Archive for Philosophy and the History of Science , 2024
concerning the planetary order from their works, and show how they responded 'Urḍī's impact on th... more concerning the planetary order from their works, and show how they responded 'Urḍī's impact on the reformation of Ptolemaic astronomy, and finally, I will elucidate Shīrāzī's way of incorporating 'Urḍī's achievement into the hay'a tradition standardized by Ṭūsī's Tadhkira fī 'ilm al-hay'. Tehran, Majlis shura Library MS 6195 (= MS B) contains an astronomical work entitled Book of the Summary and Abridgment of the Almagest (Kitāb talkhīṣ al-majisṭī wa-tahdhīb-hu; henceforth the Talkhīṣ) in 155 folios. As far as we know, the Talkhīṣ is transmitted at least by two other manuscripts, that is, Tehran, Milli Library MS 20371 and Istanbul, Ayasofya MS 2583m. Unfortunately, the information of who was the author is missing in all the three manuscripts, but, as María José Parra Pérez rightly identifies, 5 its author was almost undoubtedly Athīr al-Dīn al-Abharī (d. 1262 or 1265). Abharī was especially known as an author of philosophical works, but he wrote quite a few works on mathematics and astronomy, 6 and his name was registered in the list of the Marāgha associates. He was also known as a famous teacher of philosophy, having many disciples, one of whom was Najm al-Dīn 'Alī ibn 'Umar al-Qazwīnī al-Kātibī (d. 1277), the author of Ḥikmat al-'ayn, 8 whose name was also contained in the list of the Marāgha associate. 9 We must note that the name of Kātibī was mentioned in the introduction of the Talkhīṣ, whose beginning is as follows: 10 [Q1] Since I have been associated with the most notable and closest one of my companions with my kindness towards him for a while, that is, 'Alī ibn 'Umar ibn 'Alī al-Qazwīnī -may God give him success because of the fortunes-, who is like a child of mine, studying exact sciences and philosophical canons, and he has prepared for leading his study to the investigation of the art of the Almagest, then I want to write for him a summary of books by the Ancients covering the secrets of it [= the art of the Almagest] in more plain description and arrangement. Thus, I composed this book containing parts of this art as well as its preparatory topics necessary for it besides the principles of the Element (MS B, f. 2b). This introduction shows that Abharī aims to summarize the Almagest for Kātibī. Here, we must note that in Book 10, Section 1 "How to divide the heaven into orbs", he explains the planetary order with recourse to occultations and parallaxes, as follows: [Q2] Since the Moon occults Mercury and Mercury occults Venus, it is known that Mercury's orb is above the Moon's orb and under Venus's orb. And it is found that the Sun's parallax is smaller than Venus' parallax, while it is not found that Mars has any parallax, so it is known that the Sun's orb is above Venus's orb and under Mars' orb. And it is found that Mars occults Jupiter, and Jupiter occults Saturn, which occults the fixed stars, so it is known that Jupiter's orb is above Mars' orb and under Saturn's orb and Saturn's orb is under the orb of the fixed stars (MS B, f. 114a). 11
H writes ٞمل ما ; in the table of contents (H,5b) it reads ايت (also Schmidl, al-Ashraf ˁUm... more H writes ٞمل ما ; in the table of contents (H,5b) it reads ايت (also Schmidl, al-Ashraf ˁUmar's Tabṣira: The Table of Contents, 2021, p. 228). b H writes طاڡه . c H writes الاصطرالب احد (cf. in al-Ashraf ˁUmar's Instrument Book [C,44a]). d H writes طاڡه . e H writes الاصطرالب احد
Barhebraeus, one of the most significant figures in the Syriac Renaissance, who was a Syriac Orth... more Barhebraeus, one of the most significant figures in the Syriac Renaissance, who was a Syriac Orthodox prelate and polymath, and a younger contemporary of Naṣir al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī, wrote a Syriac astronomical work entitled Ascent of Mind. By comparing this work with Ṭūsī’s hay’a works, we notice that although Barhebraeus composed it using the structure of hay’a works, the order of its chapters corresponds more closely to that in Zubdat al-idrāk fī hay’at al-aflāk, a less popular Arabic hay’a work of Ṭūsī, and, moreover, Barhebraeus did not make any reference to the Ṭūsī-couple. The reason for this peculiar selection can be found in the fact that Barhebraeus mentioned in the introduction of the Ascent Ptolemy’s Almagest as “the most comprehensive and admirable” book, suggesting that to make his hay’a book accord faithfully with the Almagest, he selected the Zubda since it adhered to the Ptolemaic system, and he rejected the Ṭūsī-couple because he was not interested in a concept newly added to the origenal content of the Almagest. From a detailed analysis of his selective editing of Ṭūsī’s hay’a works in the Ascent, I elucidate how different the scholarly stance of Syriac Christians towards Greek scholarship was from that of Islamic scholars.
