Collection of Arabic astrological and divinatory texts, and a fragment of a Persian manuscript [‎161r] (330/440)

Content

Collection of astrological and divinatory texts and diagrams drawn from sources both ancient and contemporary with the scribe, ʻAbd Allāh ibn al-Ṣāḥib Nūr al-Dīn al-Jazarī al-Masīḥī (عبد الله بن الصاحب نور الدين الجزري المسيحي), who copied it for his own use in 867/1462-3 (see colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 19r, lines 4-7, transcribed below). The scribe's nisba s indicate that he was a Christian native to or with family roots in northern Iraq.

Some of the texts are given numbers using alphanumeric ( abjad ) notation.

An extensive list of the volume's contents by the hand of the scribe is found on f. 2v.

Ff. 212-214 are a fragment of an Persian manuscript unrelated to the other folios in this volume, as demonstrated both by their content and format and by the fact that they are not mentioned in the table of contents on f. 2v.

Contents:

• (1) Aristotle (أرسطاطاليس), Book Containing the Stations of the Moon and the Elections and Actions [to be Undertaken] in them, and This is from the Discourse of the Sage Hermes and Others (الكتاب فيه منازل القمر وما فيها من الاختيارات والأعمال وذلك من قول هرمس الحكيم وغيره, ff. 3r-18r);
• (2) Hermes (هرمس), Anonymous treatise on the exaltations and falls of the seven planets (ff. 18v-19r);
• (3) Chapter discussing the hours of the planets (باب ذكر ساعات الكواكب, ff. 20r-20v);
• (4) Chapter on the Moon's applications to the planets and the Sun (باب في اتصالات القمر بالكواكب والشمس, ff. 21v-23r);
• (5) The Book of Indications According to the Applications and Conjunctions of the Planets in the Twelve Signs, their Exaltations, Falls, Progressions, Retrogression, Appearances, Absences and Presence with the Head and the Tail (كتاب الدلالات على الاتصالات وقرانات الكواكب في البروج الاثنا عشر وأشرافها وهبوطاتها واستقاماتها ورجوعها وظهورها وغيباتها وكونها مع الرأس والذنب, ff. 23v-50r);
• (6) Collection of short astrological texts (ff. 50v-68r);
• (7) Hermes (هرمس), Book of Judgement at the Rising of Sirius (كتاب الحكم عند طلوع الشعرى, ff. 68v-89r);
• (8) Chapter on the characteristics associated with each one of the planets (باب فيما ينسب إلى كل واحد من الكواكب من الأخلاق, ff. 89v-90r);
• (9) Instructions for talisman making (ff. 90r-93v)
• (10) Section on the shifting of the planets to the signs (فصل في انتقال الكواكب للبروج, ff. 94r-110r);
• (11) Section on the conditions of the two nodes and their arrival in the twelve signs (فصل في أحوال العقدتين وحلولها (!) في البروج الاثنى عشر, ff. 110v-113r);
• (12) Section on knowledge of the planets and which of the climes and countries are theirs (فصل في معرفة الكواكب وما لهم من الأقاليم ومن البلدان, ff. 113v-116r);
• (13) Chapter on knowing the indications of the signs for countries and other things (باب في معرفة دلالات البروج على البلدان وغيرها, ff. 116r-120v);
• (14) Section of the planets aspecting the Sun at the time of its arrival at the beginnings of the four seasons (فصل نظر الكواكب للشمس وقت حلولها أوائل الفصول الأربعة, ff. 120v-121v);
• (15) Chapter on the arrival of the planets in the twelve houses (باب في حلول الكواكب في البيوت الاثنى عشر, ff. 122r-135v);
• (16) Two chapters on astrological judgments by eclipses (ff. 136r-150r);
• (17) Chapter in which judgment by eclipse of the Moon is discussed from the perspective of its colour in the middle of the [solar?] eclipse (باب يذكر فيه الحكم على خسوف القمر في جهة لونه في وسط الكسوف (!), ff. 150r-153v);
• (18) Section discussing the indications of comets according to Ptolemy and the Indians (فصل في ذكر دلالات ذات الذوائب على رأي بطليموس والهند, ff. 154r-157r);
• (19) Astrological apothegms and excerpts (ff. 157r-160v);
• (20) Section on conjunctions (فصل في القرانات, f. 161v);
• (21) al-Balkhī, Nūr al-Dīn Abū al-Qāsim (البلخي، نور الدين أبو القاسم), Excerpts from the al-Madkhal fī ʻilm al-nujūm (المدخل في علم النجوم, ff. 162r-184v);
• (22) Thirty-seven tables, diagrams and short texts related to astrology, divination and astral magic (ff. 185r-211v);
• (23) Fragment of a Persian text on poetry (ff. 212r-214v).

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. i+214+i

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern laid paper of various colours

Dimensions: 180 x 130 mm leaf [125 x 80 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil; Arabic alphanumeric (abjad) foliation begins with ا (1) on f. 3r of the British Museum foliation and ends with قمد (144) on f. 136r of the British Museum foliation; beginning of quire marks Notation written as an instruction to the binder indicating a quire’s central bifolium. (quinions) visible on ff. 12r, 22r, 32r, 42r, 52r, 62r, 72r, 82r, 92r, 102r, 112r, 122r, 132r, 142r, 152r, 162r, 172r, 182r ( quire A booklet formed of a single gathering of nested bifolia. 19) and 197r ( quire A booklet formed of a single gathering of nested bifolia. 21)

Ruling: Misṭarah ; 13 lines per page; vertical spacing 10 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh ; the scribe is ʻAbd Allāh ibn al-Ṣāḥib Nūr al-Dīn al-Jazarī al-Masīḥī (عبد الله بن الصاحب نور الدين الجزري المسيحي, see f. 19r, lines 5-8); the scribal hand changes at f. 187r.

Ink: Black ink with rubrications

Decoration: None

Binding: British Museum half-leather binding in red

Condition: Folios appear to be missing between ff. 184 and 185, ff. 186 and 187, and ff. 196 and 197 and perhaps after 210v; ff. 187-190 have been mutilated and repaired with some loss of text; tidemarks and stains towards head of volume

Marginalia: Few by hand of main scribe and others

Seals: ff. 1r and 2r; British Museum seal on ff. 1r, 3r, 60r and 190v

Written in

Arabic, Persian and Farsi in Arabic script

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