The Abbreivation of the Introduction To Astrology - Abu Mashar

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ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY

THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE

Texts and Studies

EDITED BY

H. DAIBER and D. PINGREE

VOLUME XV

'", "" ~

/

THE ABBREVIATION OF THE

iINTRODUCTION TO ASTROLOGY

TOGETHER WITH THE MEDIEVAL LATIN TRANSLATION

OF ADELARD OF BATH

EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY

CHARLES BURNETT

KEijI YAMAMOTO

MICHIO YANO

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The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

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PREFACE

Abu Ma'sar(787-886 A. D.) is the best-known astrologer of the !vliddle Ages. His long life spanned the most vigorous period of intellectual activity in Baghdad, when Greek, Persian and Indian scientific and philosophical works were being translated and assimilated. But Abu Ma'sar, like his younger contemporary aI-KindT, could rise above his sources to provide his own syntheses underpinned by a distinctive sci-entific outlook. Amongst his many works on the science of the stars, perhaps the most ambitious is his Great Introduction to Astrology. This

text establishes the principles of astrology on the firm grounding of Aristotelian physics, and gives a comprehensive account of the tenets of astrology, often including and comparing doctrines from diverse sources. The work was copied into numerous Arabic manuscripts, and was fre-quently referred to. In particular, al-BlrunI, when attempting to give an overall picture of astrology to a layman in his Tafhrm, uses the Great In-troduction as his main source. The text was translated into Latin twice

in the twelfth century, and into at least two European vernaculars by .the time of the Renaissance. 'Albumasar' became the stock figure of the astrologer, and represented astrology as Ptolemy represented astronomy. The Great Introduction, however, is a large book, occupying over

thte~,

...

DJlD.J!:red pages in a typical Arabic manuscript, and, even in the . abbreviated Latin version of Hermann of Carinthia, printed as a separate book of 125 pages. Itseems that Abu Ma'sar himself perceived a need to extract the main astrological data and arrange them in a handy format. The result was the Abbreviation of the Introduction, a work of seven

chapters, packed with detail, but stripped of all philosophical content. It is probably this work that is referred to in the tenth-century bibliography of Ibn al-Nadlm as the 'Small Introduction', and this latter name is reflected in an early twelfth-century Latin translation that has survived: Adelard of Bath's Ysagoga minor. The Abbreviation of the Introduction

seems never to have achieved the popularity of the larger work, either

in an Arabicooreading or in a Latin..reading milieu, perhaps because of

competition from several other popular short introductions. However, it does provide the modern reader with a convenient introduction to the astrology of the Middle Ages, and since no other similar text has been published in rnodern times, it is hoped that this book will serve, in Abu Ma'sar's words, as an 'explanation...which is closer to comprehension'.

The present book gives an Arabic text which is based on the more reliable of the two known Arabic manuscripts. The readings of this

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viii

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.

"'\'

PREFACE

manuscript have been carefully compared with those of the oldest surviv-ing manuscript of the Great Introduction and a literal translation' of the text has been provided. In addition, Adelard of Bath's twelfth-century Latin translation has been edited, not only because it shows what form of text was knowntq Latin-reading astrologers, but also because it gives

further evidence of the nature of the Arabic text, occasionally helping to establish the correct reading. Moreover, the oldest manuscript of the Latin translation is some five centuries older than the earliest Ar-abic manuscript. The book ends with a collation of the Abbreviation of

the Introduction with the Great Introduction and al-BlrUnI's Tafhrm, a

., glossary of technical terms, and indexes of Arabic words, place names,

ast'~logicalauthorities, and lots.

The Arabic text was prepared by the ArablEX macro program (ver-sion 2.07) devised by Prof. Dr. Klaus Lagally of the University of Stutt-gart. We are much indebted to Prof. David Pingree who carefully read the whole text and gave us valuable suggestions. Thanks are also due to Dr. Dominik Wujastyk of the Wellcome Institute, London for his tech-nical advice. For further expert advice in various fields we are much indebted to Dr. Gerrit Bos, Messrs. Yutaka Yasuda, Naoya Totsuka, and Geoffrey Cornelius, Graeme Tobyn and Vernon Wells of the Company of Astrologers. A mutual arrangement between the British Academy and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and a further grant from the Japan International Cultural Exchange Foundation, allowed the collaborators in this book to work together for four months. We are grateful to Kyoto Sangyo University for providing a comfortable environment in which to carryon the work.

Kamigamo, Kyoto August, 1993.

INTRODUCTION

Abu Ma'sar Ga'far ibn Mu1.Iammad ibn 'Umar aI-BalbI was born in tIurasan in 787 A. D., and died in Wasit in 886 A. D. Amongst his rnany works on astrology (and a few more on astronomy and arithmetic) his Kitiib al-mudaal (al-kabfr) ila 'ilm a1}kam al-nugum or '(Great) In-troduction to Astrology' was the most popular.! This work was com-posed in 849-50. Abu Ma'sar himself made an abbreviated version of the Great Introduction, so that the astrological material would be easier to comprehend.2 _._{That this was his own doing is implied by several}

statements within the work.3 However, there are no indications of the circumstances of the composition of the treatise. So we do not know, for example, whether it was intended as a handy compendium for fel-low astrologers, or a reference book for a noble patron, or had some other purpose. In the two manuscripts known to us, the work is simply called 'muhta~aral-mude-al', Le., 'the abbreviation of the introduction'.

It is presumably this book which is the second item in a list of works of Abu Ma'sar in Ibn al-Nadlm's tenth-century bibliography of Arabic literature, the Fihrist: the 'kitab al-mudbal al-~aglr'('The book of the small introduction').4 It immediately follows 'the book of the great in-troduction' in Ibn al-Nadlm's list. This suggests a certain popularity in the mid-tenth century.5 _{However, only two Arabic manuscripts are}

known definitely to contain the text. In one of these manuscripts it is accompanied by other works of astrology. In the other, by a text on divination by letters, talismans and magic.

1 For bibliographies ofAbU Ma'sar see F. Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen

Schrifttums, VII, Leiden, 1979, pp. 139-51 and D. Pingree, 'AbuMa'shar', in

Dic-tionary of Scientific Biography, ed. C. C. Gillispie, I, New York, 1970, pp. 32-9.

