Arab and Islamic versions of the game of believers and infidels
| Title | Arab and Islamic versions of the game of believers and infidels |
|---|---|
| Author | Ageron, Pierre |
| Publication Date: | 2018 |
| Subject | Mathematics |
| Type | Book |
| Language | Arabic |
| Digital | Yes |
| Manuscript | No |
| Library: | Royal Danish Library |
| Record ID | cdi_hal_primary_oai_HAL_hal_02453580v1 |
| Library Location | Hyper Article en Ligne (HAL) (Open Access) |
| Date | 2018 |
| Notes | This contribution identifies and studies the Arab-Islamic sources of the famous “game of believers and infidels”, where we ask how to arrange fifteen believers and fifteen infidels in a circle so that by throwing each ninth into the sea, the first fifteen eliminated are all the infidels. We first recall some data on the history of this game in Europe from the 9th to the 18th century and its popularity among Renaissance mathematicians. We then establish the text of an Egyptian Judeo-Arabic version (13th century) and examine those given by al-Ṣafadī (14th century) and other Egyptian or Syrian Muslim authors in connection with the game of chess and/or with poetic exercises. We note the circulation of the game, probably from Egypt, in West Africa (Mauritania, Mali) as well as in Madagascar. We note the existence of versions in Persian and Azeri Turkish in literary anthologies from the end of the 18th century. We conclude with two Ottoman Turkish versions from the 19th century: these are the only ones in the entire Arab-Islamic corpus to appear in mathematical works, a situation which contrasts sharply with that of the European corpus. |
| Telif Hakkı | Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License |
