihi na gaske, yayin da kalmar ‘Cana’an’ mai yiwuwa an samo ta ne daga wani labarin addini-akida da aka gina daga baya a cikin Tsohon Alkawari, wanda a lokacin Aristotle ba zai iya sanin sa ba. Ayyukan Aristotle sun zama ginshiƙi ga kimiyyar gwaji da falsafa na zamanin dā, na tsakiya da na zamani. Ayyukansa sun kafa tsarin farko cikakke na falsafar Yammacin Duniya. A cewar Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘Aristotle shi ne masanin kimiyya na farko na gaskiya a tarihi ... [kuma] kowane masanin kimiyya yana cikin bashinsa’.2

Approximately a century after Herodotus, the celebrated Greek scientist, philosopher and historian Aristotle (Aristotélēs, 384–322 BC) talks about ‘Palestine’ and does not mention the term ‘Cana’an’ – primarily because ‘Palestine’ applied to a real historical region, while the term ‘Cana’an’ was probably derived from a subsequently constructed religio-ideological narrative of the Old Testament with which at the time Aristotle could not have been familiar. The work of Aristotle is foundational for ancient, medieval and modern empirical sciences and philosophy. His work constituted the first comprehensive system of Western philosophy. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘Aristotle was the first genuine scientist in history ... [and] every scientist is in his debt’.2

A cikin sanannen littafinsa, Meteorology (Girkanci: Μετεωρολογικά (340 BC), Aristotle ya bayyana halaye na musamman na ruwan Tekun Matattu:

In his famous work, Meteorology (Greek: Μετεωρολογικά (340 BC), Aristotle describes the special qualities of the Dead Sea water:

Kuma idan, kamar yadda ake tatsuniya, akwai wani tafki a Falasdinu, wanda idan ka ɗaure mutum ko dabba ka jefa shi a cikinsa sai ya yi iyo, ba ya nutsewa, to wannan zai tabbatar da abin da muka faɗa. Ana cewa wannan tafki yana da ɗaci da gishiri sosai, har ba a samun kifi a cikinsa, kuma idan ka jiƙa tufafi a cikinsa ka girgiza su, sai ya wanke su.

Again if, as is fabled, there is a lake in Palestine, such that if you bind a man or beast and throw it in it floats and does not sink, this would bear out what we have said. They say that this lake is so bitter and salt that no fish live in it and that if you soak clothes in it and shake them it cleans them.

Wannan an fahimce shi sosai kuma a hankali daga malamai a matsayin nuni ga Tekun Matattu (Jacobson 1999: 66‒67)

This is widely and logically understood by scholars to be a reference to the Dead Sea (Jacobson 1999: 66‒67)

Falsafar Aristoteles da kalmominsa sun yi tasiri mai zurfi a kan tunanin falsafa na Larabawa-Musulmi, da na Larabawa-Yahudawa, da na Kiristoci a cikin tsakiyar zamani. Kalmomin Aristoteles da sunayensa sun shahara sosai a wurin malaman Musulmi da masana kimiyya na tsakiyar zamani, kuma Musulmai malamai sun girmama shi sosai har suka kira shi ‘Malami na Farko’. A cikin dukan tsakiyar zamani, masu fassara, malamai da masana kimiyya Musulmi sun san majiyoyin Girkanci na dā sosai, ciki har da majiyoyi a fannin tarihi, kimiyya, falsafa da ilimin ƙasa. Wani littafin taƙaitawa na Larabci game da Meteorology na Aristoteles, mai suna al-ʿAthar al-ʿUlwiyyah, Yahya ibn al-Bitriq, wani malamin Kirista Ba’arabe, ya shirya shi kusan shekara ta 800 CE, kuma malaman Musulmi sun yada shi sosai a cikin ƙarnukan da suka biyo baya.

Aristotelian terminology and thought profoundly influenced Arab- Islamic, Arab-Jewish and Christian philosophical thought throughout the Middle Ages. Aristotelian terminology and naming were well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals and scientists and he was widely revered by Muslim scholars as ‘The First Teacher’. Throughout the Middle Ages Muslim translators, scholars and scientists became closely acquainted with classical Greek sources, including sources in history, sciences, philosophy and geography. An Arabic compendium of Aristotle’s Meteorology, called al-ʿAthar al-ʿUlwiyyah was produced c. 800 CE by the Arab Christian scholar Yahya ibn al-Bitriq and was widely circulated among Muslim scholars over the following centuries.