The most complete study, up to now, of the Great Introduction and its influence in the Latin West is that of R. Lemay, Abu Ma'shar and Latin Aristotelianism in the

Twelfth Century, Beirut, 1962. Lemay has discussed the relation of the Latin

transla-tions to the original Arabic in 'Fautes et contresens dans les traductransla-tions arabo-latines

medh~vales:L'Introductorium in Astronomiam d' Abou Ma'shar de Balkh', Revue de

Synthese, 3rd series, 49-52, 1968, pp. 101-23, and is preparing editions of the Arabic

and Latin texts.

2The Abbreviation, 1.4. All references to the Abbreviation are to the chapter and

section number of the edition in this book. 3 See ibid., 1.4, 2.13 and 6.2.

4 See Sezgin, Geschichte (n.l above), p. 142, and B. Dodge, The Fihrist oj

al-Nadfm, New York and London, 1970, p. 657.

5Thelargerintroduction was called the 'Great' introduction only in respect to the smaller introduction. However, most Arabic manuscripts of the Great Introduction

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2 INTRODUCTION _INTRODUCTION ₃

In the early twelfth century a translation of the Abbreviation of the Introductionwas made into Latin by Adelard of Bath (ca. 1080-1152 A. D.). It is accompanied in the earliest manuscripts by Adelard's translations of a work on talismans and the first 39 of the astrological aphorisms attributed to Ptolemy {Pseudo-Ptolemy, Kitiib al-lamaraor Centiloquium).6 It is likely that Adelard had access to an Arabic ma-nuscript containing these works in al-Andalus or in Sicily. He called his translation 'Ysagoga minor', using the Latin form of a Greek word for 'introduction' ('eisagoge'), which was well-known from the title of the first book of the Logica vetus (the old curriculum in logic, consist-ing of Latin translations of, or commentaries on, Greek logical works), Porphyry's Isagoge. This title had already been used at the end of the eleventh century by Constantine of Africa for his translation of the first book of an Arabic medical curriculum, I:Iunayn ibn Is1,laq's Intro-duction to ihe 'Ars medica' of Galen. Adelard's title recalls that of Ibn al-Nadlm. His work was probably the earliest astrological manual trans-lated into Latin,7_{but seems to have been eclipsed by the translations of} theGreat Introduction, made by John of Seville in 1133, and Hermann of Carinthia in 1140. Both translations include the word 'greater' in their titles, and Hermann of Carinthia seems to have known the A bbreviaiion of the Introductionand/or Adelard's translation, as well.8

In makill,p the abbreviation, Abu Ma'sar, for the most part, simply reproduced phrases, sentences and sometimes whole paragraphs from the Great Introduction. The correspondence is so close that the text of 1\ theGreat Introductioncan be used to autheEticate the reading of one or other of the manuscripts of the A bbreviation, and, with the completion of Richard Lemay's edition of the Great Introduction, it should be pos-sible to determine from which of the two principal versions of the Great Introduction the Abbreviationderives. It is in the arrangement of the material that the originality of the Abbreviationlies. The attributes of the signs of the zodiac are listed according to the nature of the attributes in the sixth book of the Great Introduction, which includes chapters on

6 See C. Burnett, 'Adelard, Ergaphalau and the Science of the Stars', inAdelard of Bath: An English Scientist and Arabist of the Early Twelfth Century, ed. C. Burnett, Warburg Institute Surveys and Texts, 14', 1987, pp. 133-45.

7The late tenth-century Liber Alchandrei already included some scraps of Arabic

astrology, but of a more primitive kind, and it may not have been a translation of any Arabic text; see Burnett, IAdelard, Ergaphalau and the Science of the Stars' (n.6 above), pp. 140-1.

8Hermann says, in respect to the conditions of the planets in themselves, that Abu Malsar 'writes in another place that there are 25 conditions, but here writes '17". This is a personal statement included in his translation of Abu Ma'sar, Great Intro-duction, VII.5, printed as Introductorium in astronomiam Albumasaris, Venice,1506 (see fo1. g 2 verso), and implies that he knew the third chapter of theAbbreviation.

the regions, the terrain, illnesses, the parts of the body and the parts of the animal kingdom assigned to each sign. In theAbbreviation,however, the attributes are listed according to the signs themselves, and the ma-terial of several chapters in the Great Introduction is brought together in one chapter - the first chapter of the Abbreviation. In the second chapter Abu Ma'sar reduces the nUlnber of 'conditions' of the planets in respect to the Sun (i.e., phases). On the other hand, in chapter 3, which follows closely Great Introduction, VII.5, Abu !vla'sar finds it con-veni€nt to add four extra 'conditions' of the planets to the twenty-one conditions discussed in the Great Introduction. Chapter 4 follows Great Introduction, VII.6 quite closely, and, in describing the attributes of the planets in chapter 5, Abu Ma'sar has simply reproduced a selection of the attributes listed in Great Introduction, VII.9. A more cOlllplex scheme of selection operates in chapter 6 in which can be found informa-tion from both the detailed descripinforma-tion of the lots in Great Introduction, VIII. 3-5, and the summary description in VIII.6 , and to which Abu Ma'sar has added references to lots which are like each other (6.5,50). The last chapter is devoted mainly to numerical values, and these have been conveniently set out in the form of tables in one of the manuscripts of the Abbreviation.

Whilst the London manuscript of theAbbreviationis generally closer to the Great Introduction, the Paris manuscript occasionally includes words and phrases from the latter text which are not in the London manuscript. These can probably be accounted for, in most cases, as omissions in the London manuscript, and as such they have been in-cluded in our edition. More puzzling are other phrases in which the Paris manuscript gives the reading of one of the manuscripts of the Great Introduction, and the London manuscript follows another.9

The Latin translation, on the other hand, contains considerably more material from the Great Introductionthan the two Arabic manuscripts. This includes

(1) the insertion of the falls (dejections) of the planets in each of the zodiacal signs (chapter 1),

(2) the inclusion of the tastes and the seasons associated with certain zodiacal signs (1.41, 53, 59, 65, 72 and 78),

(3) the insertion of the terrain attributed to certain zodiacal signs (1.38,44,50,56,62,69,75 and 81),

(4) a section on friendship (reception) between planets (3.54-62),

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4 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION 5

(5) a section on the 'changing' of the planets (4.34-6), and

(6) most of the seventh chapter (7.8-73).

