San‘at al-zāmir صنعة الزامر Apollonius the carpenter and geometer أبلنيوس النجار الهندسي

Content

Treatise on the design and construction of an hydraulic flute playing machine. The treatise is attributed to 'Apollonius the carpenter and geometer (أبلنيوس النجار الهندسي)', who some have identified as the geometer Apollonius of Perga (Ἀπολλώνιος; أبلونيوس; fl ca 200 BC).

The text in this copy differs from that in Add MS 23391, ff 21r-25v and edited by Hill, Shehadeh and Lorch (1994-95).

Begins (f. 14r, lines 5-8):

... صنعة الزامر لاٮلٮٮٮوس

النجار الهندسي يتخذ صندوق

مهندم مزفت أو مرصص من

داخله كله طوله أربعة أذرع

Ends (f. 20v, line 16-20v, line 18):

فإنه يقطر منه شيء منسبة (!) باللؤلؤة والصوبة الحرعة (!) وهيدمها والضوء

الانتركة (!) على النعار بالرصاص ويوسع الجرعة إذا أردت بالشريط

التسادح الناعم ولا تضع النعار الأعلى كرسيه لئلا يبعد وهذه صورته

The treatise contains seven diagrams:

Internal mechanisms within a water-clock (f. 15r);

Internal mechanisms for a pipe-organ within a water-clock (f. 16r);

Internal mechanisms within a water-clock (f. 16v);

Disc indicating the signs of the zodiac and the corresponding Syro-Macedonian months (f. 17r);

Base (?) of a water-clock (f. 18v);

Base (?) of a water-clock (f. 20r);

Base (?) of a water-clock (f. 21r).

Extent and format

Ff. 14r-21r

It is part of

Two technological treatises

170 images

Ref: Or 14270

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript item

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 14270, ff 14r-21r

History of this record

Date(s)

28 Shawwāl 691 (CE, Gregorian)

Related material

Select Bibliography

Edition, translation and study:

Donald R. Hill, Kamal Shehadeh and Richard P. Lorch, 'Construction of a Fluting Machine by Apollonius the Carpenter', Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften, 9 (1994-95), 326-56

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San‘at al-zāmir صنعة الزامر Apollonius the carpenter and geometer أبلنيوس النجار الهندسي, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 14270, ff 14r-21r, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023698323.0x000003> [accessed 3 April 2025]

Link to this record

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