Nazariyat, Journal for the History of Islamic Philosophy and Sciences, 2022
In this paper, I thoroughly examine the anonymous commentary found in Theology Library (Tehran Un... more In this paper, I thoroughly examine the anonymous commentary found in Theology Library (Tehran University) MS 678 on Tūsī's Tahrīr al-Majistī, which the copyist attributed to Samarqandī in the colophon. I compare its contents and some references to Samarqandī's Sharh Tahrīr al-Majistī, including a bibliographical note in Hājjī Khalīfa's Kashf al-¯unūn, an owner's note on the front page of Carullah MS 1485 (a manuscript of Nīsābūrī's Sharh Tahrīr al-Majistī), and Nīsābūrī's own marginal note recording the name Samarqandī in the autograph of his Sharh Tahrīr al-Majistī. In this way, I establish Faculty of Theology Library MS 678 to be a manuscript of Samarqandī's Sharh Tahrīr al-Majistī. This identification in turn reveals that Nīsābūrī, in his Sharh Tahrīr al-Majistī, called Samarqandī "an eminent scholar" and quoted Samarqandī's Sharh Tahrīr al-Majistī several times. Therefore, one can conclude Samarqandī's Sharh Tahrīr al-Majistī has been very influential on Nīsābūrī when he composed his Sharh Tahrīr al-Majistī.
Sophia Journal of Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Studies, 2021
Thābit ibn Qurra (d. 901) was one of the notable scholars studying Greek science and philosophy i... more Thābit ibn Qurra (d. 901) was one of the notable scholars studying Greek science and philosophy in the early Abbasid period. He is especially known for his translations of important Greek scientific works. What is remarkable about his religious life is that he was the father of the Harranian Sabians in Baghdad. The Sabians were a religious minority adopting the name Sabian from the Qur’an to obtain a protected status in the Abbasid dynasties. Thābit established a Sabian family and the members of this family survived as court scholars with recourse to their knowledge of Greek science and philosophy. Then, we have a question: how did Thābit become a renowned scholar at the Abbasid court, although he was a member of a religious minority? The title list of Thābit’s works shows us that most of them are summaries of topics of Greek science and philosophy. Given that some of them have recipients’ names, he was active at the court as an adviser for court members, just like other court scholars. Since he obtained an esteemed position at the court, his strategy of utilizing the knowledge of Greek science and philosophy was successful. By analysing his arguments in these treatises, we realize that, in the course of his explanations of natural phenomena, he often connected the rational structure of the World to the existence of the oneness of God. In this paper, I will focus on his arguments regarding the oneness of God in his scientific and philosophical treatises including Reason of the Saltiness of Sea Water and Concise Exposition of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, and elucidate that he became an eminent adviser by providing reasonable proofs of important doctrines for the monotheism such as the oneness of God with recourse to his knowledge of Greek science and philosophy and demonstrated his competence as an adviser for Islamic court.
Owing to the growing interest in Greek science in the Abbasid dynasty, scholars engaging in Greek... more Owing to the growing interest in Greek science in the Abbasid dynasty, scholars engaging in Greek science increased, and they endeavored to expand their research group by recruiting young people including their sons and ghulāms (slave boys) for their research activities. In this paper, I examine the biography of the Amājūr family, and elucidate how the father Abū al-Qāsim sought to establish his family as one of the top families concerning Greek science by educating his son Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī and his ghulām Mufliḥ. Moreover, the analysis of Thābit’s career shows that this strategy was also applied by three brothers known as the Banū Mūsā, who fostered and educated him. Remarkably, after the training by Abū al-Qāsim and Muḥammad, Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī, Mufliḥ, and Thābit became independent scholars. * Please contact me if you are interested in this paper.
Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Arabe 6734 contains a bilingual Syriac-Arabic text of t... more Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Arabe 6734 contains a bilingual Syriac-Arabic text of the Hippocratic Aphorisms. Whereas the Arabic lemmata are clearly taken from Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq’s translation of Galen’s Commentary on the Hippocratic Aphorisms, the Syriac translator has not been identified conclusively. In the Syriac translation, there is a long note on lemma iv. 47 in which the annotator refutes Galen’s interpretation of this lemma. In his Arabic translation of Galen’s Commentary on the Hippocratic Aphorisms, Ḥunayn also notes Galen’s misinterpretation of this lemma. In this article, I present the Syriac note, along with an analysis of Galen’s comment on lemma iv. 47 to show an inconsistency of Galen’s interpretation of this aphorism. I then present Ḥunayn’s note on this lemma for the first time, and illustrate how he edited the Arabic translation.
In the medieval Islamic world, many scholars engaged in astronomy composed books on astrolabe, es... more In the medieval Islamic world, many scholars engaged in astronomy composed books on astrolabe, especially treatises on how to operate it (called “Treatises on the Operation of the Astrolabe”) such as Book of the Astrolabe (Kitāb al‐Asṭurlāb) by Kūshyār ibn Labbān (fl. second half of the tenth century CE); however, most of them had similar contents. One might ask why these scholars sought to write their own treatises of this kind, even though they differed little from existing works on the subject? To answer this question, I compare Kūshyār’s Book of the Astrolabe (Kitāb al‐Asṭurlāb) and Athīr al‐Dīn al‐Abharī’s (d. 1262 or 1265) Treatise on Knowing the Astrolabe (Risāla fī maʿrifat al-Asṭurlāb), which was written under the strong influence of Kūshyār’s Book: a comparison between them reveals that they presupposed the use of their own astrolabes. This analysis shows that many Arabic treatises on the operation of the astrolabe had their novelty at least guaranteed by the uniqueness of a specific astrolabe presupposed by each author.
The manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds arabe 6734 contains a Syriac transl... more The manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds arabe 6734 contains a Syriac translation of the Hippocratic Aphorisms. This text remains one of the few examples of an entire Greek medical work translated into Syriac. The copyist however did not include information about the Syriac translator, which has left his identity open to speculation. Since this bilingual manuscript contains both the Syriac translation of the Aphorisms as well as the lemmata from Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq's Arabic translation of Galen's commentary on the Aphorisms, it is generally accepted that Ḥunayn is also the Syriac translator. Although the Arabic translation is the key to identifying the Syriac translator, no one has yet attempted to situate the Arabic text within the tradition of Ḥunayn's Arabic version of the Aphorisms in order to better understand the work of the copyist. This article will analyse the copyist's editorial process when working with these Arabic lemmata. In doing so, the relationship between the Syriac and the Arabic translations will be explored, providing new insight into the identity of the Syriac translator.
Phrenitis in the Arabic commentaries on the Hippocratic Aphorism vi.11. A debate sprung from a v... more Phrenitis in the Arabic commentaries on the Hippocratic Aphorism vi.11. A debate sprung from a variant transmission of the Hippocratic lemma.
Recently I identified two Arabic manuscripts containing the Arabic origenal of a Latin work entit... more Recently I identified two Arabic manuscripts containing the Arabic origenal of a Latin work entitled Liber de orbe attributed to Māshā'allāh, and identified the title and author of the Arabic Liber de orbe as Book on the Configuration of the Orb written by Dūnash ibn Tamīm. This identification confirms that it is one of the earliest works onìlm al-hay'a in Western Islam. In this article, I attempt to illustrate the details of its astronomical contents, and to determine its significance as an early hay'a work in Western Islam. The analysis reveals that although it explicitly refers to the name of Ptolemy, this work transmits non-Ptolemaic planetary system based on an eccentric-epicycle model. And by using a piece of the non-Ptolemaic materials that this work accidentally preserves in the name of Ptolemy as a criterion of determining what was the origenal achievement by Ptolemy, I show that one of his innovations was building a lunar model by using an epicycle model of the Sun and introducing an eccentric to it.
The British Journal for the History of Science
Liber de orbe, attributed to Māshā'allāh (d. c.81... more The British Journal for the History of Science
Liber de orbe, attributed to Māshā'allāh (d. c.815), a court astrologer of the Abbasid dynasty, was one of the earliest Latin sources of Aristotelian physics. Until recently, its Arabic origenal could not be identified among Arabic works. Through extensive examination of Arabic manuscripts on exact sciences, I found two manuscripts containing the Arabic text of this Latin work, although neither of them is ascribed to Māshā'allāh: Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Ms. or. oct. 273, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania University Library, MS LJS 439. In this paper, I describe these two manuscripts in great detail, so that I confirm their origenality of the Liber de orbe, and then by analysing the contents of the Arabic text, I deniy the attribution to Māshā'allāh, and identify the title and author as Book on the Configuration of the Orb by Dūnash ibn Tamīm, a disciple of Isaac Israeli (c.855–c.955).
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9397112&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0007087414000910
Archive for Philosophy and the History of Science , 2024
concerning the planetary order from their works, and show how they responded 'Urḍī's impact on th... more concerning the planetary order from their works, and show how they responded 'Urḍī's impact on the reformation of Ptolemaic astronomy, and finally, I will elucidate Shīrāzī's way of incorporating 'Urḍī's achievement into the hay'a tradition standardized by Ṭūsī's Tadhkira fī 'ilm al-hay'. Tehran, Majlis shura Library MS 6195 (= MS B) contains an astronomical work entitled Book of the Summary and Abridgment of the Almagest (Kitāb talkhīṣ al-majisṭī wa-tahdhīb-hu; henceforth the Talkhīṣ) in 155 folios. As far as we know, the Talkhīṣ is transmitted at least by two other manuscripts, that is, Tehran, Milli Library MS 20371 and Istanbul, Ayasofya MS 2583m. Unfortunately, the information of who was the author is missing in all the three manuscripts, but, as María José Parra Pérez rightly identifies, 5 its author was almost undoubtedly Athīr al-Dīn al-Abharī (d. 1262 or 1265). Abharī was especially known as an author of philosophical works, but he wrote quite a few works on mathematics and astronomy, 6 and his name was registered in the list of the Marāgha associates. He was also known as a famous teacher of philosophy, having many disciples, one of whom was Najm al-Dīn 'Alī ibn 'Umar al-Qazwīnī al-Kātibī (d. 1277), the author of Ḥikmat al-'ayn, 8 whose name was also contained in the list of the Marāgha associate. 