Item (1) could perhaps be an insertion on the part of the translator. For, after the descriptions of the signs of the zodiac, both the Arabic and the Latin versions give the information that the fall of a planet is in the degree opposite to that of its exaltation (1.84), which would be redundant information if, as in the Latin translation, the fall of each of the planets hadalr~adybeen mentioned. In fact, there is evidence that the translator, probably on the basis of 1.84, had worked out the degrees of the falls and inserted the information in the appropriate places. For, in the margin of the earliest manuscript, next to the first sign, the information in 1.84 is repeated, and in the case of Cancer, the scribe at first forgot to write in the fall, perhaps because this, along with all the other falls, had been written in the margin of his exemplar.iO _However, the other additional passages in the Latin translation must have already . been present in its Arabic exemplar.

The inclusion of tastes and seasons for (almost) all the signs (item 2), in contrast to their omission from Scorpio onwards in the extant Arabic manuscripts, suggests a more rigorous systematic arrangement in Adelard's Arabic exemplar. But the inclusion of terrain (item 3), which is only once hinted at in our Arabic manuscripts (see 1.62), indicates a more substantial difference of organisation. Items 4, 5 and 6 all occur at the ends of chapters, and may have been omitted by lazy scribes. In the last case, it is clear that the extant Arabic manuscripts are defective. For, while they do not include in their text the terms of the Egyptians (to which a whole paragraph is devoted in the Latin text: 7.10-21), these terms are specifically mentioned as being one of the subjects of chapter 7, both in the preface (1.1) and in the title of chapter 7itself

(7.1). In fact, the Paris manuscript, whose text is even lacking most of the values for the 'years' of the planets (another subject of chapter 7), gives two tables: one, of these years, and the second, of the terms 'according to the school of the Egyptians'. Therefore, we can be sure that these terms were meant to form part of chapter 7 in the original version of the Abbreviation. The topics of the paragraphs which follow the terms of the Egyptians in the Latin text - on ninth-parts, dark, shadowy, bright and empty degrees, masculine and feminine degrees, wells and protuberances - are not mentioned in the Arabic titles. One could hypothesize that in the course of transmission, further information

10The assumption is that the earliest manuscript of the Latin translation (MSS) was copied from a manuscript which had the translator's annotations in the margins and between the lines. This seems plausible, but needs further investigation.

from the Great Introduction was added to the Abbreviation, especially at the ends of chapters. Abu Ma'sar himself could have been responsible for a second, fuller, version, represented in the translation of Adelard of Bath. This needs further investigation.

The Manuscripts

B

British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections, Add. 7490. A quarto paper manuscript of 257 folios, written in theye~rsaround A.H. . 1058== A. D. 1648 (see item 8 below). It contains the following works: 1. Fol. 1r. Kusyar ibn Labban, Mugmal al-u$iil

If

a1}kiim al-nugum

(Sezgin, Geschichte, VII, p. 182, no. 1).

2. Fa!. 43v. Ptolemy, K. al-lamara with the Persian commentary ofNa~IraI-DIn aI-rusT (Sezgin, Geschichte, VII, p. 44, no. 2 and p.45).

3. Fol. 77v. Sahl ibn Bisr, Nawiidir al-qalj,ii' (Sezgin, Geschichte, VII, p. 125, no. 1).

4. Fo!. 119v. Abu Ma'sar, K. al-mugta$ar.

5. Fo!. 131v. K. al-igtiyarat, without attribution, which Sezgin (Geschichte, VII, p. 146) considers might be a work of Abu Ma'sar. 6. Fo!. 153v. Ma'rifa tabii 'i' al-kawakib wa miziigiha wa ma yan-sub ilaiha min al-1}ubiib wa-l-lamar, without attribution. Not in Sezgin.

7. Fo!. 170v. Qusta ibn Luqa,K. al- 'amal bi-l-kura (Sezgin, Geschich-te, VI, p. 181, no.1).

8. Fa!. 186r. Al-SigzI, K. dala'il

fi

'ilm a1Jkiim al-nugum. 'The text was completed by the hand of the poor wretch, 'Azlr Allah in the year 1058'.

9. Fol. 205v. Idem, Canons for judicial astrology.

10. Fo!. 208v. Idem, A method of finding out the price of corn.

11. Fol. 211v. AI-GIll, a treatise on the science of the astrolabe.

12. Fol. 222r. Abu Ma'sar, K. igtiyiir al-sa'iit (Sezgin, Geschichte, VII, p. 146, no. 11; only this manuscript is known; see also D. Pin-gree, 'Abu Ma'shar', Dictionary of Scientific Biography, I, p. 37). This text ends with 'Elections from the lunar mansions according

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to the sayings of the Indians and Dorotheus' (perhaps

==

Sezgin, Geschichte, VII, p. 149, no.23) and two paragraphs, on victory, and governorship.

A description of this manuscript is given in Catalogus codicum manu-scriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur. Pars sec-unda codices arabicos amplectens, London, 1852, under no. 415, on pp. 197b-198b. In spite of its late date this collection is an import-ant one, especially in view of the fact that it contains two (and possibly three) works of Abu Ma'sar which are either not found elsewhere (item 12 and possibly item 5) or only survive otherwise in an inferior manu-script (item 4). Note that items 2, 3, 4, and possibly 5 and 12 were translated into Latin in the twelfth century; so this manuscript repres-ents the kind of text that was available in the West at that time.

The manuscript gives the impression of having been transcribed from a reliable source. Unfortunately the scribe is not reliable. He omits words, omits or misplaces diacritical points, occasionally omits ra', con-fuses ra' and zay with nun, mlm with ha', dal with waw, etc. The rubrics have not been filled in. Nevertheless, the text is much closer to that of the Great Introductionthan that of P. On the assumption that the Ab-breviationwas made, evidently by Abu Ma'sar himself, directly from the Great Introduction, correspondence with the better manuscripts of the latter work should be the principal criterion for assessing the worth of the manuscripts of theAbbreviation. For this reason, B has been chosen as the base manuscript for our edition.

P

Paris, Bibliotheque nationale, ar. 2696. This is a quarto paper manu-script written by different hands in the seventeenth century. Itcontains only two items:

1. Fol. II. Al-kasf

fi

'ilm al-fJarf A text on the mystical significance of the letters of the alphabet, including magic squares, planetary figures, and the za'irfja, set in the context of cosmology and the relation of the macrocosm to the microcosm.

2. Fol. 31r. Abu Ma'sar,

₁

k. al-muhtasar. v •

A brief description of the manuscript is included in Le Baron de Slane, Catalogue des manuscrits arabes de la Bibliotheque nationale, Paris, 1883-95, p. 487. The old numbers of the manuscript were 1163 and, possibly, St Genevieve, quarto, A.5.

