ÿþ<html> <head> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0"> <meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=unicode"> <title>Al Nadim - The Fihrist - 7.1</title> <style> <!-- p.MsoPlainText {margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"; margin-left:0mm; margin-right:0mm; margin-top:0mm} --> </style> </head> <body> <p class="MsoPlainText" align="left"> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-weight: 700"> <font size="4">The Fihrist of al-Nad+m</font><font size="3">, A Tenth-century survey of Muslim culture</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText" align="left"> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3"><b>Bayard Dodge</b></font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: -36.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: -36.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt">&nbsp;</p> <blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText" align="center"> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-weight:700"> <font size="4">The Seventh Part</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText" align="center"><i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">of the book </font></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">Al-Fihrist,<i> with accounts of the ancient and modern scholars, who were authors, with the names of the books they composed. The composition of Muh#ammad ibn Ish#q al-Nad+m, known as Abk al-Faraj ibn Abi Yaqkb al-Warrq</i>.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText" align="center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText" align="center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">In the name of Allh, the Merciful, the Compassionate</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText" align="center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText" align="center"> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-weight:700"> <font size="4">The Seventh Chapter</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText" align="center"><i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">of the book </font></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">Al-Fihrist,</font><i><font size="3"> which includes accounts of the philosophers, the ancient sciences, and the books composed about them, in three sections.</font></i></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText" align="center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText" align="center"> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-weight:700"> <font size="4">The First Section</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText" align="center"><i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">with accounts of the philosophers of the natural sciences and of logic, with the names of their books and translations of these </font></span></i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">[<i>books</i>]<i> and explanations about them: Which of them are extant, which have been recorded but are no longer extant, and which of them used to exist, but have later disappeared.</i> <a href="#1.">[1]</a></font></span></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">&nbsp;</font></p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"><a href="#a1" style="text-decoration: none"><i> <font face="Times New Roman" size="3">S</font></i><font size="3"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><i>tatements at the Beginning of the Chapter </i>[<i>Quoted</i>]<i> from the Scholars in Their Own Words&nbsp; (Abu Sahl </i>[<i>al-Fadl</i>]<i> ibn Nawbakht)</i></span></font></a></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"><a href="#a2" style="text-decoration: none"><i> <font face="Times New Roman" size="3">A</font></i><font size="3"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><i>nother Account&nbsp; (Abu Mashar </i>[<i>Jafar ibn Muhammad</i>]<i>)</i></span></font></a></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"> <a href="#a3" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: italic"> <font face="Times New Roman" size="3">A</font><font size="3"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman">nother Account&nbsp; (Shapur, Julian, Constantine the Great)</span></font></a></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"><i><a href="#a4" style="text-decoration: none"> <font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Another Account&nbsp; (translations </font><font size="3"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> from the Greek, Coptic and Persian languages into Arabic)</span></font></a></i></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-style:italic"> <font size="3"><a href="#a5" style="text-decoration: none">Mention of the Reason Why Books on Philosophy and Other Ancient Sciences Became Plentiful in This Country</a></font></span></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3"><a href="#a6" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: italic"> The Names of the Translators from </a> <a href="#a6" style="text-decoration: none; ">[</a><a href="#a6" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: italic">Foreign</a><a href="#a6" style="text-decoration: none; ">]</a><a href="#a6" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: italic"> Languages into the Arabic Tongue</a></font></span></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3"><a href="#a7" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: italic">The Names of the Translators from Persian into Arabic&nbsp;  &nbsp; Among the Translators of Persia&nbsp;  &nbsp; Translators of India and the Nabataeans</a></font></span></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"><a href="#a8" style="text-decoration: none"><i> <font face="Times New Roman" size="3">T</font></i><font