Taḥrīr kitāb al-majisṭī تحرير كتاب المجسطي Ptolemy بطلميوس Ṭūsī, Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad طوسي، نصير الدين محمد بن محمد

Content

The Almagest (كتاب المجسطي), an Arabic version of the Μαθηματικῆς σύνταξις of Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus; c 90-c 168), in the annotated edition (تحرير) of Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī (نصير الدين محمد بن محمد الطوسي; d. 1274). This was the most influential and enduring astronomical text to have survived from the ancient world and its Arabic translation, and al-Ṭūsī's annotated edition in particular, had an immense impact on the medieval world-view in both Christian and Islamic lands.

The text is divided into thirteen chapters (مقالات) further subdivided into sections (فصول), and contains numerous diagrams and tables.

Contents:

Chapter One (المقالة الأولى; ff. 3r-20v);

Chapter Two (المقالة الثانية; ff. 20v-33v);

Chapter Three (المقالة الثالثة; ff. 33v-45v);

Chapter Four (المقالة الرابعة; ff. 45v-62r);

Chapter Five (المقالة الخامسة; ff. 62r-79v);

Chapter Six (المقالة السادسة; ff. 79v-95r);

Chapter Seven (المقالة السابعة; ff. 95r-104r);

Chapter Eight (المقالة الثامنة; ff. 104r-115r);

Chapter Nine (المقالة التاسعة; ff. 115r-131r);

Chapter Ten (المقالة العاشرة; ff. 131r-135r);

Chapter Eleven (المقالة الحادية عشر; ff. 135r-144v);

Chapter Twelve (المقالة الثانية عشر; ff. 144v-150r);

Chapter Thirteen (المقالة الثالثة عشر; ff. 150r-160r).

The text contains numerous diagrams and tables.

This text of this copy was completed in Muḥarram 955/February-March 1548 and the diagrams were completed in Jumādá II 956/June-July 1549 at Qazvin by Ibn ‘Alī Muḥammad Ḥusayn (ابن علي محمد حسين; see colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 160r, lines 2-9, transcribed below).

An ownership inscription to lower left of the colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 160r, transcribed below) records that ‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Raḥbī (عبد العزيز الرحبي) purchased the manuscript on 1 Rajab 1132/9 May 1720 for a price of 4 ashrafī dinars.

Folio 2r contains a geometrical proposition with one figure that is said to be taken 'from the notes of shaykh Abū al-Qāsim ‘Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Samsāṭī' (من تعاليق الشيخ أبي القاسم علي بن محمد بن السمساطي) and is written by a hand other than that of the main scribe.

Begins (f. 2v, lines 2-8):

أحمد الله مبدأ كل مبدأ وغاية كل غاية ومفيض كل خير وولي هداية

وأرجو حسن توفيقه في كل بداية ونهاية وأصلّي على عباده المخصوصين

بالعناية والدراية سيّما محمد وآله الموسومين بالنبوة والولاية المتقدمين

من كل عماية وغواية وبعد فقد كنت برهته من الزمان غاز ما على أن أحرّر

لنفسي وسائر طلبة العلم من الإخوان كتاب المجسطي المنسوب إلى بطلميوس

القلوذي الذي هو الدستور العظيم لأصحاب صناعة الهيئة والتنجيم تحريرًا

لا يفوته مقاصد ذلك الكتاب النظرية ومناهجه العليّة ...

Ends (f. 159v, line 5 [below tables]-160r, line 1):

فلنختم الكتاب وأقول وإذ قد وفقني الله تعالى أيضًا لإتمام ما قصد به

وإيجاز ما وعدته فلا قطع الكلام حامدًا لله تعالى على آلائه ومصليًّا على

جميع أوليائه خصوصًا على خاتم أنبيائه والبردة من آله وأحبّائه

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 160r, lines 2-10):

تم الكتاب يوم الأربعاء من شهر محرم الحرام

بعون الله الملك العلام

سنة 955

فرغت من إتمام أشكال هذا الكتاب الموسوم بتحرير المجسطي للمولى الإمام

المحقق والمدقق أستاذ المحققين وأسناد (؟) المدققين أفضل علماء المتقدمين

وأعلم فضلاء المتأخرين نصير الحق والدين محمد الطوسي في أواخر شهر

جمادى الآخر سنة 956 ببلدة قزوين وأنا الفقير إلى الله الغني ابن علي

محمد حسين غفر الله ذنوبه بحق

محمد وآله المعصومين

Ownership inscription to lower left of the colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 160r):

ملكته بالشراء الشرعي وأنا الفقير

إلى الله سبحانه وتعالى عبد العزيز

الرحبي (؟) بقيمة قدرها أربعة

دنانير أشرفية في غرة شهر

رجب سنة 1132

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. iv+160+iv

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern laid paper

Dimensions: 238 x 140 mm leaf [133 x 65 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil

Ruling: No ruling visible; 25 lines per page; vertical spacing 19 lines per 10 cm

Script: Nasta‘līq ; the scribe is Ibn ‘Alī Muḥammad Ḥusayn (ابن علي محمد حسين; see colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 160r, lines 2-9)

Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings and tables and diagrams in red

Binding: Red leather case binding with central medallion and four pendants

Condition: Minor water damage towards head of volume

Marginalia: Marginal notes by multiple hands

Seals: Ff. 2v, 160r and 160v

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Add MS 23392

History of this record

Date(s)

Jumādá II 956 (AH, Hijri qamari)

Context of creation

Qazvin

Provenance

• Colonel Robert Taylor (1788-1852), Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in Baghdad (1828-43): his seal, without date, with legend عبده تيلر (f. 2v);
• ‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Raḥbī (عبد العزيز الرحبي), his seal, without date, with legend عبد العزيز, and his inscription dated 1 Rajab 1132/9 May 1720 (f. 160r; see Scope and Content for transcription and English summary of the inscription);

‘Alī Marīḍī (علي مريضي), his seal, dated 1064/1653-4 (?) (f. 160v).

Immediate source of acquisition

Purchased from Mrs Taylor, widow of Colonel Robert Taylor (1788-1852), Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in Baghdad (1828-43), 14 April 1860

Related material

Finding aids

Cureton, William and Charles Rieu, Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur. Pars secunda, codices arabicos amplectens (London: The British Museum, 1846-71), Item 1338, pp. 620

Select Bibliography

Edition of Greek original:

• Claudii Ptolemaei Opera quae exstant omnia , vol. 1, pt 1, Syntaxis mathematica. Libros I-VI continens , ed. by Johan Ludvig Heiberg (Leipzig: Teubner, 1898)

Translation of Greek original:

• Ptolemy's Almagest , trans. by G.J. Toomer (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998)

Studies:

• Kunitzsch, Paul, Der Almagest: die Syntaxi Mathematica des Claudius Ptolemaus in arabisch-lateinischer Überlieferung (Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz, 1974)
• Ragep, F. Jamil, 'Ṭūsī: Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī' in The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers , Thomas Hockey et al., eds., (New York: Springer, 2007) pp. 1153-55

Subjects

Astronomy--Early works to 1800Ptolemy, active 2nd century. Almagest

People & organisations

Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy)Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Ṭūsī

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Taḥrīr kitāb al-majisṭī تحرير كتاب المجسطي Ptolemy بطلميوس Ṭūsī, Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad طوسي، نصير الدين محمد بن محمد, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Add MS 23392, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100031940825.0x000001> [accessed 22 December 2024]

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