The text of the Abbreviationin this manuscript is considerably ab-breviated in comparison to B. Most of the occasional additions that it

includes cannot be found in the Great Introduction, and are for that reason probably inauthentic. A more pious attitude pervades the work (see the examples of 'by the po~er of God' in the portion of chapter 1 published in the Appendix below), and the scribe (or one of his pre-decessors) seems to have had no hesitation in rewriting the text in his own words. The manuscript does have the advantage, however, of being completely unrelated to B, and hence preserves several readings which are missing or miscopied in B. :tvioreover, it includes the years of the planets and the terms of the Egyptians in two tables at the end of the text, thus supplying a deficiency in the text of Chapter 7.

Of other Arabic manuscripts which have been mentioned in scholarly literature as containing the Abbreviation, MS Dublin, Chester Beatty, 4075, has a different work by Abu Ma'sar, whilst the text in MS Istanbul, Yeni Carni, 1193 is by a different Abu j\la'sar.l l _{There renlains the} excerpt from 'Abu Ma'sar, al-roude-alal-~aglr'in MS Egyptian National Library, K8527, item -2, fols 88r-S9v,12 but since this is described as coming from 'the 14th bab' of the text, it would seem to be a different work. This is confirmed by the fact that the incipit given by King does not correspond to any passage in the Abbreviation.

K

Istanbul, Carullah, 1508, reproduced in facsimile as The Great Intro-duction to the Science of Astrology: al-Mudkhal al-kabfr ila 'ilm afJkam al-nujiim, Publications of the Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science, ed. F. Sezgin, Series C.21, Frankfurt am Main, 1985. This ma-nuscript has been our principal control mama-nuscript for the Great Intro-duction. It is the oldest known manuscript - it was copied in 939 A. D. - and it is at present the only Arabic text that is readily available.13

References are .made, whenever possible, to the page and line numbers of Sezgin's facsimile. The abbreviation 'K' will indicate, in general, the Great Introduction, but where the Carullah manuscript is lacunose or defective, and in certain other cases, recourse has been made to: L

Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, Or. 47. This manuscript is very clearly written, and the scribe seems to have been intelligent. L is mentioned only when it provides readings that are nlissing in, or different from,

those in K. .

11 See Pingree, 'Abu Ma'shar', Dictionary of Scientific Biography, I, p. 36.

12 D. A. King, A Survey of the Scientific Manuscripts in the Egyptian National

Library, Indiana, 1986; id., Fihris al-malJ,fufat al- 'ilmfyaal-ma1J,fu~abi-dar al-kutub

al-mi~rfya,Cairo, 1986, II, p. 685.

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S

London, British Library, Sloane 2030 (12th century), fols 83-7. Jafar, Ysagoga m1nor, translated by Adelard of Bath. This manuscript gives the impression of being a copy of a 'first draft' of a translation from the Arabic, which included corrections and marginal annotations by the translator, anlongst which are several Arabic terms. On the basis of this first draft, and possibly with further reference to an Arabic text, a revised version of the translation was made. This revision is represented by all the other known manuscripts:

D

Oxford, Bodleian Library, Digby68 (complete),

T

Trier, Stadtbibliothek, 1923 (1434) (a fragment7 partially edited and

translated7without attribution, by W. Hubner, Die Eigenschaften der Tierkreiszeichen in der Antike7Wiesbaden, 1982, pp. 392-7),

L

Lyon, Bibliotheque municipale, 328 (incomplete), So

Soest7Stadtbibliothek, 24 (fragment) and

A

Avranches, Bibliotheque municipale, 235 (fragment).

Since the version in Sis closest to the original Arabic, this has been chosen for the present edition.

Editorial and Translation Principles

After careful collation of the texts in MSS Band P, it was decided that B should serve as the base text. The readings in P were so different that, for many passages, it would have been easier to present P's text in its entirety rather than to indicate each case in which it diverged from B. The two passages published in the Appendix illustrate the extent of this divergence. A listing of all the variants of P in the apparatus criticus would not, in our view, have been very helpful. Instead, only those readings are included in which (1) P agrees7against B₇with K or L or

with the Latin translation, or (2) P's reading is of sufficient interest to merit a comment in the notes to the translation. MS B, unfortunately, is not a good manuscript, and7in many cases, an obviously wrong reading,

or an omission, in B can be corrected from P. In the case of an omission the addition from P is marked in the text by angle brackets, without further comment. Where P's reading replaces that of B, B's reading is indicated in the apparatus criticus. Where both Band P fail to give

a satisfactory reading, we have emended the text, using as our guide, in the first place, the corresponding passage in K. Only occasionally have emendations been made which do not have the corroboration of . K. These usually involve adjustments to the grammar and syntax. All rejected readings of B have been recorded in the apparatus criticus, with the' exception of omissions of diacritical points, words involving the orthography of the hamza ('), and certain recurring aberrations which are indicated in theapparatus criticusby 'passim' or 'frequently'. 'K' implies 'L', but where L has been found to give a different (and significant) reading, that reading is mentioned.

In the case of the Latin text, the Sloane manuscript (8) would seem to be so important and unique that an attempt has been made to repro-duce its text exactly. Hence the orthography has not been changed to conform to the norms of Classical Latin.14 _{Modern conventions in}

punc-tuation have been adopted (with reluctance), because of our present-day unfamiliarity with the forms and significance of Medieval punctuation. In the process of copying, some words and phrases were omitted in S.

These have been supplied in angle brackets from the other Latin ma-nuscripts, which usually agree in their readings. Notes and corrections contemporary with the text in S and the Arabic marginalia in all the manuscripts have been included in the apparatus criticus.15

The purpose of the translations is to help the reader understand the Arabic and the Latin texts. They do not aim to be any more literal or well-composed than the originals. This is the case, in particular, for the translation of Adelard's Latin text. The English translation tries to reproduce the rather stilted phrases of the Latin, together with the unfamiliar (and sometimes ill-conceived) astrological terms and the strange-sounding Arabic words. An attempt has been made to be con-sistent in rendering a recurring· word or phrase in Arabic and Latin by the same word or phrase in English. Letters have been added to make the relations between the planets clearer in Chapter 3.