size="3"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><i>he First to Speak about Philosophy&nbsp;  &nbsp; These epistles have come down with the commentary of Malchus&nbsp;  &nbsp; Another Account&nbsp; (Socrates)</i></span></font></a></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3"><a href="#a9" style="text-decoration: none"><i>Plato&nbsp;  &nbsp; The Books He Composed according to What Theon Recorded and Arranged in Sequence&nbsp;  &nbsp; From Other Than the Statement of Theon&nbsp;  &nbsp; Another Account&nbsp; (Socrates)</i></a></font></span></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> <a href="#a10" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: italic">Account of Aristotle</a></font></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3"><a href="#a11" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: italic"> The Will of Aristotle</a></font></span></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3"><i><a href="#a12" style="text-decoration: none">The Order of His Books on Logic, the Physical Sciences, Metaphysics, and Ethics</a>&nbsp; (Statement about His Books on Logic: Eight Books&nbsp;  &nbsp; Account of the Categoriae with the Translation of Hunayn ibn Ishaq&nbsp;  &nbsp; Account of the </i></font><i><font size="3">De interpretatione&nbsp;  &nbsp; Account of the Analytica priora&nbsp; </font></i> <font size="3"><i> &nbsp; Account of the Apodeiktikos, which is the Analytica posteriora&nbsp;  &nbsp; Account of the </i></font><i><font size="3">Topica&nbsp;  &nbsp; Account of the Sophistici&nbsp;  &nbsp; Account of the Rhetorica&nbsp; </font></i> <font size="3"><i> &nbsp; Account of Poetica, Which Means Poetry&nbsp;  &nbsp; Account of the Natural Hearing (with the Commentary of Alexander, with the Commentary of Yahya al-Nahwi of Alexandria)&nbsp;  &nbsp; Account of the Book Heaven and Earth&nbsp;  &nbsp; Account of the Book Being and Corruption&nbsp;  &nbsp; Account of the Signs on High&nbsp;  &nbsp; Account of the Book The Soul&nbsp;  &nbsp; Account of the Book Perception and the Perceived&nbsp;  &nbsp; Account of the Book of Animals&nbsp;  &nbsp; Account of the Book of Letters known as the Divine Things&nbsp;  &nbsp; From among the Books of Aristotle as Copied from What Is Written in the Handwriting of Yahya ibn Adi)</i></font></span></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"><a href="#a13" style="text-decoration: none"><i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3"> Theophrastus&nbsp;  &nbsp; </font></span></i> <font size="3"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <i>Diadochus Proclus from the People of Attaleia, the Platonist</i></span></font></a></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"><a href="#a14" style="text-decoration: none"><i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">Alexander</font></span></i><font size="3"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-style:italic"> of Aphrodisias</span></font></a></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"><a href="#a15" style="text-decoration: none"><i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">Porphyry&nbsp;  &nbsp; Ammonius</font></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3"><i>&nbsp;  &nbsp; Themistius</i></font></span></a></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3"> <a href="#a16" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: italic">Nicolaus&nbsp;  &nbsp; Plutarch&nbsp;  &nbsp; Olympiodorus</a></font></span></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"><a href="#a17" style="text-decoration: none"><i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3"> Hippocrates&nbsp;  &nbsp; Epaphroditus&nbsp;  &nbsp; Plutarch</font></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-style:italic"><font size="3">, Another One&nbsp; </font></span><i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">  &nbsp; </font></span></i> <font size="3"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> Account of Yahya al-Nahwi</span></i></font></a></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-style:italic"> <font size="3"><a href="#a18" style="text-decoration: none">The Names of the Philosophers of Natural Science</a>&nbsp; (</font></span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">Ariston, </font></span></i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-style:italic"> <font size="3">Pantuleius, </font></span><i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">Turius, Artemidorus, Gregorius, Ptolemy</font></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-style:italic"><font size="3"> the Foreign (al-Gharib), </font></span><i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">Theon)</font></span></i></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <i> <font size="3"><a href="#a19" style="text-decoration: none">Account of al-Kindi</a>&nbsp; (Names of His Philosophical Books, His Books about Logic, His Arithmetical Books, His Books on Spherics, His Musical Books, His Astronomical Books, His Geometrical Books, His Cosmological Books, His Medical Books, His Astrological Books, His Books of Disputations, His Books about the Souls, His Books about Politics (Government), His Books on Ontological Occurrences, His Books about Distances, His Books about Premonitions, His Miscellaneous Books)</font></i></span></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-style:italic"> <font size="3"><a href="#a20" style="text-decoration: none">The Disciples of al-Kindi and His Scribes</a>&nbsp; (</font></span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">Ahmad</font></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-style:italic"><font size="3"> ibn al-Tayyib, </font></span><i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">Quwayri, </font></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <i> <font