Kitāb al-ʿamal bi-al-kūrah al-falakīyah كتاب العمل بالكرة الفلكية Qusṭā ibn Lūqā قسطا بن لوقا

Content

A treatise on the use of the celestial globe by Qusṭā ibn Lūqā (قسطا بن لوقا; ca 820-912).

This work, in 65 short bābs (باب), was widely disseminated through at least two Arabic recensions. The present version of the text is dedicated to Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yaḥyá (أبو الحسن عبد الله بن يحيى, see f. 139v, line 3-4).

The work was very influential in Europe in the medieval period, having been translated into Latin (1256 or post-1271), Castilian (in 1259), Hebrew (before 1301), and Italian (in 1341).

Begins (f. 139v, lines 3-6):

ألفه قسط (!) بن لوقا اليوناني لأبي الحسن عبد الله

بن يحيى قال الفاضل عرفه فضلًا على الخصوص بكمال الفضيلة

قليل في كل مكان وزمان فأما في هذا الزمان فمعدوم البتة خلا

سير أطال إليه بقاءه

Ends (f. 157v, lines 4-9):

...وعد ما بين

العلامتين من الأجزاء فما خرج لدفين (؟) أجزاء ذلك الكوا

كب عن سمت الرأس في ذلك البلد إن شاء الله تعالى

تم كتاب العمل بالكرة الفلكية من كلام قسطا بن لوقا

اليوناني والحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة

والسلام على سيدنا محمد

Extent and format

Ff. 139v-157v

It is part of

A collection of treatises on astronomical instruments and their use

382 images

Ref: Add MS 9598

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript item

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Add MS 9598, ff 139v-157v

History of this record

Date(s)

Late 17th century (CE, Gregorian)

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 407, x, pp. 193-94

Select Bibliography

Translation:

• Worrell, W, 'Qusta Ibn Luqa On The Use Of The Celestial Globe' Isis , 35 (1944), pp. 285-293

Studies:

• Dekker, Elly, 'The transmission of celestial cartography from the Arabic-Islamic world to Europe: Celestial maps in MS Schoenberg ljs 057', in Cartography Between Christian Europe and the Arabic-Islamic World , 1100-1500 (Leiden, Brill: 2021), pp. 91-112
• Lorch, Richard and José Martínez Gázquez, 'Qusta ben Luca. De sphera uolubili', Suhayl 5 (2005), pp. 9–62
• Samsó, Julio, 'Qusṭā ibn Lūqā and Alfonso X on the celestial globe', Suhayl , 5 (2005), pp. 63–79
• Rosenfeld, B. A. and Ekmeleddin Ihsanoğlu, Mathematicians, Astronomers, and Other Scholars of Islamic Civilization and Their Works (7th-19th c.), (Istanbul: IRCICA, 2003), p. 59 (no. 118), A1.

People & organisations

Qusṭā ibn Lūqā

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Kitāb al-ʿamal bi-al-kūrah al-falakīyah كتاب العمل بالكرة الفلكية Qusṭā ibn Lūqā قسطا بن لوقا, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Add MS 9598, ff 139v-157v, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157836372.0x00000c> [accessed 13 June 2026]

Link to this record

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