PAL

Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus

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Tunis, Dār al-kutub al-waṭaniyya, 7116

[Colour scanned images of the body text, covers and binding.]

Single work: Arabic. Date:

Jumādā l-ākhira 478/September-October 1085 (237v).

Or.:

al-Andalus; unknown scribe; copied from a copy which had been collated with a copy by Abū l-Qāsim al-Munajjim, who copied and corrected his copy from a copy belonging to the famous astronomer Abū l-Ḥusayn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿUmar al-Ṣūfī (d. 376/986), author of the Ṣuwar al-kawākib (Ir, 237v).

Prov.:

a title in Romance or Latin influenced by Romance Almagest de Tolomeo, probably in a hand of the 7th/13th or 8th/14th century (IIr); a reading statement by the astronomer and astrologer Aḥmad b. Aḥmad b. Timurbāy (fl. 9th/15th century; on him, see al-Sakhāwī, al-Ḍawʾ al-lāmiʿ li-ahl al-qarn al-tāsiʿ, Beirut: Dār al-jīl, 1992, vol. I, p. 210; and David A. King, A Survey of the Scientific Manuscripts in the Egyptian National Library, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns / Cairo: The American Research Center in Egypt, 1986, p. 79, C94) of the Mamlūk period based in Cairo (237v); a statement by Sulaymān al-Rū⟨m⟩ī, who may have been a Ḥanafī professor at Ankara, Istanbul and Edirne, disciple of al-Taftāzānī, with an interest in the intellectual sciences and who died in 937/1530-1 (on him, see Ḥājjī Khalīfa, Sullam al-wuṣūl ilā ṭabaqāt al-fuḥūl, 6 vols, ed. E. İhsanoğlu and M. al-Arnāʾūṭ, Istanbul: OIC/IRCICA, 2010, vol. II, p. 152, no. 1976) (237v); a statement of ownership by the Ottoman astronomer Taqī al-Dīn b. Maʿrūf (d. 993/1585) dated Rajab 982/October-November 1574 in Qusṭanṭiniyya (Istanbul) (IIr, 1r); a gloss dated 1885 according to the era of Alexander (i.e., 982/1574), in a hand different from Taqī al-Din b. Maʿrūf’s (35r); a gloss in Persian (Iv); a statement of collation written with a broad pen and watery black ink by Muḥammad al-Ṭayyib Yūsufī? dated Shawwāl 1209/April-May 1795 (or possibly Shawwāl 1299/August-September 1882); a statement of ownership by the Tunisian judge and mufti Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. al-Khūja (d. 1313/1896; on him, see al-Ziriklī, al-Aʿlām, Beirut: Dār al-malāyīn, 2002, vol. I, p. 248) dated 2 Rabīʿ al-ākhir 1276/29 October 1859, probably in Tunis where he lived all his life (Ir).

Cod.:

brown paper, II+237+Ia ff. (foliated with Arabic-European numerals; foliated with abjad western numerals in the scribe’s hand starting two folios before the foliation with Hindu-Arabic numerals; the book to which every page belongs is indicated in abjad notation at the center top in the scribe’s hand; book page indicated with ghubār numerals in the scribe’s hand; catchwords in a black eastern naskh hand; the foliation given here follows the foliation with Hindu-Arabic numerals). A single clear Andalusī hand in brown; at times the hand becomes faster and slightly cursive; centered book headings in bold; centered chapter headings in bold in dark brown; chapters indicated with bold abjad notation in the margin in the scribe’s hand; partially dotted ductus; no vowels and hardly any hamzas or shaddas; references in the main body text to points in diagrams are given with abjad notation in full letter names (e.g. point bāʾ instead of point B); some ghubār numerals in red (42r, 56r, 145r, 146r-146v, 147v-148r). Substantial diagrams and tables mostly in the same brown ink of the main text, except labels in diagrams on ff. 140r–141r, 149v–151r, 153v, 154v and 155v in purple in the scribe’s hand, and some abjad notation and labels in tables (10r, 10v, 32v). Dimensions: 275×192 mm, written area: 266×184 mm; 28-29 lines per page. Moisture stains and worm-eaten throughout; scattered ink smudges. Covers in brown leather over paper pasteboards with a blind-stamped almond-shaped medallion with vegetal motives; frame with fillets; covers reinforced with a leather frame. Type II binding.

Cont.:

astronomy. — Index: a list of the times elapsed between prophets, presented in ghubār, Hindu-Arabic numerals, and textual form (Ir); a chronology of Muslim rulers from the first day of the Hijra, including a list of Andalusī rulers (Ir-Iv); a note listing Egyptian kings of the Ptolemaic dynasty taken from al-Baṭalyawsī (Iv); Ptolemaica (IIr-237v); a representation of the phases of the moon (Iar); Blank: IIv, Iav.

Bibl.:

Paul Kunitzsch, Der Almagest. Die Syntaxis Mathematica des Claudius Ptolemäus in arabisch-lateinischer Überlieferung, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1974, pp. 27-30, 38-41, 68, Tafeln III-V, etc.; GAS VIFuat Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums. Vol. VI: Astronomie bis ca. 430 H., Leiden: Brill, 1978, p. 89; Paul Kunitzsch, Claudius Ptolemäus. Der Sternkatalog des Almagest. Die arabisch-mittelalterliche Tradition, 3 vols, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1986–1991, vol. I, pp. 10–12; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfcGx8bB6YM&t=5m34s.