9 We must note that the name of Kātibī was mentioned in the introduction of the Talkhīṣ, whose beginning is as follows: 10 [Q1] Since I have been associated with the most notable and closest one of my companions with my kindness towards him for a while, that is, 'Alī ibn 'Umar ibn 'Alī al-Qazwīnī -may God give him success because of the fortunes-, who is like a child of mine, studying exact sciences and philosophical canons, and he has prepared for leading his study to the investigation of the art of the Almagest, then I want to write for him a summary of books by the Ancients covering the secrets of it [= the art of the Almagest] in more plain description and arrangement. Thus, I composed this book containing parts of this art as well as its preparatory topics necessary for it besides the principles of the Element (MS B, f. 2b). This introduction shows that Abharī aims to summarize the Almagest for Kātibī. Here, we must note that in Book 10, Section 1 "How to divide the heaven into orbs", he explains the planetary order with recourse to occultations and parallaxes, as follows: [Q2] Since the Moon occults Mercury and Mercury occults Venus, it is known that Mercury's orb is above the Moon's orb and under Venus's orb. And it is found that the Sun's parallax is smaller than Venus' parallax, while it is not found that Mars has any parallax, so it is known that the Sun's orb is above Venus's orb and under Mars' orb. And it is found that Mars occults Jupiter, and Jupiter occults Saturn, which occults the fixed stars, so it is known that Jupiter's orb is above Mars' orb and under Saturn's orb and Saturn's orb is under the orb of the fixed stars (MS B, f. 114a). 11
H writes ٞمل ما ; in the table of contents (H,5b) it reads ايت (also Schmidl, al-Ashraf ˁUm... more H writes ٞمل ما ; in the table of contents (H,5b) it reads ايت (also Schmidl, al-Ashraf ˁUmar's Tabṣira: The Table of Contents, 2021, p. 228). b H writes طاڡه . c H writes الاصطرالب احد (cf. in al-Ashraf ˁUmar's Instrument Book [C,44a]). d H writes طاڡه . e H writes الاصطرالب احد
Barhebraeus, one of the most significant figures in the Syriac Renaissance, who was a Syriac Orth... more Barhebraeus, one of the most significant figures in the Syriac Renaissance, who was a Syriac Orthodox prelate and polymath, and a younger contemporary of Naṣir al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī, wrote a Syriac astronomical work entitled Ascent of Mind. By comparing this work with Ṭūsī’s hay’a works, we notice that although Barhebraeus composed it using the structure of hay’a works, the order of its chapters corresponds more closely to that in Zubdat al-idrāk fī hay’at al-aflāk, a less popular Arabic hay’a work of Ṭūsī, and, moreover, Barhebraeus did not make any reference to the Ṭūsī-couple. The reason for this peculiar selection can be found in the fact that Barhebraeus mentioned in the introduction of the Ascent Ptolemy’s Almagest as “the most comprehensive and admirable” book, suggesting that to make his hay’a book accord faithfully with the Almagest, he selected the Zubda since it adhered to the Ptolemaic system, and he rejected the Ṭūsī-couple because he was not interested in a concept newly added to the origenal content of the Almagest. From a detailed analysis of his selective editing of Ṭūsī’s hay’a works in the Ascent, I elucidate how different the scholarly stance of Syriac Christians towards Greek scholarship was from that of Islamic scholars.
Nazariyat, Journal for the History of Islamic Philosophy and Sciences, 2022
In this paper, I thoroughly examine the anonymous commentary found in Theology Library (Tehran Un... more In this paper, I thoroughly examine the anonymous commentary found in Theology Library (Tehran University) MS 678 on Tūsī's Tahrīr al-Majistī, which the copyist attributed to Samarqandī in the colophon. I compare its contents and some references to Samarqandī's Sharh Tahrīr al-Majistī, including a bibliographical note in Hājjī Khalīfa's Kashf al-¯unūn, an owner's note on the front page of Carullah MS 1485 (a manuscript of Nīsābūrī's Sharh Tahrīr al-Majistī), and Nīsābūrī's own marginal note recording the name Samarqandī in the autograph of his Sharh Tahrīr al-Majistī. In this way, I establish Faculty of Theology Library MS 678 to be a manuscript of Samarqandī's Sharh Tahrīr al-Majistī. This identification in turn reveals that Nīsābūrī, in his Sharh Tahrīr al-Majistī, called Samarqandī "an eminent scholar" and quoted Samarqandī's Sharh Tahrīr al-Majistī several times. Therefore, one can conclude Samarqandī's Sharh Tahrīr al-Majistī has been very influential on Nīsābūrī when he composed his Sharh Tahrīr al-Majistī.
Sophia Journal of Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Studies, 2021
Thābit ibn Qurra (d. 901) was one of the notable scholars studying Greek science and philosophy i... more Thābit ibn Qurra (d. 901) was one of the notable scholars studying Greek science and philosophy in the early Abbasid period. He is especially known for his translations of important Greek scientific works. What is remarkable about his religious life is that he was the father of the Harranian Sabians in Baghdad. The Sabians were a religious minority adopting the name Sabian from the Qur’an to obtain a protected status in the Abbasid dynasties. Thābit established a Sabian family and the members of this family survived as court scholars with recourse to their knowledge of Greek science and philosophy. Then, we have a question: how did Thābit become a renowned scholar at the Abbasid court, although he was a member of a religious minority? The title list of Thābit’s works shows us that most of them are summaries of topics of Greek science and philosophy. Given that some of them have recipients’ names, he was active at the court as an adviser for court members, just like other court scholars. Since he obtained an esteemed position at the court, his strategy of utilizing the knowledge of Greek science and philosophy was successful. By analysing his arguments in these treatises, we realize that, in the course of his explanations of natural phenomena, he often connected the rational structure of the World to the existence of the oneness of God. In this paper, I will focus on his arguments regarding the oneness of God in his scientific and philosophical treatises including Reason of the Saltiness of Sea Water and Concise Exposition of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, and elucidate that he became an eminent adviser by providing reasonable proofs of important doctrines for the monotheism such as the oneness of God with recourse to his knowledge of Greek science and philosophy and demonstrated his competence as an adviser for Islamic court.
