PAL

Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus

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Cambridge, University Library, Taylor-Schechter Arabic 29.51

[Colour scanned images. The description relies on Bohak & Burnett and Burnett & Bohak.]
Collection of two works: Judaeo-Arabic.  Date:

undated; 6th/12th or 7th/13th c.

Or.:

most probably Fusṭāṭ (Cairo); the same hand copied multiple magical texts from the Cairo Geniza. MS Cambridge, CUL, Taylor-Schechter Arabic 43.274 was written by the same hand and was probably copied from the present manuscript. The present manuscript and T-S Ar. 30.91 once constituted a single quinion, with T-S Ar. 30.91 being the original f. 1 and T-S Ar. 29.51 being ff. 2–9; f. 10 has not been found.

Prov.:

Cairo Geniza; brought to Cambridge in 1896-7 by Solomon Schechter and subsequently dismembered.

Cod.: paper, 4 bifolia (foliated in pencil after the dismemberment; no catchwords or quire numbers). An idiosyncratic, experienced but rather sloppy Eastern hand in black; inconsistent use of dots to distinguish between Arabic letters transliterated by the same Hebrew letter. Condition of the codex ranging from slightly to heavily damaged. Dimensions (bifolium): c. 26.5×18.0 cm; 19–22 lines per page.

Cont.: astral magic. — Index: Thābit b. Qurra, Maqāla fī l-Ṭilasmāt (1r–7v); Ptolemaica (7v–8v).

Bibl.: Charles Burnett and Gideon Bohak, ‘A Judaeo-Arabic Version of Ṯābit ibn Qurra’s De Imaginibus and Pseudo-Ptolemy’s Opus Imaginum’, in Felicitas Opwis and David Reisman (eds), Islamic Philosophy, Science, Culture, and Religion. Studies in Honor of Dimitri Gutas, Leiden / Boston: Brill, 2012, pp. 179–200, here pp. 181–184; Gideon Bohak and Charles Burnett, Thabit ibn Qurra «On Talismans» and Ps.-Ptolemy «On Images 1-9». Together with the «Liber prestigiorum Thebidis» of Adelard of Bath, Firenze: SISMEL - Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2021, pp. 38–45. Images of the manuscript are available through https://fjms.genizah.org/ (registration required).

7v–⁠8v

\7v\ باب אדא ארדת אן {תע}ק֯ד אלסארק לילא ידכ'ל דאר רגל מן {אל}רגאל תצור צ'ורה אלרגל מן נחאס אדא טלע אלוג'ה אלאול מן אלחמל תם תקול עקדת כל סארק ען הדה אלדאר בהדה אלצורה ותדפנהא פי וסט אלדאר פאנה לא ידכלהא סארק אבדא — \8v\ برج الثور אדא ארדת תעקד אלמדינה ל֯א ידכלהא עדו אבדא פצור צורה רגל פ֯י֯ ידה סיף בטאלע אלוגה אלאול {מן} אלתור נחאס ותקול עלי אלצורה עקד{ת} הדה אלמ֯ד֯י֯נה֯ לא֯ יחארבהא עדו ו{לא} עסכר תם תדפן אלצורה פי וסט ג{…} בקיאס פאנה לא י֯ת֯צ'ל אלמדינה֯ {עדו} אבדא ולא עסכר ||

\7v\ باب إذا أردت أن {تعـ}ـقد السارق لئلّا يدخل دار رجل من {الـ}ـرجال تصوّر صورة الرجل من نحاس إذا طلع الوجه الأوّل من الحمل ثمّ تقول عقدت كلّ سارق عن هذه الدار بهذه الصورة وتدفنها في وسط الدار فإنّه لا يدخلها سارق أبدًا — \8v\ برج الثور إذا أردت تعقد المدينة لا يدخلها عدو أبدًا فصوّر صورة رجل في يده سيف بطالع الوجه الاول {من} الثور نحاس وتقول على الصورة عقد{ت} هذه المدينة لا يحاربها عدو و{لا} عسكر ثمّ تدفن الصورة في وسط جـ{…} بقياس فأنّه لا يدخل المدينة {عدو} أبدًا ولا عسكر ||

= Pseudo-Ptolemy, 〈Kitāb al-Ṣuwar〉 (B.5.1)

, fragment. — Title: bāb (7v). — No colophon, as the manuscript is defective. No marginalia.