Too Many Arabic Treatises on the Operation of the Astrolabe in the Medieval Islamic World: Athīr Al-Dīn Al-Abharī’s Treatise on Knowing the Astrolabe and His Editorial Method

In the medieval Islamic world, many scholars engaged in astronomy composed books on astrolabe, especially treatises on how to operate it (called “Treatises on the Operation of the Astrolabe”) such as Book of the Astrolabe (Kitāb al‐Asṭurlāb) by Kūshyār ibn Labbān (fl. second half of the tenth centur...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Mimura, Taro (Autor)
Tipo de documento: Electrónico Artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
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Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Publicado: 2017
En: Medieval encounters
Año: 2017, Volumen: 23, Número: 1/5, Páginas: 365-403
Otras palabras clave:B Athīr al‐Dīn al‐Abharī Book of the Astrolabe Kūshyār ibn Labbān Treatise on Knowing the Astrolabe
Acceso en línea: Volltext (Publisher)
Descripción
Sumario:In the medieval Islamic world, many scholars engaged in astronomy composed books on astrolabe, especially treatises on how to operate it (called “Treatises on the Operation of the Astrolabe”) such as Book of the Astrolabe (Kitāb al‐Asṭurlāb) by Kūshyār ibn Labbān (fl. second half of the tenth century ce); however, most of them had similar contents. One might ask why these scholars sought to write their own treatises of this kind, even though they differed little from existing works on the subject? To answer this question, I compare Kūshyār’s Book of the Astrolabe (Kitāb al‐Asṭurlāb) and Athīr al‐Dīn al‐Abharī’s (d. 1262 or 1265) Treatise on Knowing the Astrolabe (Risāla fī maʿrifat al-Asṭurlāb), which was written under the strong influence of Kūshyār’s Book: a comparison between them reveals that they presupposed the use of their own astrolabes. This analysis shows that many Arabic treatises on the operation of the astrolabe had their novelty at least guaranteed by the uniqueness of a specific astrolabe presupposed by each author.
Descripción Física:Online-Ressource
ISSN:1570-0674
Obras secundarias:In: Medieval encounters
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15700674-12342252