To make cross-reference easy, the Arabic and Latin texts and their. translations have been divided into the same short sections. When the Arabic text has a passage which has no equivalent in the Latin text, the relevant section number is missing in the Latin text, and vice versa. The folio numbers of B are indicated in the Arabic text, and those of

14The abbreviations'I'and I;' have been realized as lim' and let' respectively. 15 The extensive later annotations in S, which have been taken from another manuscript (cf. marginal annotation to 3.24: lin alio libro secundo') of the A D

L So Tfamily, have not been included. Moreover, superscript '-us' and '0' after Roman numerals, indicating respectively the nominative and ablative terminations of ordinals, have been omitted. However, liiiiOf

' has been written out as Iquatuor'

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10 INTRODUCTION

8 in the Latin text. The notes to the translations draw attention to divergences between the Arabic and the Latin texts and individual ma-nuscripts, and attempt to elucidate certain obscure passages by reference to corresponding material. They do not pretend to provide a complete astrological commentary.

The collation of the Abbreviationwith the Great Introduction and with al-BlrilnI's Tafhzmshows the sources of each section of the Abbre-viation in the Great Introduction. Since much of the material of the Tafhzmis taken directly from the Great Introductionit is useful to in-dicate where al-BlrunI discusses the topics in theAbbreviation,not only because the Tafhfm is available in Arabic facsimile and a translation of the Persian text which includes some explanatory notes,16 but also because al-BlrilnI is good at restating the doctrine of others in an intel-ligible way. Reference is to the paragraph numbers in Ramsey Wright's edition.

Abbreviations

PART ONE

A B D !( L L p 8 80 Tajhfm T

<

>

{ )

MS Avranches, Bibliotheque municipale, 235

MS British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections, Add. 7490

MS Oxford, Bodleian Library, Digby 68

The Great Introductionas in :rvIS Istanbul, Carullah,

1508(facsimile edition ed. F. Sezgin) MS Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, Or. 47

MS Lyon, Bibliotheque municipale, 328

MS Paris, Bibliotheque nationale, ar. 2696

MS London, British Library, Sloane 2030

MS Soest, Stadtbibliothek, 24

AI-BlrunI, The Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology,ed. R. Ramsey Wright, London, 1934.

MS Trier, Stadtbibliothek, 1923 (1434)

(in Arabic text) Word or phrase omitted in B, but supplied

from P.

(in Latin text) Word or phrase omitted inSbuts~ppliedfrom the consensus ofADL So T.

(in Eng1ish translation) Words added to make the meaning clear.

Letters or words to be omitted.

ARABIC TEXT AND TRANSLATION

16 AI-BlrunI, The Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology, reproduced from British Museum, MS. Or. 8349 and with a translation [from the Persian version] by R. Ramsey Wright, London, 1934.

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12 THE ABBREVIATION OF THE INTRODUCTION 13

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.

~-'

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t

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let

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4

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6

roM;

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C-'~'

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(.J,) i j

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lfj.,

[3)

~\

li\(?

P. ~~\ w"!,.=~)\ j j

7

~!.:roj ~~Jb

Lro

~~

:Y

(J,)~

t5:, .Aij [4] li~~,)-, Lr~l>-, ~~~ ~\..;J\ J~' 8 ij~j ~~~

i

~l

iK>'

f-

J!

J>.J.~

i

~~I ~L:r

J

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\1.

J

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let

~~

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lc. ,L;~' ~ .

w

<',ij

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wl.:sO\

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u~.. ~

..

J' ~ v- ~-. .

~\

JJ

y

-ii

0A

,j~

..

~~

.JLa:.>

~l

1P; B ~!? 2 P; B

lip.

3 Our reading; B ~ 4OUf reading; B '-.S-'~ 5p;B ~ 6 Our reading; B ~~

e'

7 Our reading; B ~!.to, Porn.

8P; B UJ"A)

[1] In the nameof God, the merciful, the compassionate.

This is the book of the abbreviation of the introduction, and it is of seven chapters. The first chapter, on the natures of the signs, their conditions and their indications. The second chapter, on the conditions of the planets in themselves, the size of their bodies, and their conditions from the Sun. The third chapter, on the twenty-five conditions of the planets. The fourth chapter, on the good fortune of the planets, their power, their weakness ~nd their misfortune, the corruption of the Moon, and the knowledge of their dodecatemoria. The fifth chapter, on the natures of the seven planets, the characteristic of their indications over existent things, and the Lords of the days and the hours. The sixth chapter, on a summary of the description of the lots. The seventh chapter, on the knowledge of the years of the fardiiriit of the planets, the different arrangements of their years, and the terms of the Egyptians.

[2J

Ca'far ibn Mu1,lammad, known as Abu I\.fa'sar the astrologer, said to the lovers of philosophy and the higher sciences, possessors of long speculation on the wonders of the conditions of the wanderers in the entire cavity '<of the universe>: There is no benefit in the absence of knowledge of the things existing in this world, insofar as the higher bod-ies indicateitby the powers of their natural movements.1 [3] He would achieve this only by the knowledge of the degrees of the <zodiacal> circle, the number of the signs and their names, the quantity of the de-grees of each one of them, their Lords, their dignities and their natures, and the natures of the twelve places and the planets; and by the know-ledge of the northern and southern constellations, their conditions and indications.

[4J We

have explained the generality of what was necessary in this subject in our book called 'The Introduction to the Science of the Judgements of the Stars'. In this book called 'The Abbreviation of the Introduction' we explain some of these things as an abbreviation and abridgement so that it is closer to comprehension.

1The meaning of this opening sentence is obscure. For the rather different phras-eology of P and Adelard's interpretation see pp. 85 and 93 below. The general sense would seem to be that there is no material advantage in knowing astronomy. In order to make a living (Le. as an astrologer) it is necessary to know what effects the heavens have on the world around U8. The emphasis on the pecuniary benefits of astrology can be found in several astrological textbooks.

(11)

14 THE ABBREVIATION OF THE INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE 15

~, ~J ~J.

P

9

\.j~ ~-J.)

0";-J

~l}~

.,...; /120r/ lo!l.WI

~i

[5]

y ~ ~.,.aJ~ y 0 u:W~ ..\..M~~ 0lk.r'~ ,~~~ J;J~

0";-

~.)

f

U::i.)

0";-

~-J.)

f

~-J.) 0y~

lr-o

(J.

:h

[6J

uyL.~

J '

_{~ ~}I

'-~'

_~ _\f:.r:""'1<"

i,:,~ ~~ ~\

_{j . : J} _u~

. :

4.:J~

_{\ f}...

