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Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, E 179

Collection of three works: Arabic. Date:

ff. 1–2, 49–50 copied c. 1225/1810-1 (dates of horoscopes); remainder of the manuscript undated.

Or.:

unknown; unknown scribe.

Prov.:

‘161’ in Hindu-Arabic notation (1r). The manuscript belongs to the ‘nuovo fondo’ acquired by Eugenio Griffini and others from Giuseppe Caprotti, an Italian merchant active in Yemen between 1880 and 1909, and later donated to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana (Griffini).

Cod.: yellowish paper, 50 ff. (foliated with Arabic-European numerals, sometimes twice on the same page; ff. 2 and 49 bound upside down; some quire numbers (‘6’ on f. 11r, ‘7’ on f. 21r, and ‘8’ on f. 31r); catchwords). Four hands for three works. First hand (1v–2v, 49r–50v): bold, fast naskh, mostly undotted and very irregular, at times illegible; abjad numerals; four horoscopes in black, drawn without a ruler. Second hand (3r–10v): clear regular naskh, partially dotted, with red textual dividers; Hindu-Arabic numerals. Third hand (11r–40v, copying the first part of the Ptolemaic work): small naskh, mostly undotted; red ink for formulaic expressions and chapter numbers (Hindu-Arabic, in the margins). Fourth hand (ff. 41r–48v, copying the last part of the Ptolemaic work): big black regular naskh, partially dotted; red ink for formulaic expressions, chapter numbers, and textual dividers. Codex in bad condition; moisture stains, damage by insects, smudges of ink, several folio losses (five quires before f. 11, at least one leaf after f. 48); restored binding, holes and margins (upper and lower lines of the text often lost). Dimensions: various sizes and numbers of lines per page; 11r–40v: 133×227 mm, text framed, 43–50 lines; 41r–58v: 130×215 mm, text framed, 35–37 lines. Recent brown leather cover pasted over paperboards. Type II binding.

Cont.: astrology. — Index: added astrological note (1r); notes on great conjunctions with three horoscopes (1v–2v, 49r–50r); extracts from various works by Sahl b. Bishr (3r–10v; cf. Löfgren & Traini); Ptolemaica (11r–48v). Blank: none.

Bibl.: Eugenio Griffini, I manoscritti sudarabici della Biblioteca Ambrosiana di Milano, Roma: Casa Editrice Italiana, 1910, p. iii; Oscar Löfgren and Renato Traini, Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Vol. III: Nuovo fondo: Series E (Nos. 831-1295), Vicenza: Neri Pozza Editore, 1995, pp. 81–82.

11r–⁠48v	\11r\ \|\| النطفة إمّا بالاتّفاق وإمّا بالتفقّد والرصد إذا طلبوا معرفة الأحوال التي تخصّ البدن والنفس أن يجعلوا فحصهم عن ذلك بما يفعله شكل الكواكب في هذا الوقت خاصّة أعني وقت سقوط النطفة — \48v\ في الهيلاج الذي يؤخذ من وسط السماء فسنين عددها مساو لعدد أزمان الممرّ في وسط السماء والأمر في الهيلاجات التي تؤخذ من الأشياء الباقية تجري حسن هذا القياس \|\| = ʿAlī ibn Riḍwān, Tafsīr al-Maqālāt al-arbaʿ (C.2.3) . — Title: none. — Index: Book III.1 (=VII), 11r–18v (beginning lost); III.2 (=VIII), 18v–24v; III.3 (=IX), 24v–32r; IV.1 (=X), 32r–36r; IV.2 (=XI), 36r–45r; IV.3 (=XII), 45r–48r (end lost). No preface or colophon. A few corrections by the scribe; no glosses. The text copied by the fourth hand resumes exactly where that copied by the third hand ends.

11r–⁠48v

\11r\ || النطفة إمّا بالاتّفاق وإمّا بالتفقّد والرصد إذا طلبوا معرفة الأحوال التي تخصّ البدن والنفس أن يجعلوا فحصهم عن ذلك بما يفعله شكل الكواكب في هذا الوقت خاصّة أعني وقت سقوط النطفة — \48v\ في الهيلاج الذي يؤخذ من وسط السماء فسنين عددها مساو لعدد أزمان الممرّ في وسط السماء والأمر في الهيلاجات التي تؤخذ من الأشياء الباقية تجري حسن هذا القياس ||

= ʿAlī ibn Riḍwān, Tafsīr al-Maqālāt al-arbaʿ (C.2.3)

. — Title: none. — Index: Book III.1 (=VII), 11r–18v (beginning lost); III.2 (=VIII), 18v–24v; III.3 (=IX), 24v–32r; IV.1 (=X), 32r–36r; IV.2 (=XI), 36r–45r; IV.3 (=XII), 45r–48r (end lost). No preface or colophon. A few corrections by the scribe; no glosses. The text copied by the fourth hand resumes exactly where that copied by the third hand ends.