size="3">Ibn Karnib, Al-Farabi, </font></i> <font size="3"><i>Abu Yahya al-Marwazi, Abu Yahya al-Marwazi)</i></font></span></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoPlainText"> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-style:italic"> <font size="3"><a href="#a21" style="text-decoration: none">Various Books of a Number of Miscellaneous People</a>&nbsp; (</font></span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">Matta</font></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-style:italic"><font size="3"> ibn Yunus, </font></span><i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">Yahya</font></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3"><i> ibn Adi, Abu Sulayman al-Sijistani, Ibn Zurah, Ibn Khammar, Al-Awwaqi </i>[<i>al-Uqi</i>]<i>)</i></font></span></p> </li> </ul> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="1.">1.</a></b> The title follows MS 1934. The first few lines,  The Seventh Part . . . known as Abk al-Faraj ibn Ab+ Ya qkb al-Warrq, are on a separate page in the manuscript. The phrase  an imitation of the handwriting of the author, His servant, Muh#ammad ibn Ish#q is written under this heading, on the left-hand side of the page.  The chapter of philosophers of the book <i> Al-Fihrist</i> is written on the right-hand side. In MS 1135, the title for Chapter VII is erroneously given as  The Second Section. There are not many variations in wording between MSS 1135 and 1934, but the latter seems to be more accurate. See the Introduction for the parts of <i>Al-Fihrist</i> covered by the various manuscripts.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;<img border="0" src="line_down.gif" width="596" height="18"></font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">572</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3"><a name="a1">S</a>tatements at the Beginning of the Chapter [Quoted] from the Scholars in Their Own Words</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp; Abk Sahl [al-<i>Fad#l</i>] ibn Nawbakht said in the book <i>Two Things Seized Upon</i>: <a href="#2.">[2]</a></font></span></p> <blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">The types of sciences, the kinds of books, and the forms of questions have increased, as have the sources from which things indicated by the stars are derived. This [increase] was from what existed before the reasons [for these things] were made clear, and human knowledge about them was described by the Babylonians in their books, learned from them [the Babylonians] by the Egyptians, and applied by the Indians in their country.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">These things dealt with the original created beings, their defilement <a href="#3.">[3]</a> by evil, their commission of sins, and their falling into such depths of ignorance that their minds became confused and their visions made to err. For as mentioned in the books about their affairs and actions, things reached a point at which their minds were perplexed, their visions confused and their religion destroyed. Thus they became bewildered and erring, understanding nothing.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">They [the original created beings] remained in this state for a period of time until some of their successors coming after them, their offspring and the seed of their loins, obtained help in remembering, understanding, and perceiving phenomena. <a href="#4.">[4]</a> [They also received] knowledge of the past about the circumstances of the world, about its condition, the directing of its origin, the arrival at its intermediate status, and the issue at its end. [They also learned about] the condition of the inhabitants, and the positions of the heavenly bodies and their routes, degrees, minutes, and stations, both high and low, and with their courses and all of their directions. This was the period of Jam ibn Awijhn, the king. <a href="#5.">[5]</a></font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">The scholars were acquainted with this learning, recording it in books and explaining what they wrote down. Together with this recording they described the world, its grandeur, the origin of its causes, its foundation, its stars, kinds of drugs, remedies, charms, and other things which</font></span></p> </blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="2.">2.</a></b> See Chap. VII, sect. 2, n. 67.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="3.">3.</a></b> Flügel gives <i>muqrafah</i> ( defilement ), probably correct, although the manuscripts give mufraqah ( separation ).</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="4.">4.</a></b> Literally,  these matters. </font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="5.">5.</a></b> This was a legendary king of Persia. He was called <i>Jamsh+d</i> ibn Tahmkras ibn Hkshang (Awijhn).</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;<img border="0" src="line_down.gif" width="596" height="18"></font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">573</font></span></p> <blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">are devices for people and which they describe as suitable to their wants, both good and bad. Thus they continued for a period of time, until the reign of al-<i>D#ah#h#k</i> ibn Qayy (Kai).</font></span></p> </blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">From other than the words of Abk Sahl, it is said,  <i> Dah k </i>means  ten vices, but the Arabs turned it into al-D#ah#h#k. We now return to the words of Abk Sahl:&nbsp;</font></span></p> <blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">[Al-D#ah#h#k] ibn Qayy, during the season (share) of Jupiter and his period, turn, dominion, and power in controlling the years, built a city in al-Sawd, <a href="#6.">[6]</a> the name of which was derived from that of Jupiter. He gathered into it the science of the scholars and built there twelve palaces, according to the number of the signs of the zodiac, calling them by the names [of these signs]. He stored the scholars books in them and caused the scholars themselves to live in them.