~ ~~

_j _0J--..• ::

4..;~

_{\ f}"'I<"

~e

_"

~.rJ' ~.,.c' l;~

[7J

-J~\

;r

~-'

10

cf:.

lo}l.,J

P

~.)~ ~ .r~'

" ' . l , ..•_":tl ...0\ ~j'

...

.l, ,(~t " ' . l , l-.. ~ 1....\.•

J.

t.~~ ~

.

..&i~l

(

~

fi

l : ('-:? (

V--J

.

..J • ~ ..

~

u,J

CJfi.l1

J-; .)

.b

tr-o

""'""~

j:JJ

[8]

..;11

i

~-'~

i

0..,..)1

u~~~J u~-,t

-..I" [10J

~ ~-J.)

11

~ ~ ~ ~l Wrj

V'

~ ~L;

[9J

?

~~~

t.j41}

J3~' ~ylt ~~ u~-J.)P ~j fO~j ~~

l!-JLr

5-'

~J

OjA w\l.oj

,~

0j4

\.i

OJ\.,.

~J

[1·1]

o~.JJ ~~~

[12]

t~l ~

c!UJ.l

~l; ,~'J' u~L,

J-s:.

.JLrJl

~~ ~-J ~

J-s:.

j~ ~-'J

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J.:.li

C~ ~-'-"""J ~y J~

Y

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[13J uy.P ULwr&j

J~ ~

.J tt

i~

C:.J\ -',)

S'~

12

\'yl

~" 0~.J,)b ~

-,It..,

~~ 01~'

;r

..J.., [14]

~y~ ~!Jl 0W~1

O~.., ~>e 41-, [16J ..:..0 u~.J') ~~ ~

..;1'

J

fJ

O.,;A)\ ~

.),,:J'

[15}

~) ~~ O~-'~ ~J

[17J

~) ~l:J~ ~ .)l:J~ ~-,u...J Jj~1 ~

yli

w~L, ~

>

-'~, ~~

13

~~ ~

Jv'

jAJ

~~

wll.oj ,b.,- Ojo

J-s:.

14 ..Jji

j~

L<:-'J

..I.lYl

J.:.li

C~ .~~1 t~

illLl

""';l.;

<

.~~I

~

:h

u~l

..JJ [18] Ull;. ..J l:t

i~

cui

J~

u-"""

~ J~

r-W1

9 Our reading; BP ~,

10P; B

&

11 OUf reading; BP

P

passim 12p

t"'l

13p._,B ~~

_.

14B adds above

J>-[5)The <zodiacal> circle consists of360degrees and 12 signs, which are Aries, Taurus, Genlini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagit-tarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. [6] Each sign has 30degrees, each degree has 60 minutes, each minute has 60 seconds, each second has60thirds, and each third has60fourths; and thus each one of them is divided until the tenths and the elevenths, and the rest of the frac-tions that follow. [7] The planets, which are swift in their movements, are seven. The highest of them, and the one furthest from us, is Saturn; then Jupiter, then Mars, then the Sun, then Venus, then Mercury, then the Moon. [8] Each one of them has a share in one of the signs, and they have apogees and nodes in. them.2

[9] Aries is the house of Mars, and the exaltation of the Sun is in its 19th degree.3 _{[10] It has three decans, each decan of ten equal degrees.}

The first decan belongs to Mars, the second to the Sun, the third to Venus.

[llJ

Its nature is hot, dry, fiery, yellow bile, its taste is bitter, and it is masculine, diurnal, tropical, belonging to spring, greater in day-light than the hours of equality, less in rising time,4 upright in rising, [12] cut in its limbs, prone to anger, possessing two colours and two forms, libidinous, having few children, and sometimes it indicates twins,5 royal, possessing four feet of the sort that are doven, half-voiced. [13] Belong-ing to it of the body of man are the head and the face. [14) Belonging to it of countries are Babylonia, Persia, Azerbaijan and Palestine.

[15]

Taurus is the house of Venus, and the exaltation of the Moon is in its third degree. [16]Ithas three decans: the first belongs to Mercury, the second to the Moon, the third to Saturn. [17] Its nature is cold and dry, earthy, black bile, its taste is acid, and it is feminine, nocturnal, fixed, greater in daylight than the hours of equality,6 defective in fig-ure, cut in its limbs, libidinous, having few children; and sometimes its beginning7 _{indicates the barren, half-voiced, possessing four feet of the}

sort that are cloven. [18] Belonging to it are plants and every tree that is

2 For P's version of these opening sentences, see p. 85 below.

3 For each sign the Latin adds the presence or absence of a planet's fall. 4 The Latin gives: tits rising is less than 30 degrees'.

5 P and Latin translation: 'barrenness'. Compare K, VI.16, p. 350.11-12: 'And those signs that have two colours and two faces, such as Aries and Libra, sometimes indicate twins also'.

6B and Latin translation omit 'than the hours of equality'.

7 'its beginning', added above' 'ala' in B; omitted in P and Latin translation. Butcr. K, VI.16, p. 350.13-14: 'The barren signs are Gemini, Leo, Virgo and the beginning of Taurus'.

(12)

16 THE ABBREVIATION OF THE INTRODUCTION CHAPTERONE 17

~!,-J' 0\~' l.JA .Jj [20]

r

~, 0":''';>-, ~, 0W~' 0~ ;.ro ~ j (19J V"~

~~~

15

0'~J ~U~

~-'

[22]

~ u~-J~

6)\;

~

V"!Jt

J

f-' 16

~.J~ ~ ~~~

\J (21)

~-'

[23]

r

~l:J~

t.jo1}

~t:J~ ~~ J3~' ~y~ o~

j

~)\;

0:~ -'~ '-f-J~ 5~

C

J . JA-' o~ ~\~-' ~Y~ /120v/ ~~ ~-J Ojb.

J'-

J~'

r\

,Jj [24).J\;k

o~

y\

#

.JlrJt

0~

L»

Jy,;

o.?'

~j ~-J

... it·q ~ ~

by'

\~ ~ U~\ .AJ~ ~ 17 ~ \j\ 0

V - .M ~ •

u::--.

C M [M J'" '-J~

0~~

01.ll:Jl

(r4 ~-' [26] 01~~ 0L~

.

