Kitāb al-azminah كتاب الأزمنة

Content

Collection of calendrical, astronomical, meteorological and medical information along with details about Christian feast days and events in the commercial calendar. The material is arranged by month following the order of the Orthodox liturgical calendar, which begins on 1 Aylūl/September. For a list of the major texts in the genre, see Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums , vol. 7 (Leiden: Brill, 1979), pp 322-370; and for a discription of this genre that does not mention the present text or manuscript, see Varisco, ‘The Origin of the anwāʾ in Arab Tradition’, Studia Islamica 74 (1991).

The text is on ff. 49v-70v of the Coptic foliation, from which two folios (ff. 56 and 57) are missing.

The scribe claims that this copy of the Book of Seasons ( Kitāb al-azminah ) consists of fifteen bifolia (خمسة عشر زوج, i.e. thirty folios; see colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 1v, lines 6-7 [70v Coptic foliation], transcribed below). Counting backwards through the Coptic foliation from this colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , however, and accounting for the two missing folios (56 and 57 of the Coptic foliation), we reach f. 22 (41 Coptic foliation) on which folio begins the Duʿā allafahu ba‘ḍ al-mu’minīn al-muḥiqqīn min al-Naṣārá (f. 22r [41r Coptic foliation]). These prayers and the following three recipes for incense (ff. 28v-30v [47v-49v Coptic foliation]) may, thus, originally have been intended as parts of the Kitāb al-azminah . Alternatively, a quire Collection of papers folded in half and stitched together to form a gathering of folios. may have been lost from this section of the manuscript, but since there is no break in the quire Collection of papers folded in half and stitched together to form a gathering of folios. signature sequence throughout the manuscript and a break of only two folios (56 and 57) in the Coptic foliation, the quire Collection of papers folded in half and stitched together to form a gathering of folios. would have to have been lost before either the Coptic foliation or the quire Collection of papers folded in half and stitched together to form a gathering of folios. signatures were added.

The Feast of the Church of al-Ruṣāfah (عيد كنيسة الرصافة, al-Ruṣāfah = Sergiopolis, in Syria) is mentioned on f. 32v (51v Coptic foliation), which suggests a Syrian origin of this text.

The present text is very similar in form and content to the Kitāb al-azminah by Yūḥannā ibn Māsawayh (d. 857), but is not that text (see Le Livre des Temps d'Ibn Massawaïh, médecin chrétien célebrè décédé en 857 , ed. by Paul Sbath [Le Caire: Imprimerie de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1933]). For example, the list of months in the present text begins with Aylūl while that given by Ibn Māsawayh begins with Tishrīn I, and the reference in the present text to Feast of the Church of al-Ruṣāfah does not appear in Ibn Māsawayh's Kitāb al-azminah.

The Kitāb al-azminah comprises the following sections.

1) Names of the Months in Syriac, Greek and Persian, the number of days they have and in which signs of the Zodiac they fall (تسمية الشهور بالسريانية والرومية والفارسية وعدد أيامها وما لها من البروج, ff. 30v-33v, 11r-16v, 3r-7v [49v-65v Coptic foliation, of which ff. 56 and 57 are missing])

• i) Aylūl (ff. 30v-32v [49v-51v Coptic foliation]);
• ii) Tishrīn I (ff. 32v-33r [51v-52r Coptic foliation]);
• iii) Tishrīn II (ff. 33r-33v [52r-52v Coptic foliation]);
• iv) Kānūn I (ff. 33v, 11r-13v [52v-55v Coptic foliation]);
• v) Kānūn II (ff. 13v-end missing [55v- Coptic foliation]);
• Folios 56 and 57 missing from the Coptic foliation;
• vi) Shubāṭ (Missing);
• vii) Ādhār (beginning missing-f. 16r [-60r Coptic foliation]);
• viii) Nīsān (ff. 16r-16v [60r-60v Coptic foliation]);
• ix) Ayyār (ff. 16v and 3r-3v [60v-61v Coptic foliation]);
• x) Ḥazīrān (ff. 3v-6v [61v-64v Coptic foliation]);
• xi) Tammūz (ff. 6v-7r [64v-65r Coptic foliation]);
• xii) Āb (ff. 7r-7v [65r-65v Coptic foliation]).