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">From other than the words of Abk Sahl:  He built seven shrines, according to the number of the seven stars, assigning each of these dwellings to a [wise] man. <a href="#7.">[7]</a> The Shrine of Mercury he assigned to <i>Hermes</i>, the Shrine of Jupiter to <i>T+nkalks</i>, and the Shrine of Mars to <i>T#inqarks</i>. <a href="#8.">[8]</a></font></span></p> </blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">We return to the words of Abk Sahl:&nbsp;</font></span></p> <blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">The people obeyed them [the seven wise men] and were submissive to their command, so that they managed their affairs. They [the people] appreciated their superiority over them in different forms of learning and modes of living, until a prophet was sent during that period. Because of his appearance and what reached them about his mission, they refused the wisdom [of the seven wise men]. Many of their ideas became confused, their cause was broken up, and there were differences regarding their aims and coming together. So each of the wise men sought a city in which to dwell, so as to become a leader of its people.</font></span></p> </blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="6.">6.</a></b> Al-Sawd here signifies ancient Chaldea. The city was Babylon; see Yqkt, <i>Geog.</i>, I, 448 l. 12, 449 l. 14.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="7.">7.</a></b> The seven shrines of Babylon were almost certainly seven small temples inside a sacred enclosure, consecrated to the sun, the moon, and the five known planets. They very likely formed a semicircle facing the ziggurat. Cf. the 12 shrines in the sacred enclosure at H#arrn as described in Chap. IX, sect. I, n. 50, and the 12 shrines at Sumatar as described by Segal, <i> Anatolian Studies</i>, III (1953), 97 103, 107.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="8.">8.</a></b> Hermes is evidently Trismegistus. Nakosteen, p. 218, spells the next two wise men  Tingrous and  Tuklous. For these two, see Chap. VII, sect. 2, n. 30.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;<img border="0" src="line_down.gif" width="596" height="18"></font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">574</font></span></p> <blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">Among them there was a wise man named <i>Hermes</i>. He was the most thoroughly intelligent, the most strikingly wise, and the most refined in discernment among them. He went to the land of Egypt, where he ruled over the inhabitants, making the land prosperous, improving the conditions of the people, and manifesting his wisdom among them.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">This situation lasted, in Babylon in particular, until <i> Alexander</i>, the king of the Greeks, set forth from a city of the Greeks named Macedonia to invade Persia. Then when he [<i>Darius</i> III] refused to pay the tribute still imposed upon the people of Babylon and the kingdom of Persia, he [Alexander] killed him, <i>Dr</i> ibn Dra the king [Darius III], taking possession of his kingdom, destroying his cities, and razing the ramparts built by devils and giants. <a href="#9.">[9]</a> His destruction [ruined] whatever there was in the different buildings of scientific material, whether inscribed on stone or wood, and with this demolition there were conflagrations, with scattering of the books. Such of these things, however, as were gathered in collections and libraries in the city of Is#t#akhr <a href="#10.">[10]</a> he had transcribed and translated into the Greek and Coptic tongues. Then, after he had finished copying what he had need of, he burned the material written in Persian. But there was a book called<i> Al-Kushtaj</i> <a href="#11.">[11]</a> from which he took what he needed of the science of the stars, as well as of medicine and the natural sciences. This book and the scientific material, riches, and treasures which he hit upon, together with the scholars, he sent to the land of Egypt.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">In the regions of India and China there were left some things which the kings of Persia had copied at the time of their prophet <i>Zoroaster</i> and the wise man <i>Jmsb</i>. They cared for them in those places, as their prophet Zoroaster and Jmsb had warned them of the actions of Alexander, with his conquest of their land and destruction of as many of their books and scientific materials as possible, and of his transferring them to his own country.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">After that, learning was wiped out and torn to pieces in al- Irq, while the scholars disagreed and decreased in number and the people became the exponents of partisanship and division. For each of their sects there was a king. They called them [the kings] the Kings of the Tribes. <a href="#12.">[12]</a></font></span></p> </blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="9.">9.</a></b> This refers to Alexander s invasion of Persia and overcoming of Darius III. The translation is a free one, as the Arabic text is difficult to render literally.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="10.">10.</a></b> This was ancient Persepohs; see Jackson, <i>Persia Past and Present</i>, pp. 294-95; Yqkt, <i>Geog.</i>, I, 299.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="11.">11.</a></b> This may come from the Persian <i>kustaj</i> ( palm fibers ). See Flügel edition of <i>Al-Fihrist</i>, p. 13 nn. 7, 10.