Kitāb Baṭlamyūs fī al-ta‘līm al-ma‘rūf bi-l-Majisṭī naqala Isḥāq ibn Ḥunayn كتاب بطلميوس في التعليم المعروف بالمجسطي نقل إسحق بن حنين Ptolemy بطلميوس

Content

Books Seven to Thirteen of the Almagest (كتاب المجسطي), an Arabic version of the Μαθηματικῆς σύνταξις of of Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD c 90-c 168), thought to have been translated by Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq al-‘Ibādī (AD c 809-873), and corrected by Thābit ibn Qurrah al-Ḥarrānī (AD 826-901). The book title on f. 199v names the translator as Isḥāq ibn Ḥunayn, the son of Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq. This manuscript calls the text the Kitāb fī ta‘līm (كتاب في التعليم; ' Book on Instruction '). This text was the most influential and enduring astronomical text to have survived from the ancient world, and its Arabic translation had an immense impact on the late antique and medieval world view in both Christian and Islamic lands.

The manuscript was completed on 3 Sha‘bān 615 (25 October 1218; see colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. f. 239v, line 9, transcribed below). The text is defective at the beginning, missing the first folio, and a further folio is missing after f. 84. The quires were rearragned to restore their correct order on 24 July 1884.

Contents:

• Book Seven (defective at beginning; ff. 1r- 26r ?);
• Book Eight (ff. 27v-51r);
• Book Nine (ff. 51r-86r);
• Book Ten (ff. 86r-116v);
• Book Eleven (ff. 117r-161v);
• Book Twelve (ff. 162r-199r);
• Book Thirteen (ff. 199v-239v).

The text contains numerous diagrams and tables. Folio 230r has been left blank; folio 27 is only of half length and its recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side has been left blank.

Begins (defective, f. 1r, lines 1-5):

تصوير هذين المعنين جميعًا بما كان عنده فيهما من الأمور الظاهرة إلّا أن

ما حصل له من ذلك في الزمان الأطول هو بالحدس والتقريب أشبه منه

بالعلم الحقيقي وذلك من قبل أن ما وقع إليه من أرصاد من كان قبله الكواكب

الثابتة كانت يسيرة جدًا ويكاد يكون إنما كانت للأرصاد التي دوّنها أرسطلس

وطيمارخاس ...

Ends (f. 239v, lines 2-7):

وأستدلنا جميع ما يحتاج إليه في أن رشد إلى علمه في هذا الكتاب بقدر منهي (؟)

علمي ومبلغ رلي (؟) إلا الشاذ منها بقدر ما أعاننا الزمان الذي تناهى

أنت على وجود ما يحتاج إلى وجوده من ذلك وتقديم ما يحتاج إلى تقديمه

وتصحيحه منه وبقدر ما يكون ما دونّاه من ذلك نافعًا في هذا العلم

من غير أن يلتمس به الكثير والأقصاد فقد يليق والحسن أن يجعل هذا

آخر الكتاب بحمد الله وعونه وتأييده

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 239v, lines 8-10):

تمت المقالة الثالثة عشرة بحمد الله وعونه وتمامها نك جميع الكتاب

وذلك في الثالث من شعبان من سنة خمس عشرة وستمائة

وحسبنا الله ونعم الوكيل

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. iii+239+iii

Physical characteristics

Material: Paper

Dimensions: 250 x 167 mm leaf [196 x 119 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil (pre-1884 foliation cancelled and replaced)

Ruling: Misṭarah; 21 lines per page; vertical spacing 11 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh

Ink: Black; red used only for labels in tables

Decoration: Numerous diagrams and tables

Binding: British Museum binding of red leather

Condition: Excellent; light foxing, minor water damage in margins does not affect legibility; some worm damage repaired in places

Marginalia: Some marginalia in a maghribī hand

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Add MS 7475

History of this record

Date(s)

615 (AH, Hijri qamari)

Provenance

There is an elaborate seal on front paper ii recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. .

Related material

Select Bibliography

Edition of Greek original:

• Claudii Ptolemaei Opera quae exstant omnia,. Vol. 1, pt 2, Syntaxis mathematica. Libros VII-XIII continens , ed. by Johan Ludvig Heiberg (Leipzig: Teubner, 1903)

Translation of Greek original:

• Ptolemy's Almagest , trans. by G.J. Toomer (Princeton NJ: ,Princeton University Press, 1998)

Study of Arabic versions:

• Kunitzsch, Paul, Der Almagest: die Syntaxi Mathematica des Claudius Ptolemaus in arabisch-lateinischer Überlieferung (Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz, 1974)

Subjects

Astronomy, ArabAstronomy, GreekAstronomy, MedievalAstronomy--Early works to 1800Ptolemy, active 2nd century. Almagest

People & organisations

Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy)Isḥāq ibn ḤunaynThābit ibn Qurrah al-Ḥarrānī

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Kitāb Baṭlamyūs fī al-ta‘līm al-ma‘rūf bi-l-Majisṭī naqala Isḥāq ibn Ḥunayn كتاب بطلميوس في التعليم المعروف بالمجسطي نقل إسحق بن حنين Ptolemy بطلميوس, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Add MS 7475, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100000004987.0x000001> [accessed 25 April 2024]

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