2) The Twenty-eight Mansions of the Moon (منازل القمر ثمنية وعشرين, ff. 7v-9v [65v-67v Coptic foliation]);

3) The Signs of the Zodiac are Twelve in Number and Their Names Are (عدد البروج إثنا عشر برجًا فأسماؤها, f. 9v [67v Coptic foliation]);

4) The Stars are Twenty-eight in Number (عدد النجوم ثمانية وعشرين, ff. 9v-10r [67v-68r Coptic foliation]);

5) The Seasons (الأزمنة, ff. 10r, 10v, 17r, 17v, 1r and 1v [68r-70v Coptic foliation])

• i) On the months and days that make up the four seasons (الأزمنة الأربعة), and the length of days and nights during each season (ff. 10r, line 11 and 17r, line 10 [68r-69r Coptic foliation]);
• ii) The seven asterisms (أنجم, in other texts often called the anwāʾ ) of the lunar zodiac that fall in each season (ff. 17r, line 10-17v, line 6 [69r-69v Coptic foliation]);
• iii) The six signs (بروج) of the solar zodiac that fall in the two halves of the year divided at the equinoxes (Autumn-Winter and Spring Summer) (f. 17v, lines 7-11 [69v Coptic foliation]);
• iv) Ascendants of each hour of the day beginning with Sunday (ff. 17v, line 11 and 1r-1v, line 5 [69v-70v Coptic foliation]).

Since each day in this last section is divided into twelve hours only, rather than twenty-four hours, the usual correspondence between the hours of the day and the seven planets is lost after the first day. On f. 1r (70r Coptic foliation), the list of correspondence between the planets and the hours is laid out in two columns.

Begins (f. 30v, lines 2-6 [49v Coptic foliation]):

... بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم تسمية

الشهور بالسريانية والرومية والفارسية

وعدد أيامها وما لها من البروج ثلثون يو

مًا وبالرومية يسمى سفطفدس والفارسية

تيرماه برجه العذراء ...

Ends (f. 1v, lines 2-5 [70v Coptic foliation]):

... فإن كان يوم الأحد فا

حسب من الأحد حتى ينتهي إلى ستة أيام

من السادس هو الذي يليه وحسبي الله و

نعم الوكيل ...

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 1v, lines 5-8 [70v Coptic foliation]):

... تم كتاب الأزمنة

ولله الشكر دائمًا وعدد ورقه خمسة

عشر زوج بخير (؟) مطلوب إليه وطالب

اغفر لصاحبه نعم والكاتب

Extent and format

Ff. 30v-33v, 11r-16v, 3r-10v, 17r-17v, 1r and 1v

It is part of

Fragment of a Christian Arabic Miscellany

78 images

Ref: Or 8857

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript item

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 8857, ff 30v-33v, 11r-16v, 3r-10v, 17r-17v, 1r and 1v

History of this record

Date(s)

ca 1000

Related material

Select Bibliography

Catalogue record for other fragment of manuscript:

• Löfgren, Oscar and Renato Traini, Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, 3 vols (Vicenza: Neri Pozza Editore, 1975–95), vol. 1, item XXXIII, pp. 33-35

Studies:

• Le Livre des Temps d'Ibn Massawaïh, médecin chrétien célebrè décédé en 857 , ed. by Paul Sbath (Le Caire: Imprimerie de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1933)
• Sezgin, Fuat, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums , vol. 7 (Leiden: Brill, 1979), pp 322-370
• Varisco, Daniel, ‘The Origin of the anwāʾ in Arab Tradition’, Studia Islamica 74 (1991), pp. 5-28

Subjects

MeteorologyAstronomy--Early works to 1800Medicine--Early works to 1800Agriculture--Early works to 1800

Share this record

• Share on twitter
• Share on facebook

Cite this record in your research

Kitāb al-azminah كتاب الأزمنة, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 8857, ff 30v-33v, 11r-16v, 3r-10v, 17r-17v, 1r and 1v, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100098365805.0x000002> [accessed 8 November 2024]

Link to this record

https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100098365805.0x000002

IIIF details

This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100073295641.0x000001/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images

Copyright: How to use this content