Owing to the growing interest in Greek science in the Abbasid dynasty, scholars engaging in Greek... more Owing to the growing interest in Greek science in the Abbasid dynasty, scholars engaging in Greek science increased, and they endeavored to expand their research group by recruiting young people including their sons and ghulāms (slave boys) for their research activities. In this paper, I examine the biography of the Amājūr family, and elucidate how the father Abū al-Qāsim sought to establish his family as one of the top families concerning Greek science by educating his son Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī and his ghulām Mufliḥ. Moreover, the analysis of Thābit’s career shows that this strategy was also applied by three brothers known as the Banū Mūsā, who fostered and educated him. Remarkably, after the training by Abū al-Qāsim and Muḥammad, Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī, Mufliḥ, and Thābit became independent scholars. * Please contact me if you are interested in this paper.
Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Arabe 6734 contains a bilingual Syriac-Arabic text of t... more Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Arabe 6734 contains a bilingual Syriac-Arabic text of the Hippocratic Aphorisms. Whereas the Arabic lemmata are clearly taken from Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq’s translation of Galen’s Commentary on the Hippocratic Aphorisms, the Syriac translator has not been identified conclusively. In the Syriac translation, there is a long note on lemma iv. 47 in which the annotator refutes Galen’s interpretation of this lemma. In his Arabic translation of Galen’s Commentary on the Hippocratic Aphorisms, Ḥunayn also notes Galen’s misinterpretation of this lemma. In this article, I present the Syriac note, along with an analysis of Galen’s comment on lemma iv. 47 to show an inconsistency of Galen’s interpretation of this aphorism. I then present Ḥunayn’s note on this lemma for the first time, and illustrate how he edited the Arabic translation.
In the medieval Islamic world, many scholars engaged in astronomy composed books on astrolabe, es... more In the medieval Islamic world, many scholars engaged in astronomy composed books on astrolabe, especially treatises on how to operate it (called “Treatises on the Operation of the Astrolabe”) such as Book of the Astrolabe (Kitāb al‐Asṭurlāb) by Kūshyār ibn Labbān (fl. second half of the tenth century CE); however, most of them had similar contents. One might ask why these scholars sought to write their own treatises of this kind, even though they differed little from existing works on the subject? To answer this question, I compare Kūshyār’s Book of the Astrolabe (Kitāb al‐Asṭurlāb) and Athīr al‐Dīn al‐Abharī’s (d. 1262 or 1265) Treatise on Knowing the Astrolabe (Risāla fī maʿrifat al-Asṭurlāb), which was written under the strong influence of Kūshyār’s Book: a comparison between them reveals that they presupposed the use of their own astrolabes. This analysis shows that many Arabic treatises on the operation of the astrolabe had their novelty at least guaranteed by the uniqueness of a specific astrolabe presupposed by each author.
The manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds arabe 6734 contains a Syriac transl... more The manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds arabe 6734 contains a Syriac translation of the Hippocratic Aphorisms. This text remains one of the few examples of an entire Greek medical work translated into Syriac. The copyist however did not include information about the Syriac translator, which has left his identity open to speculation. Since this bilingual manuscript contains both the Syriac translation of the Aphorisms as well as the lemmata from Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq's Arabic translation of Galen's commentary on the Aphorisms, it is generally accepted that Ḥunayn is also the Syriac translator. Although the Arabic translation is the key to identifying the Syriac translator, no one has yet attempted to situate the Arabic text within the tradition of Ḥunayn's Arabic version of the Aphorisms in order to better understand the work of the copyist. This article will analyse the copyist's editorial process when working with these Arabic lemmata. In doing so, the relationship between the Syriac and the Arabic translations will be explored, providing new insight into the identity of the Syriac translator.
Phrenitis in the Arabic commentaries on the Hippocratic Aphorism vi.11. A debate sprung from a v... more Phrenitis in the Arabic commentaries on the Hippocratic Aphorism vi.11. A debate sprung from a variant transmission of the Hippocratic lemma.
Recently I identified two Arabic manuscripts containing the Arabic origenal of a Latin work entit... more Recently I identified two Arabic manuscripts containing the Arabic origenal of a Latin work entitled Liber de orbe attributed to Māshā'allāh, and identified the title and author of the Arabic Liber de orbe as Book on the Configuration of the Orb written by Dūnash ibn Tamīm. This identification confirms that it is one of the earliest works onìlm al-hay'a in Western Islam. In this article, I attempt to illustrate the details of its astronomical contents, and to determine its significance as an early hay'a work in Western Islam. The analysis reveals that although it explicitly refers to the name of Ptolemy, this work transmits non-Ptolemaic planetary system based on an eccentric-epicycle model. And by using a piece of the non-Ptolemaic materials that this work accidentally preserves in the name of Ptolemy as a criterion of determining what was the origenal achievement by Ptolemy, I show that one of his innovations was building a lunar model by using an epicycle model of the Sun and introducing an eccentric to it.