.A..J~ 0~1 0W~1 0~ lJA ~j [25J

ij..t:j

~-'

0t;

Yj 19

0~-r:.., 0~.., 0~-,~b

18

~-Jb

"j

[28) -..:..0 ~-J~

Op

~

...)

~~t

'-'-rj

~l ~ 0LkyJ~ [27]

o~-J4

20

~-'

[29J

~ ~l:J~ ~-JLb..J ~\:j~ O~.JJ

Jj

~\ ~

y\;

O~

j

~~

1:1\ r.~ W . ~ 1.1

A.,

U,lA W\le ~ 21 ~L» ~

-'~ J ... .. -' ~.

4:?-:'

~ JAj 'j .. . . . :J

J~\ \ -J~ ~U\ 0~.., r~\ ~-'

[30) "

u~ ~

..vy\

#

0la.i:J4

~~ 0~~~ -J~1 0W~\ 0~ I f ,,) [31]~l ~~ ~~\ o~l o~l ,,)

J f j

LS~t ~-J'

0'-U:J'

~

"-'

[32J

~)~ J\.,J.J~ t>W'~~ o..w~

0~-J~~

t ...)

45'f

~.., ~"')'

..,-rOj

~~ 0l-~

Jt:l~

Jo-)

Jj

~\ ~

yL;

o~

-'

~~

"-, [34]

~, ~ ~~~

[33J

ojo W\~.., ,~ ojo ~.Jli ~~ 056.. 22 ~ [35]

tjoll

~l:J~ ~~

15Our reading from K; BP 0L\..o.A

16P; B ~-,\.b.,J\

17 Our reading; B ~,P ~

18 Our reading from K; BP ~.J\ 19 Our reading from K; B 0~";:, Porn.

2op;B

y

21 Our reading from K; Born., P JlA

22p;B

Y

planted. [19] Belonging to it of the body of man are the neck and th~

Adam's apple.s {20] Belonging to it of countries are al-Suwad, MahIn, Ramadan and the <country of the> Kurds.

[21] Gemini is the house of Mercury, and the exaltation of the Head <of the Dragon> is in its third degree.

[22J

It has three decans: the first decan belongs to Jupiter, the second to Mars, the third to the Sun. [23] Its nature is hot and moist, airy, sanguine, its taste is sweet, and it is a masculine sign, diurnal, bicorporal, belonging to spring, and in its l(;\st part the daylight becomes longest, many-faced, flying. [24J To it belong tall trees. In human form, eloquent, barren, powerful in voice,9 youthful, beautiful in face, generous, good in its soul.

[25]

To it belong of the body of man, the shoulders, the upper arms and the hands. [26J To it belong ofcountries Gurgan, Armenia, Azerbaijan,

GIl

an, Burgan, Muqan,Egypt and Barqa.

[27] Cancer is the house of the Moon, and the exaltation of Jupiter is in its 15th degree. [28]Ithas three decans: the first decan belongs to Venus, the second to Mercury, the third to the Moon. [29J Its nature is cold and moist, watery, phlegmatic, its taste is salty, and it is feminine, nocturnal, tropical, belonging to the summer, and in it daylight begins to decrease. It has many children, but no voice. [30] To it belong reptiles and animals of the water, and trees of moderate height. To it are swift-moving waters 10 and rain-water. [31J Belonging to it of the

body of man are the chest, the two breasts, the heart, the stomach, the flanks, the spleen and the lungs. [32]' Belonging to it of countries are Lesser Armenia, Eastern t!urasan, China and Marw al-Rud, and to it is a share in Balg and Azerbaijan.

[33] Leo is the house of the Sun. [34] It has three decans: the first decan belongs to Saturn, the second to Jupiter, the third to Mars. [35] Its nature is hot and dry, fiery, yellow bile, its taste is bitter, and it is masculine, diurnal, fixed, belonging to summer, possessing four feet of the beasts of prey which have fangs and claws, and to it are tall trees.

8 B, K and the TaJhf:mare all agreed in giving some form of 'harza' (literally 'pearl') in this context. One must note, however, that the dictionaries give 'gauza al-]:1Ulqum' for the Adam's apple.

9 Latin gives: Isparing of words', but

cr.

K,VI.18, p. 351.2: Istrong-voiced'. 10 The phrase lal-ka1;.1ra al-i}arakata' is not in KL, but can be found in Tajhfm,

(13)

18 _{THE ABBREVIATION OF THE INTRODUCTION}

CHAPTER ONE 19

~., ~.,

yU l!

~, t~'

UA

i!,i

~-1' .,~ ~ ~~

'-!-1Lr

5s

~.,

~L=, u~ ~"s ~ C~

yyAS.

J;~~' t~

[36]

J~\ ~l

o~.u 0W~\ 0~

lJA aJ., [37]

~ ~~ ~l-#~"

23

~" t'~J

Y-11

Jj

.!lfi'

0Ll

l:J'

u-o

Ill" [38J

~~

24

0ld~ ~~ ~,

-,~4" ..u....J~ ~ 25 ~.:v\ 0~\ ~lt=

~)lt aJj [40) ~ ~-J~

op

~ ~ Ufj ~.J~ ~ ~~ [39]

o.)-'~ ~J

[41) .)-,lk.J

~\:J~

0.f'.P

~~, ~.,J~

?

J3~' ~.,Jli o~

J

/121r/

-'~, J;!,:-l 0~

0-r>'

~., 0:.~

j'; (-I. Y'J

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oj4

~.)i ~~

U"'W\

~y.c'

J-'-

u~'

lJA

~

.J., (42)

~ ~ ~ -'~ -'~ ~)lj

j';

~~

0W~1 0~

.:r

J) [43J

..,...o.:JI

..,...;J..

-r

~"JI .:r> u~1 ~...I...Z ~

uL;J!,

rL;J~

26

~!)-' 0L~l

lJAJ [44]

y~~ 0:-,W~ ,L...o~~ ~,

0~

if-

lA Lt'

-,t;.,

o..;:-A-

~

~ ~-'~

0:P

<

J

>

L>.k>j

t.}

J.>.J

'-'fJ

o~)' ~ 0~~

[45]

[47]

~jL.W ~\:J~ '-'~) ~l:J~ ~ ~ J3~' ~

yL;

o~

J

~)lj

"J

[46J

~

-,lrJ'

~li ~.? ~ ~-,lt= 5~

JAJ

~Y'.) ~~ ~-'

Ojb.

~J

~

WJ.;,

~ ~-'~-' ~y

j';

ty,k)'

~ ~LW' ~~ J;!,:-~\ w~L.