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="12.">12.</a></b> For the Kings of the Tribes, see the Glossary.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;<img border="0" src="line_down.gif" width="596" height="18"></font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">575</font></span></p> <blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">After the division, disagreement and quarreling which they had before the time of King Alexander, the rule <a href="#13.">[13]</a> of the Greeks formed one kingdom. Thus they became one force, whereas the regime of Babylon continued to be broken, weakened, and corrupted. Her people continued to be oppressed and subjugated, unable to prevent lawlessness or to ward off injury, until the reign of <i>Ardash+r</i> ibn Bbak of the lineage of Ssn. He changed their disagreements into unity, joining together their divisions and conquering their enemies. He became master of their land, seizing for himself the rule over them. Thus he did away with their schisms, assuming for himself the sovereignty. Then he sent to India and China for the books in those directions, and also to the Greeks. He copied whatever was safeguarded with them, even seeking for the little that remained in al- Irq. Thus he collected what was scattered, gathering together the things dispersed. <a href="#14.">[14]</a></font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">Shpkr</font></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">, his son, followed his example, so that there were transcribed into Persian all of those books, such as the ones of <i>Hermes</i> the Babylonian, who ruled Egypt; <i>Dorotheus</i> the Syrian; <i>Phaedrus</i> the Greek from the city of Athens, famous for learning; Ptolemy [<i>Ptolemaeus</i> Alexandrinus]; and Farmsib the Indian. <a href="#15.">[15]</a> They explained them [the books], teaching the people about them in the same way that they learned from all of those books, which originated in Babylon.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">Then after the time of these two [Ardash+r and Shpkr] there appeared Chosroes <i>Ankshirwn</i>, who collected, edited, and worked over them [the books] because of his interest in learning and his love for it. Thus for the people of every time and age there is new experience and a renewal of scholarship as foreordained by the stars of the zodiac, which is the master of time s destiny as commanded by Allh, exalted be His majesty.</font></span></p> </blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">Here ends the account of Abk Sahl [al-<i>Fad#l</i> ibn Nawbakht].</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="13.">13.</a></b> Although the Flügel version has the plural form  kings (<i>mulkk</i>), MS 1934 has the singular  rule (<i>mulk</i>). The words translated  formed one kingdom are literally  assembled to one kingdom. </font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="14.">14.</a></b> For the disturbed period of history at the end of the Parthian period and the restoration by Ardash+r the Ssnian, see Sykes, <i> History of Persia</i>, I, 410-30.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="15.">15.</a></b> Instead of Farmsib, T#abar+, <i>Annales</i>, Part I, pp. 1052 n. b. 1053 l. 10, give Farm+sha. Gutschmid, <i>ZDMG</i>, XXXIV (1880), 746, sect. 371, suggests Pulukésha. This name is not included in the Biog. Index, as the identification is uncertain. The name should also be compared with Pulakesin I, founder of the Chalukya Dynasty in India, A.D. 550 (see  Chalukya, <i> Enc. Brit.</i>,V, 812), and with Viktamaditya (see  India, <i> Enc. Brit.</i>, XIV, 399). As translation from Indian into Persian and then from Persian into Arabic involved difficulties of transliteration, the names were inevitably confused.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;<img border="0" src="line_down.gif" width="596" height="18"></font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">576</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">Ish#q </font></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">al-Rhib relates in his history that when <i>Ptolemy</i> Philadelphus, who was one of the kings of Alexandria, reigned, he made a search for books of learning, placing a man named Zam+rah <a href="#16.">[16]</a> in charge. According to what is related, he collected fifty-four thousand one hundred and twenty books. Then he said,  Oh, King, there are still a great many more [books] in the world, in Sind, India, Persia, Georgia, Armenia, Babylon, al-Maws#il, and among the Greeks. </font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3"><a name="a2">A</a>nother Account</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;&nbsp; Abk <i>Ma shar</i> [Ja far ibn Muh#ammad] said in his book about the variations of astronomical tables: <a href="#17.">[17]</a></font></span></p> <blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">Because of their care in preserving [the books about] the sciences, their eagerness to make them endure throughout the ages, and their guarding them from celestial happenings and earthly damages, the kings of Persia actually chose for them the writing material <a href="#18.">[18]</a> which was the most durable in case of accident, the longest lasting in time, and the least prone to decay or effacement. This [writing material] was the bark of the white poplar tree, the bark being called <i>tkz</i>. The peoples of India, China, and the neighboring countries imitated them. They also selected this [material] for their bows with which they shot, because of its hardness, smoothness, and durability in the bows during a long period of time.