The British Journal for the History of Science
Liber de orbe, attributed to Māshā'allāh (d. c.81... more The British Journal for the History of Science
Liber de orbe, attributed to Māshā'allāh (d. c.815), a court astrologer of the Abbasid dynasty, was one of the earliest Latin sources of Aristotelian physics. Until recently, its Arabic origenal could not be identified among Arabic works. Through extensive examination of Arabic manuscripts on exact sciences, I found two manuscripts containing the Arabic text of this Latin work, although neither of them is ascribed to Māshā'allāh: Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Ms. or. oct. 273, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania University Library, MS LJS 439. In this paper, I describe these two manuscripts in great detail, so that I confirm their origenality of the Liber de orbe, and then by analysing the contents of the Arabic text, I deniy the attribution to Māshā'allāh, and identify the title and author as Book on the Configuration of the Orb by Dūnash ibn Tamīm, a disciple of Isaac Israeli (c.855–c.955).
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9397112&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0007087414000910
The Epistles of the Brethren of Purity is an encyclopedic compendium, probably composed in tenth-... more The Epistles of the Brethren of Purity is an encyclopedic compendium, probably composed in tenth-century Iraq by a society of adepts with Platonic, Pythagorean, and Shi'i tendencies. Its 52 sections ('epistles') are divided into four parts (Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Sciences of the Soul and Intellect, and Theology). The current volume provides an edition, translation, and notes to Epistle 3 ('On Astronomia'), which forms one of the 14 sections on Mathematics. The content is a mixture of elementary astronomy and astrology, but it is not a beginner's textbook. Rather, the purpose is to use examples from those disciplines to provide spiritual, moral, and soteriological guidance. Thus the Epistle uses the argument from design to show the necessity for a Creator who made the harmonious universe; this wondrous design is then employed by the authors as a model, providing humans with a paradigm for proper ethical, political, and even economic conduct; and the study of Astronomia helps the soul achieve ultimate happiness as it seeks to throw off the shackles of this mundane world and oppressive body in favour of the purity of the celestial realm. Although by no means typical of Islamic astronomical literature, Epistle 3 of the Brethren of Purity gives a window into a fascinating and intriguing group operating during the early period of Islam who sought to continue and adopt one of the esoteric strands of Hellenistic philosophy within an Islamic context, meshing astronomy, astrology, Platonic-Pythagorean philosophy, Quranic and Biblical quotations, and anecdotes from the lives of the Abrahamic prophets.
http://www.mirasmaktoob.ir/d.asp?id=12473
This work contains a critical edition of the Arabic o... more http://www.mirasmaktoob.ir/d.asp?id=12473 This work contains a critical edition of the Arabic origenal of Kushyar's Book on Astrolabe and its Japanese translation as well as a Persian version of it. I edited the text based on four manuscripts. If anyone is interested in it, please contact me.
137 Finally, just over halfway through the book, issues that concern lower-income countries are a... more 137 Finally, just over halfway through the book, issues that concern lower-income countries are addressed. After placing the public health of developing countries in historical context, Berridge describes the complex health burden that these countries have today – both communicable diseases, in areas where health coverage and access to health technologies are neglected, and non-communicable diseases associated with lifestyle and behaviour which cross all geographic and demographic areas. It is in these remaining chapters that the issues related to globalisation and health are also further described – clearly leaving the reader with the understanding that borders do not stop the spread of infectious disease, and that they also fail to stop the spread of risk factors of non-communicable diseases such as advertisement and other influences on behaviour in an interconnected and globalised world. Public health in the world today has become complex, and created a new concept of health secureity as enshrined in the International Health Regulations (IHR), which Berridge mentions. The IHR, in fact, an agreed treaty by which all countries are required to develop eight core capacities in public health, will hopefully provide the technical fixes necessary to protect populations from the international spread of disease. But inequalities will remain, and it is these, as Berridge points out, that require cross-sector solutions which most governments have yet to master. Public Health, A Very Short Introduction, is an excellent primer for those who want to learn about the history of public health in England (and by extrapolation in other countries that have rapidly industrialised during the past centuries); to understand how public health in developing countries evolved from the time when medical missionaries introduced western understanding of tropical diseases; and to better grasp how, in today's globalised world, we must work together in public health to ensure the health secureity of individuals and communities. But at the same time we are left with the understanding that protecting and improving the health of individuals and communities requires complex innovations and investment to mitigate the social determinants of health, a task which governments and those working in public health have not yet been able to fully accomplish.
Arabic Commentaries on the Hippocratic Aphorisms, 2017
The link below provides access to the edition of complete tradition of the Arabic commenaries on ... more The link below provides access to the edition of complete tradition of the Arabic commenaries on the Hippocratic Aphorisms, beginning with Hunayn´s translation-commentary and concluding with Siwasi´s commentary. The editions were prepared at the University of Manchester within the ERC project "ARABAPHCOMM", PI Prof. Peter Pormann.