IIr–⁠237v

Images|Text

\1v\ ⟨…⟩ جمل ما في المقالة الأولى من كتاب بطلميوس القلوذي المنسوب إلى التعاليم وهو الكتاب الكبير المعروف بالمجسطي ترجمة من اللسان اليوناني إلى اللسان العربي لأبي الصفر إسمعيل بن بلبل إسحق بن حنين بن إسحق المتطبب وصحّه ثابت بن قرة الحراني — \237v\ ⟨…⟩ فإذ قد استتممنا هذه المعاني أيضا يا سورس فاستكملنا جميع ما يحتاج أن نرشد إلى علمه في هذا الكتاب بقدر منتهى علمي ومبلغ رأي إلا الشاذ منها بقدر ما أعاننا عليه الزمان الذي تناهى إلينا على وجود ما يحتاج إلى وجوده وذلك أو تقويم ما يحتاج إلى تقويمه وتصحيحه منه وبقدر ما يكون ما دوناه منه نافعا فقط في هذا العلم من غير أن نلتمس به التكبر والافتخار فقد يليق ويحسن أن نجعل هذا آخر الكتاب. تمت المقالة الثالثة عشرة من كتاب بطلميوس المنسوب إلى التعاليم وهي با قولًا وبتمامها تمّ جميع الكتاب. وهو الكتاب المعروف بالمجسطي.

= Ptolemy, al-Majisṭī (tr. Isḥāq b. Ḥunayn/Thābit b. Qurra) (A.1.2). — Title: Kitāb Baṭlamiyūs al-Qalūdhī l-mansūb ilā l-taʿālīm, wa-huwa l-kitāb al-kabīr al-maʿrūf bi-l-Majisṭī al-jāmiʿ li-jamīʿ ḥisāb al-nujūm wa-ḥarakāt al-kawākib wa-ʿilm al-hayʾa, naql Abī Yaʿqub Isḥāq b. Ḥunayn b. Isḥāq al-Muṭayyib wa-iṣlāḥ Abī l-Ḥasan Thābit b. Qurra al-Ḥarrānī al-Ṣābī wa-taṣḥīḥu-hu (IIr). — Additional titles: Kitāb al-Majisṭī al-akbar li-l-muʿallim al-afkhar Baṭlamiyūs al-Qalūdhī tarjamat Abī Yaʿqub Isḥāq b. Ḥunayn b. Isḥāq wa-iṣlāḥ Abī l-Ḥasan Thābit b. Qurra al-Ḥarrānī l-Ṣābī wa-taṣḥīḥu-hu (1r); Almagest de Tolomeo (IIr); Kitāb Nujūm Majisṭī (Iar). — Index: Title page in Andalusī script, IIr; title page in thuluth, 1r; Book I, 1r-15r; Book II, 15v-37r; Book III, 37v-52r; Book IV, 52v-68v; Book V, 69r-90v; Book VI, 91r-109v; Book VII, 110r-126r; Book VIII, 126v-141r; Book IX, 141v-159r; Book X, 159v-175r; Book XI, 175v-196v; Book XII, 197r-216r; Book XIII, 216v-237v. — Substantial marginal corrections and collations; substantial glosses in different hands. Corrections, mainly omissions, in the hand of the main scribe; collations in a smaller Andalusī hand. A note in the same Andalusī hand of the marginal collations points out that what is indicated in the book with a siglum jīm is taken from the version by al-Ḥajjāj, what is indicated with a siglum khāʾ is taken from another base manuscript of the same version, whilst there is also a reference to a siglum ṣād, but its meaning is unclear as the text is fainted (IIr); an additional siglum ʿayn in the same Andalusī hand appears consistently in the star catalogue. Marginal corrections in purple in the scribe’s hand (141v-143v, 149r-150r, 151r-151v, 154r, 155v); a gloss comparing the versions of al-Ḥajjāj, Thābit b. Qurra and citing al-Ṭūsī’s Taḥrīr (54v); a collation with al-Ṭūsī’s Taḥrīr (126r); collations of Greek names with a Greek copy of the Almagest in an eastern naskh hand different from Taqī al-Dīn b. Maʿrūf’s (11v); glosses in light grey (7v-8r); glosses in different hands, namely Andalusī, naskh and cursive naskh, discussing calendrical topics such as the beginning date of the era of Alexander (40r); glosses in eastern hands, one similar to that from Taqī l-Din b. Maʿrūf (35r, 42r, 45r, 51r, 53v, 54v, 56r, 57r, 58r-59v, 60v, 61v, 64r, 66r, 112v, 117r, 124r, 126r, 173r, 199r-199v, 200v); computations in the margin (51r, 54v, 59r, 62r, 63v-64r, 71r, 77v, 151v); statements of the progress of a collation with the base manuscript (8v, 15r, 18v, 22v, 28v, 37r, 38v, 41v, 48v, 52r, 53r, 58v, 68v, 78v, 88v, 90v, 98v, 106v, 109v, 141r, 149v, 154r, 159r, 169v, 175r, 186r, 196v, 209v, 216r, 219v, 229v, 237v); statements of the progress of correction of the star catalogue mainly in a red hand (120r, 123v, 125r, 125v, 129v, 130v, 132r, 134v); a drawing of a hand in the margin calling attention to glosses (40r, 125r-125v, 127r).