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">Then, after they [the kings of Persia] had obtained the best writing materials in the world to preserve their sciences, they desired [to store the books about] them in the place which among all of the regions of the earth and the towns of the provinces had the cleanest soil and the least amount of decay, being also the furthest removed from earthquakes and eclipses, as well as possessing the most cohesive clay with the quality of construction, which would endure the longest throughout the ages. After they had made a complete survey of the lands and regions of their kingdom, they were unable to find under the vault of the heavens any place</font></span></p> </blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="16.">16.</a></b> This is probably a misspelling for Demetrius Phalereus. The erroneous spelling is in all of the versions of <i>Al-Fihrist</i>, so that the name was evidently copied from an older source. The Arabic &nbsp;Z M * R&nbsp; (Zam+rah) and &nbsp;D M T R &nbsp;(Demetrius) might easily be confused.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="17.">17.</a></b> The great astonomer Abk Ma shar wrote numerous books about the astronomical tables; see Chap. VII, sect. 2, near n. 87, and the titles of Qift#i, pp. 152 54.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="18.">18.</a></b> The Arabic word translated  writing material is <i>maktib</i>, a plural form. It usually means  schools. <i>Tkz shajar al-khadank</i> is the inner bark of the <i>khadang</i> or white poplar tree. As a rule it was used for wrapping bow strings.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;<img border="0" src="line_down.gif" width="596" height="18"></font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">577</font></span></p> <blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">possessing these advantages to a greater extent than did Is#bahn. <a href="#19.">[19]</a> Then as they examined the districts of this locality, they did not find any spot in it that could excel Rustq Jayy. <a href="#20.">[20]</a> Furthermore, in Rustq Jayy they did not find any place more completely like what they desired than the locality in which, later on, the city of Jayy was marked out during the time of <i>Dhir</i>.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">Then they went to the <i>quhunduz</i>, <a href="#21.">[21]</a> which is inside the city of Jayy, to make it the depository for their sciences. This [depository] was called Srwayh (Srkyah) <a href="#22.">[22]</a> and it has lasted until our own time. In regard to this building, the people knew <a href="#23.">[23]</a> who the builder was, because many years before our time a side [of the building] became ruined. Then they found a vault in the cleft-offside, built without mortar, and in which they discovered many books of the ancients, written on white poplar bark (<i>tkz</i>) and containing all of the sciences of the forefathers written in the old Persian form of writing.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">Some of these books came into the possession of a man interested in them. Upon reading them, he found among them a book related to the ancient kings of Persia. In it it was mentioned that <i>T#ahmkrath</i>, the king who loved the sciences and scholars, was forewarned of an atmospheric phenomenon in the west, in the form of a series of rains which were to be excessive in both duration and abundance, <a href="#24.">[24]</a> surpassing the [normal] limit.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">From the first day of the years of his reign, to the first day when this phenomenon in the west began, was two hundred and thirty-one years and three hundred days. From the beginning of his reign the astrologers led him to fear that this occurrence might pass from the west to the eastern regions. So he ordered the engineers to reach an agreement for the selecting of the best place in the kingdom, with regards to soil and atmosphere. They chose for him the site of the building which is known as Srwayh and still exists at the present time within the city of Jayy. <a href="#25.">[25]</a> So he commanded the construction of this well-guarded building. When it was</font></span></p> </blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="19.">19.</a></b> Unlike the other versions, the Flügel edition has Is#fahn.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="20.">20.</a></b> Jayy was an old town near Is#bahn, also called Shahrastn. Rustq signified a military encampment. See Yqkt, <i>Geog.</i>, II, 181; III, 342 bottom; IV, 452, 1045 l. 9.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="21.">21.</a></b> This was the Persian name for a fortress inside a city.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="22.">22.</a></b> The fortress called by Zoroastrians Jem-gird and later Sruwa, famous as the building where early Persian records were discovered; see  Isfahn, <i> Enc. Brit.</i>, XIV, 869.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="23.">23.</a></b> The Tonk MS has a variation from <i>dar</i> ( knew ).</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="24.">24.</a></b> The manuscripts give <i>al-dawm</i>, whereas Flügel has <i> al-dwm</i>; both forms mean  abundance. There are unimportant other variations.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="25.">25.</a></b> For the proper names, see nn. 20, 22.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;<img border="0" src="line_down.gif" width="596" height="18"></font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">578</font></span></p> <blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">completed there was moved to it from his libraries a great deal of scientific material of various sorts, copied for him on white poplar bark (<i>tkz</i>) and placed in a part of the building so that it might be preserved for mankind until after the phenomenon should come to an end.