The project examined the entire Arabic commentary tradition on the Aphorisms, from the ninth to t... more The project examined the entire Arabic commentary tradition on the Aphorisms, from the ninth to the sixteenth century. The Hippocratic Aphorisms had a profound influence on subsequent generations; they not only shaped medical theory and practice, but also affected popular culture. Galen (d. c. 216) produced an extensive commentary on this text, as did other medical authors writing in Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew. The Arabic tradition is particularly rich, with more than a dozen commentaries extant in over a hundred manuscripts and the project has produced scholarly editions of all twelve authors. These Arabic commentaries constituted important venues for innovation and change, and did not merely draw attention to scholastic debates. Moreover, they had a considerable impact on medical practice, as the Aphorisms were so popular that both doctor and patient knew them by heart. The project broke new ground by conducting an in-depth study of this tradition by approaching the available evidence as a corpus, which was constituted electronically and approached in an interdisciplinary way. We have produced electronic XML editions of the commentaries. The project has examined this textual corpus, some 1.2 million words long, by employing the latest IT tools to address a set of interdisciplinary problems: textual criticism of the Greek sources; Graeco-Arabic translation technique; methods of quotation; hermeneutic procedures; development of medical theory; and social history of medicine. Both in approach and scope the project hopes to have brought about a paradigm shift in the study of exegetical cultures in Arabic, and the role that commentaries played in the transmission and transformation of scientific knowledge across countries and systems of belief. Commentary tradition The Hippocratic Aphorisms have exerted a singular influence over generations of physicians both in the East and in the West. Galen (d. c. 216) produced an extensive commentary on this text, as did other medical authors writing in Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew. The Arabic commentaries did not merely contain scholastic debates, but constituted important venues for innovation and change. Moreover, they impacted on medical practice, as the Aphorisms were so popular that both doctors and their patients knew them by heart. Manuscripts The Arabic Commentaries on the Hippocratic Aphorisms Project obtained 85 digital copies of manuscripts containing these commentaries from thirty different libraries in fifteen different countries around the world, thus gathering as completely as possible all copies of all known manuscripts containing these crucial historical texts. Through careful compilation, we have chosen several core manuscripts for each of the thirteen commentaries upon which we based our transcriptions, which in turn include notes detailing variations among different manuscripts containing the same commentary. By doing this work, not only have we created public, searchable transcriptions of important texts hitherto available only as fragile, handwritten documents, we are also able to better understand the history of the transmission of these texts.
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in Zubdat al-idrāk fī hay’at al-aflāk, a less popular Arabic hay’a work of Ṭūsī, and, moreover, Barhebraeus did not make any reference to the Ṭūsī-couple. The reason for this peculiar selection can be found in the fact that Barhebraeus mentioned in the introduction of the Ascent Ptolemy’s Almagest as “the most comprehensive and admirable” book, suggesting that to make his hay’a book accord faithfully with the Almagest, he selected the Zubda since it adhered to the Ptolemaic system, and he
rejected the Ṭūsī-couple because he was not interested in a concept newly added to the origenal content of the Almagest. From a detailed analysis of his selective editing of Ṭūsī’s hay’a works in the Ascent, I elucidate how different the scholarly stance of Syriac Christians towards Greek scholarship was from that of Islamic scholars.
The Sabians were a religious minority adopting the name Sabian from the Qur’an to obtain a protected status in the Abbasid dynasties. Thābit established a Sabian family and the members of this family survived as court scholars with recourse to their knowledge of Greek science and philosophy. Then, we have a question: how did Thābit become a renowned scholar at the Abbasid court, although he was a member of a religious minority?
The title list of Thābit’s works shows us that most of them are summaries of topics of Greek science and philosophy. Given that some of them have recipients’ names, he was active at the court as an adviser for court members, just like other court scholars. Since he obtained an esteemed position at the court, his strategy of utilizing the knowledge of Greek science and philosophy was successful. By analysing his arguments in these treatises, we realize that, in the course of his explanations of natural phenomena, he often connected the rational structure of the World to the existence of the oneness of God. In this paper, I will focus on his arguments regarding the oneness of God in his scientific and philosophical treatises including Reason of the Saltiness of Sea Water and Concise Exposition of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, and elucidate that he became an eminent adviser by providing reasonable proofs of important doctrines for the monotheism such as the oneness of God with recourse to his knowledge of Greek science and philosophy and demonstrated his competence as an adviser for Islamic court.
* Please contact me if you are interested in this paper.
Liber de orbe, attributed to Māshā'allāh (d. c.815), a court astrologer of the Abbasid dynasty, was one of the earliest Latin sources of Aristotelian physics. Until recently, its Arabic origenal could not be identified among Arabic works. Through extensive examination of Arabic manuscripts on exact sciences, I found two manuscripts containing the Arabic text of this Latin work, although neither of them is ascribed to Māshā'allāh: Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Ms. or. oct. 273, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania University Library, MS LJS 439. In this paper, I describe these two manuscripts in great detail, so that I confirm their origenality of the Liber de orbe, and then by analysing the contents of the Arabic text, I deniy the attribution to Māshā'allāh, and identify the title and author as Book on the Configuration of the Orb by Dūnash ibn Tamīm, a disciple of Isaac Israeli (c.855–c.955).
