Author
Ibn ‘Alī Muhammad Husayn
Publication Date
Friday II 956 (AH, Hijri)
Publication Place
dig up -
Type
Book
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Pages Count
1
Physical Dimensions
238 x 140 mm
Library
Qatar Digital Library
Library Asset ID
Add MS 23392
Record ID
vdc_100031940825.0x000001
Library Location
British Library: Oriental Manuscripts
Date
Friday II 956 (AH, Hijri)
Notes
The
Almagest
(Book of the Almagest), an Arabic version of the Μαθηματικῆς σύνταξις of Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus; c 90-c 168), in the annotated edition (edited) of Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī (Nasir al-Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Tusi; d. 1274). This was the most influential and enduring astronomical text to have survived from the ancient world and its Arabic translation, and al-Ṭūsī's annotated edition in particular, had an enormous impact on the medieval world-view in both Christian and Islamic lands.
The text is divided into thirteen chapters further subdivided into sections, and contains numerous diagrams and tables.
Contents:
Chapter One (Article One; ff. 3r-20v);
Chapter Two (Article Two; ff. 20v-33v);
Chapter Three (Article Three; ff. 33v-45v);
Chapter Four (Article Four; ff. 45v-62r);
Chapter Five (Article Five; ff. 62r-79v);
Chapter Six (Article Six; ff. 79v-95r);
Chapter Seven (Article Seven; ff. 95r-104r);
Chapter Eight (Eighth Article; ff. 104r-115r);
Chapter Nine (Article Nine; ff. 115r-131r);
Chapter Ten (Article Ten; ff. 131r-135r);
Chapter Eleven (Article Eleven; ff. 135r-144v);
Chapter Twelve (Article XII; ff. 144v-150r);
Chapter Thirteen (Article Thirteen; ff. 150r-160r).
The text contains numerous diagrams and tables.
This text of this copy was completed in Muḥarram 955/February-March 1548 and the diagrams were completed in Jumādá II 956/June-July 1549 at Qazvin by Ibn ‘Alī Muḥammad Ḥusayn (Ibn Ali Muhammad Husayn; see
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
, f. 160r, lines 2-9, transcribed below).
An ownership inscription to lower left of the
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
(f. 160r, transcribed below) records that ‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Raḥbī (Abd al-Aziz al-Rahbi) purchased the manuscript on 1 Rajab 1132/9 May 1720 for a price of 4
ashrafī
dinars.
Folio 2r contains a geometrical proposition with one figure that is said to be taken 'from the notes of shaykh Abū al-Qāsim 'Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Samsāṭī' (from the comments of Sheikh Abi Al-Qasim Ali bin Muhammad bin Al-Samsati) and is written by a hand other than that of the main scribe.
Begins (f. 2v, lines 2-8):
I praise God, the Principle of every principle, the goal of every goal, the source of all goodness, and the Granter of guidance
I hope for His good success in every beginning and end, and I pray for His special servants
With care and knowledge, especially Muhammad and his family, who are marked by advanced prophecy and guardianship
From all blindness and temptation, after all, for a while, I was unable to be liberated
For myself and all other students of knowledge from the Brotherhood, the book Almagest attributed to Ptolemy
Al-Qaludhi, which is the great constitution for the masters of the field of physique and astrology, edited
He should not miss the theoretical objectives of that book and its causal methods...
Ends (f. 159v, line 5 [below tables]-160r, line 1):
Let us conclude the book and say that God Almighty has also enabled me to complete what He intended
And to summarize what you promised, do not stop speaking, praising God Almighty for His blessings and praying for me
All his saints, especially the seal of his prophets, and the purdah from his family and loved ones
Colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
(f. 160r, lines 2-10):
The writing was completed on Wednesday of the holy month of Muharram
With the help of God, the All-Knowing King
Year 955
I have finished completing the forms of this book entitled Edited by Almagest by Mawla Imam
The investigator and auditor, the professor of investigators and chain of auditors (?), the best scholars of the past
The most virtuous of the latecomers is the supporter of truth and religion, Muhammad al-Tusi, at the end of the month
Jumada al-Akhir in the year 956 in the town of Qazvin, and I am the poor and rich son of Ali
Muhammad Hussein, may God truly forgive his sins
Muhammad and his infallible family
Ownership inscription to lower left of the
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
(f. 160r):
I owned it through legitimate purchase and I am poor
To God Almighty Abdul Aziz
Rahbi (?) with a value of four
Achrafieh dinars at the beginning of the month
Rajab in the year 1132
Erişim Koşulları
Unrestricted
Bulma Yardımcıları
Cureton, William and Charles Rieu,
Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur. Pars secunda, codices arabicos amplectens
(London: The British Museum, 1846-71), Item 1338, pp. 620
Edinme Kaynağı
Purchased from Mrs Taylor, widow of Colonel Robert Taylor (1788-1852),
Political Resident
A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency.
in Baghdad (1828-43), 14 April 1860
Köken
Colonel Robert Taylor (1788-1852),
Political Resident
A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency.
in Baghdad (1828-43): his seal, without date, with legend عبده تيلر (f. 2v);
‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Raḥbī (عبد العزيز الرحبي), his seal, without date, with legend عبد العزيز, and his inscription dated 1 Rajab 1132/9 May 1720 (f. 160r; see Scope and Content for transcription and English summary of the inscription);
‘Alī Marīḍī (علي مريضي), his seal, dated 1064/1653-4 (?) (f. 160v).
Seçilmiş kaynakça
Edition of Greek original:
Claudii Ptolemaei Opera quae exstant omnia
, vol. 1, pt 1,
Syntaxis mathematica. Libros I-VI continens
, ed. by Johan Ludvig Heiberg (Leipzig: Teubner, 1898)
Translation of Greek original:
Ptolemy's Almagest
, trans. by G.J. Toomer (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998)
Studies:
Kunitzsch, Paul,
Der Almagest: die Syntaxi Mathematica des Claudius Ptolemaus in arabisch-lateinischer Überlieferung
(Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz, 1974)
Ragep, F. Jamil, 'Ṭūsī: Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī' in
The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers
, Thomas Hockey et al., eds., (New York: Springer, 2007) pp. 1153-55