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">There was in it [the building] a book which was related to some of the ancient sages and which contained [knowledge of] the years and known cycles for deriving the intermediate positions of the stars and the reasons for their motions. The people of the time of T#ahmkrath and those who lived earlier than they did in Persia called these the cycles of thousands (<i>adwr al-hazrt</i>). The wise men, the kings of India who were on the face of the earth, the former kings of Persia, <a href="#26.">[26]</a> and the ancient Chaldeans, who were tent dwellers belonging to the earliest Babylonian period, reckoned the intermediate positions of the seven stars from these years and cycles. <a href="#27.">[27]</a> He [the king] gave special care to this [book] from among the astronomical tables of his time, because he and his contemporaries found upon examination that it was the best and briefest. The astrologers of the period, therefore, derived from it the astronomical tables, which they called the <i>Astronomical Tables of al-Shahriyr</i>.</font></span></p> </blockquote> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">This is the end of the statement of Abk <i>Ma shar</i>.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">Thus saith Muh#ammad ibn Ish#q [al-<i>Nad+m</i>]: A reliable authority once told me that during the year three hundred and fifty after the Hijrah [A.D. 961/62], another vaulted building cracked open. As it had appeared solid on the surface, the location [of the books] did not become known until after it had become a ruin. Many books were discovered in this place, but nobody found out how to read them.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">A thing which I saw and witnessed myself was [the occurrence] when, some time after the year forty [A.D. 951/52], <a href="#28.">[28]</a> Abk al-Fad#l ibn al-<i> Am+d</i> sent here some torn books which he had found at Is#bahn, in boxes in the wall of the city. As they were in Greek, suitable authorities like <i>Yuh#ann</i> [al-Qass] and others deciphered their contents, [which dealt] with the names of the troops and the amounts of their wages. The books had the worst possible stench, as bad as though the skins had been freshly tanned. But after they</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="26.">26.</a></b> The words  wise men and  of Persia are found only in the Flügel edition.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="27.">27.</a></b> The seven stars probably refer to the sun, moon, and five known planets.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="28.">28.</a></b> As al-Nad+m was young at this time, he probably saw the books somewhat later, after they had been brought to Baghdd for translation.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;<img border="0" src="line_down.gif" width="596" height="18"></font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">579</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">had been at Baghdd for a time they dried and changed, so that the smell left them. Even at the present time some of them are with our shaykh, Abk Sulaymn [<i>Muh#ammad</i> ibn Bahrm]. It is said that the Srwayh <a href="#29.">[29]</a> is one of the solid ancient buildings, with such marvellous construction that it is compared in the East with the pyramids, which are in Egypt in the land of the West, both in magnificence and wonder of structure.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3"><a name="a3">A</a>nother Account</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;&nbsp; In ancient times learning was forbidden, except for those who were scholars <a href="#30.">[30]</a> or known to be able to receive it [learning] by natural genius. Philosophers examined the tirnes of birth of those who sought learning and philosophy. If it was ascertained that a person when born was endowed with it [the genius for learning and philosophy] at birth, they enlisted his services, imparting to him learning, but if not, then no.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">Philosophy appeared among the Greeks and Romans before the religious code of the Messiah, for whom be peace. When the Byzantines became Christians, they prohibited it. Some of the books about it they burned, but some they treasured. They, moreover, prevented people from speaking about anything in philosophy which was opposed to the prophetic doctrine. Then, later, the Byzantines returned to the schools of philosophical thought. This was due to the Byzantine king <i>Julian</i>, <a href="#31.">[31]</a> who used to stay at Antioch and whose minister was <i>Themistius</i>, the commentator on the books of Aristotle. <a href="#32.">[32]</a></font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">When <i>Shpkr</i> dhk al-Aktf [Shpkr II] sought him [Julian] out, lic was overcome by Julian. This was either in battle, or else it is</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="29.">29.</a></b> See n. 22.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="30.">30.</a></b> Literally,  from its people. </font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="31.">31.</a></b> In the Arabic it is Liykliynus, a corruption for Ayklinus, derived from the Greek name for the Emperor Julian.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="32.">32.</a></b> The following story is evidently quoted from an old legend about Shpkr II. In the legend, Shpkr II traveled into the Byzantine Empire in disguise, was recognized and imprisoned, but freed by a girl. He returned to the city Jund+-Shpkr in time to defeat the invading Byzantine emperor, Julian. For this story, see Firdaws+, <i>Shahnama</i>, VI, 337 ff; Sykes, <i>History of Persia</i>, I, 444 ff;  Shpkr, <i>Enc. Islam</i>, IV, 314 15.