A text describing the features of the natives based on their ascendant; it is divided into twelve chapters (one for each sign) for male and twelve for female natives. In each chapter, a general description of the native is followed by separate, more detailed ones based on the ascending decan and the houses. The title describes the work as ‘having been authored by the wise Ptolemy and those wise Indians who are with him’ (taʾlīf Baṭlīmūs al-ḥakīm wa-man maʿa-hu min al-ḥukamāʾ al-Hind). Its exact origin remains unknown and it is unclear whether it should be linked with the unidentified Kitāb al-Mawālīd ascribed to Ptolemy by Ibn al-Nadīm. Although displaying a structure similar to that of the Kitāb Ṭawāliʿ al-burūj (B.3.2), the present work is clearly different from it. For a brief discussion of this and related texts, see B.3.2.

Text: [London, Wellcome, Ar. 884]

[Nativities of Men] (pp. 33–183) القول على البرج الأوّل الحمل وطالعه المرّيخ ناريّ يكون رجل صعب المراض سريع الغضب — والبخور المذكور على ما فيه ذكره سابقًا على حسب التحقيق والتحرير (كذا) والله أعلم.

[Nativities of Women] (pp. 184–336) هذه طوالع مواليد النساء. قال الحكيم بطليموس ومن معه من حكماء الهند القول على البرج الأوّل الحمل وطالعه مرّيخ ناريّ فإنّها تكون امرأة بيضة اللون مشربة بحمرة حاذقة لبيبة — وزعفران بالبخور المذكور فإنّها تحصل لها قبولًا ومحبّة ومودّة وهذه الأقوال على سبيل التجارب انتهى تمّ.

Bibl.: Ibn al-Nadīm, al-Fihrist (ed. FlügelGustav Flügel, Kitâb al-Fihrist, 2 vols, Leipzig: Vogel, 1871–1872, vol. I, p. 268:7; ed. SayyidAyman Fu’ād Sayyid, Kitāb al-Fihrist li-Abī l-Faraj Muḥammad bin Isḥāq al-Nadīm (allafa-hu sana 377 H), 4 vols, London: Al Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 2009, p. 215:15; tr. DodgeBayard Dodge, The Fihrist of al-Nadīm. A Tenth-Century Survey of Muslim Culture, 2 vols, New York / London: Columbia University Press, 1970, vol. I, p. 640:7).

Ed.: None.