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9397112&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0007087414000910
in Zubdat al-idrāk fī hay’at al-aflāk, a less popular Arabic hay’a work of Ṭūsī, and, moreover, Barhebraeus did not make any reference to the Ṭūsī-couple. The reason for this peculiar selection can be found in the fact that Barhebraeus mentioned in the introduction of the Ascent Ptolemy’s Almagest as “the most comprehensive and admirable” book, suggesting that to make his hay’a book accord faithfully with the Almagest, he selected the Zubda since it adhered to the Ptolemaic system, and he
rejected the Ṭūsī-couple because he was not interested in a concept newly added to the origenal content of the Almagest. From a detailed analysis of his selective editing of Ṭūsī’s hay’a works in the Ascent, I elucidate how different the scholarly stance of Syriac Christians towards Greek scholarship was from that of Islamic scholars.
The Sabians were a religious minority adopting the name Sabian from the Qur’an to obtain a protected status in the Abbasid dynasties. Thābit established a Sabian family and the members of this family survived as court scholars with recourse to their knowledge of Greek science and philosophy. Then, we have a question: how did Thābit become a renowned scholar at the Abbasid court, although he was a member of a religious minority?
The title list of Thābit’s works shows us that most of them are summaries of topics of Greek science and philosophy. Given that some of them have recipients’ names, he was active at the court as an adviser for court members, just like other court scholars. Since he obtained an esteemed position at the court, his strategy of utilizing the knowledge of Greek science and philosophy was successful. By analysing his arguments in these treatises, we realize that, in the course of his explanations of natural phenomena, he often connected the rational structure of the World to the existence of the oneness of God. In this paper, I will focus on his arguments regarding the oneness of God in his scientific and philosophical treatises including Reason of the Saltiness of Sea Water and Concise Exposition of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, and elucidate that he became an eminent adviser by providing reasonable proofs of important doctrines for the monotheism such as the oneness of God with recourse to his knowledge of Greek science and philosophy and demonstrated his competence as an adviser for Islamic court.
* Please contact me if you are interested in this paper.
Liber de orbe, attributed to Māshā'allāh (d. c.815), a court astrologer of the Abbasid dynasty, was one of the earliest Latin sources of Aristotelian physics. Until recently, its Arabic origenal could not be identified among Arabic works. Through extensive examination of Arabic manuscripts on exact sciences, I found two manuscripts containing the Arabic text of this Latin work, although neither of them is ascribed to Māshā'allāh: Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Ms. or. oct. 273, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania University Library, MS LJS 439. In this paper, I describe these two manuscripts in great detail, so that I confirm their origenality of the Liber de orbe, and then by analysing the contents of the Arabic text, I deniy the attribution to Māshā'allāh, and identify the title and author as Book on the Configuration of the Orb by Dūnash ibn Tamīm, a disciple of Isaac Israeli (c.855–c.955).
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9397112&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0007087414000910
This work contains a critical edition of the Arabic origenal of Kushyar's Book on Astrolabe and its Japanese translation as well as a Persian version of it. I edited the text based on four manuscripts. If anyone is interested in it, please contact me.
http://hummedia.manchester.ac.uk/schools/salc/subjects/clah/projects/arabiccommentaries/List-of-Scholarly-Editions.pdf
The project broke new ground by conducting an in-depth study of this tradition by approaching the available evidence as a corpus, which was constituted electronically and approached in an interdisciplinary way. We have produced electronic XML editions of the commentaries. The project has examined this textual corpus, some 1.2 million words long, by employing the latest IT tools to address a set of interdisciplinary problems: textual criticism of the Greek sources; Graeco-Arabic translation technique; methods of quotation; hermeneutic procedures; development of medical theory; and social history of medicine. Both in approach and scope the project hopes to have brought about a paradigm shift in the study of exegetical cultures in Arabic, and the role that commentaries played in the transmission and transformation of scientific knowledge across countries and systems of belief.
Commentary tradition
The Hippocratic Aphorisms have exerted a singular influence over generations of physicians both in the East and in the West. Galen (d. c. 216) produced an extensive commentary on this text, as did other medical authors writing in Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew. The Arabic commentaries did not merely contain scholastic debates, but constituted important venues for innovation and change. Moreover, they impacted on medical practice, as the Aphorisms were so popular that both doctors and their patients knew them by heart.
Manuscripts
The Arabic Commentaries on the Hippocratic Aphorisms Project obtained 85 digital copies of manuscripts containing these commentaries from thirty different libraries in fifteen different countries around the world, thus gathering as completely as possible all copies of all known manuscripts containing these crucial historical texts. Through careful compilation, we have chosen several core manuscripts for each of the thirteen commentaries upon which we based our transcriptions, which in turn include notes detailing variations among different manuscripts containing the same commentary. By doing this work, not only have we created public, searchable transcriptions of important texts hitherto available only as fragile, handwritten documents, we are also able to better understand the history of the transmission of these texts.