Constantine the African

Constantine was a merchant, physician and scholar of the 11th century whose influence on medical knowledge persisted for several centuries. Born in North Africa, Constantine spent over thirty years working as a merchant and visiting distant lands in the Middle East, Africa and India. The last twenty years of his life he devoted to religion becoming a monk interested in medicine and philosophy. At the monastery of Monte Cassino in Salerno, Italy, he translated numerous Arabic works in Latin giving an important impetus to the development of medieval medical thoughts in Europe. Constantine died in Monte Cassino around 1087.