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;<img border="0" src="line_down.gif" width="596" height="18"></font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">580</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">said because Shpkr was recognized and caught when he went to the Byzantine country to seize its rule. The accounts about this are confused. Julian invaded Persia, coming to Jund+-Shpkr, <a href="#33.">[33]</a> where until our own day there is a breach known as the Breach of the Byzantines. When the chiefs of the Persians, the cavalry leaders, and the rest of the king s guard arrived, the attack against it [Jund+-Shpkr] became prolonged. Entering it was difficult.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">Shpkr had been irnprisoned in the Byzantine country, in the palace of Julian, whose girl (daughter) fell in love with him and released him. He secretly crossed the land until, reaching Jund+-Shpkr, he entered it. Then the spirits of his companions who were there were so revived that they immediately set forth to attack the Byzantines, regarding the rescue of Shpkr as a good omen. They took Julian prisoner and killed him, so that the Byzantines were disrupted.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3"> Constantine</font></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3"> the Great <a href="#34.">[34]</a> was in the host of the army, but the Byzantines differed as to whom they should make their ruler, being weak from their lack of support for him. As Shpkr was solicitous for Constantine [Jovian] and his succession [to rule] over the Byzantines, for his sake he was kind to them, arranging for them a means of withdrawing from his [Shpkr s] country. This, however, was on condition that Constantine [Jovian] would make an</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="33.">33.</a></b> Jund+-Shpkr (Jundaysbkr) became a center of learning when, in A.D. 489, the Emperor Zeno closed the school at Edessa and King Kobad of Persia gave some of the professors refuge. Then, when the Neo-Platonist school at Athens was closed, A.D. 529, King Chosroes <i>Ankshirwn</i> gave a number of the philosophers his patronage in Persia. As Jund+-Shpkr was the center of these émigrés, it became a point of exchange for the learning of Persia, India, Greece, Rome, and Syria. Scholars from there contributed a knowledge of science to the  Abbsid caliphs, as accounts in this chapter of <i>Al-Fihrist</i> explain. The city fell into ruin, but before he died in 1963, Dr. Allen O. Whipple identified its site in Southem Persia. For the history of this city, see Campbell, <i>Arabian Medicine and Its Influence in the Middle Ages</i>, I, 46; Sarton, I, 435; Yqkt, <i>Geog.</i>, II, 130; Whipple, <i>Annals of Medical History</i>, New Ser., 8 (July 1936), PP- 3I3--3;  Djundai-Sbkr, <i>Enc. Islam</i>, I, 1064.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2"><b><a name="34.">34.</a></b> This is an obvious mistake. The king referred to was of course not Constantine but Jovian, who was with the Byzantine army in Persia when Julian was killed. Because of the collapse of morale caused by Julian s death, Jovian was obliged to make an ignominious peace. See Smith,<i> GRBM</i>, II, 615. It was Jovian who re-established Christianity as the state religion in the Byzantine Empire, after the pagan regime of Julian the Apostate.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;<img border="0" src="line_down.gif" width="596" height="18"></font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="2">581</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">olive tree to grow in the place of each palm tree cut down in al-Sawd <a href="#35.">[35]</a> and in his domains and, also, that he would send him Byzantines to build up what Julian had destroyed when he moved the war equipment from the Byzantine country. <a href="#36.">[36]</a> He kept his pledge with him. Christianity, moreover, returned to its [former] status, the prohibition of philosophical books and the treasuring of them being renewed in the form that it is in at the present time.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">In ancient times the Persians translated portions of books about logic and medicine into Persian. Then, later,  Abd Allh ibn al-<i>Muqaffa </i> and others translated this material into Arabic.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3"><a name="a4">A</a>nother Account</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><i> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3">&nbsp;&nbsp; Khlid</font></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"><font size="3"> ibn Yaz+d ibn Mu wiyah was called the  Wise Man of the Family of <i>Marwn</i>. He was inherently virtuous, with an interest in and fondness for the sciences. As the Art [alchemy] attracted his attention, he ordered a group of Greek philosphers who were living in a city of Egypt to come to him. Because he was concerned with literary Arabic, he commanded them to translate the books about the Art from the Greek and Coptic languages into Arabic. This was the first translation in Islm from one language into another.</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">&nbsp;</font></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times New Roman"> <font size="3">Then at the time of al-<i>H#ajjj</i> [ibn Yksuf] the registers, which were in Persian, were translated into Arabic. <a href="#37.">[37]</a> The person who translated them was <i>S#lih#</i> ibn  Abd al-Rah#mn, a protégé of the Bank Tam+m. <a href="#38.">[38]</a> The father of S#lih# was one of the prisoners from Sijistn. <a href="#39.">[39]</a> He [S#lih#] used to write for <i>Zd</i> Infarrkkh ibn Yabr, the secretary of al-H#ajjj, doing his writing in Persian and Arabic under his supervision. As al-H#ajjj grew to like liim, S#lih# said to Zd Infarrkkh,  You are