~-,j

..uy'

~ c~, ~

Jl:L'

J~

U"'l:J\ O-,y

~ JL,JcJ\~'

.J., [48J

~, 0W~' 0~

lJA

"j

[49J

..,...o.:J'

-r

~

y\

.:r>

u~ rJ;~\ ~ j~

r

j)'

0'.Al:J\

V

..J" [50J

~~ ~ 0~~~ 0~y~ ~yJ~ ~~ ~,

J.4-b

0~,u.,

uJ:

r~-J ~\

ry.-

JJ

~ ~" ~-lJ

Jl

~- ~

L,j

u~J

t.,

0L:.-.J~" J.:~ 0~J

.)~\,

cjo1)

J3~1 ~"Jl; o~) ~~

U)

[52J

UI

~ y~1

[51]

[36] It is cut in its limbs, prone to anger, libidinous, barren, and half-voiced; master of cleverness, slyness and deceit, cunning, having many cares and sadnesses, dark. (37) To it of the body of man are the upper stomach, the heart, the sinews, the side, the two sides of the back, and the back. [38] To it of countries are <land of the> Turks to the end of the inhabited world which it is on the edge of, Sogdiana and Nishapur.l l

[39] Virgo is the house of Mercury, and its exaltation is in its 15th degree. [40]It has three decans: the first decan belongs to the Sun, the second decan to Venus, the third to Mercury. [41] Its nature is cold and dry, earthy, black bile;12 it is a bicorporal sign, and in its last part is the

equinox. Itis of three forms, flying, in it isalittle darkness. [42) Toit belong all plants, in human form, barren, powerful in voice, beautiful in face, generous, good in itssoul~ [43] To it belong of the body of man the belly, the large intestine, the small intestine and the diaphragm. [44] To it of countries belong Garamaqa, Syria, the Euphrates, al-Gazlra and Persia which follows Kirman.

[45] Libra is the house of Venus, and the exaltation of Saturn is in its 21st degree. [46] It has three decans: its first decan belongs to the Moon, the second to Saturn, the third to Jupiter. [47] Its nature is hot and moist, airy, sanguine, and it is masculine, diurnal, tropical, belonging to autumn, less in daylight than the hours of equality, more in rising time, upright in rising, possessing two colours and two forms; in it is a little darkness. [48] To it belong tall trees. In human form, 6f medium condition in libido, having few children, and sometimes it indicates twins;13 voiced, beautiful in face, generous of soul. [49) To it of the body of man belong the backbone, the lower belly, the navel, the genitals, the thighs, the buttocks and the ·waist. [50] Toit of countries are the Byzantine Empire, and what is within its boundaries to Ifrlqlya, Upper Egypt as far as the boundaries of Ethiopia and the boundaries of Barqa, and to it are Kirman, Sigistan, Kabul, Tub-aristan, Ba1h and Herat..

[51] Scorpio14 is the house of Mars. [52] It has three decans: the first decan belongs to Mars, the second to the Sun, the third to Venus .

23 Our reading from K; B 24Our reading from K; B

25P; B

J'3\

26 P; B

i..w!).,

u.k>"

t'~j ~-,'

,

P t.\.k>j y.)' .l..t~'.p 'l:.i;j,\

0. ,

u

11 From this sign onwards the Latin translation adds the nature of the terrain

attributed to each sign, following K, VI.9, pp. 344-6.

12 Latin adds: 'its taste is acid, feminine, nocturnal, double, weak'. This phrase is also missing in K.

13Latin: 'barrenness' (see note 5 above).

14From this sign onwards the tastes and seasons of the signs are omitted. They are, for the most part, retained in the Latin text, as also in K.

(14)

lJ 27 ~., ~ ~L.'Wt:, 0.) L \N- L [53];; •. " ~l:J\ .~

~-: ~

C-I.

':!j N . . .:J 'J. ~j ~f ~

...,r---..r;s'

J.,..bJ1

~..I:.J.\ -,~~I, ~-,l+1

0\:11,

.U\

.}r-»

t~1

,,)

[54}

f"u

~~

'J

~\ ~ ~

y'

~

vlt

~L, 28 y jj,{ Y ~.J~ ~

..uy\

~~~ -I...u~ ~l:.l~ 0~~ 29 ~.:J.' 0W~1 0~ UA ~-' [55] ..J u y

~.,;-' ~-'

$\

JJ

30

~\y-, y~\ ~.)~-,j~\ ~.J\ 0L~\

VA

~-'

[56]

31 .ll...J\ ~

O"'f

~-' ~)~ ~>IJ ..Jj [58J ~ U~.J.) ~)ljJ ~~,

WfJ

~~, ~

U"'jlJ'

[57)

-'~

1..S.J\i

f~

.JAj [59]

~) ~~~ ~ Jl:J~

').JUu.I

J3~\ ~

yl;

o~)

N . .

-'~ ~

ill:ll

~t; #-

.JtrJ'

<

u.o

>

0~

Lo

yAi\

0..,>'

~-' 0:~

~\_~ I..S . 32 <"jl.o ljl 0 lr. J~~' ~

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y~ ~

N J1 ~~ I f '.Jy U~ -' ~ L: N . . .

...w.;

d>-'

~I

/121v / 33

~)

t

~I

,,) [60J .)1.> " t(

il,.t

cui

).i

,,)~I

35 0\~' 0W~\34 0~

VO

~-' [61] ~-'

J.:>

~~ u~ ~ j~

..uy,

~Y')~ o~!)' ~~ 0~J-, J~~

.)\..\A:

0\~'

tJA ,J) [62J

,J-, [64] ~ ~.J.) 0:P) 36 0\}

J

tJl 0

f j

~j ~ ~~~ [63J

~-'

[65]

?

..:.J~~ ~ ~\:J~ ~~ J3~\

37

~

yli

O~, ~~

27Pj B

JJ'

c.J

28 Pj B y)~\ 29 p (~\

30Our reading; B

It>

1.,,;,

P om.

31 Our reading from K; B ~', p ..fAA ~

32Pj B

,!}y..

33 Our readingj B U.?,p U,.;J.'

34Our reading; B om., P ~

35Our reading from K; B 0~', P 0:~\ 36P; B

Jl1

here and frequently

37Our reading; B ~ y~, P om.

[53] Its nature is cold and moist, watery, phlegmatic, and it is a femin-ine sign, nocturnal, fixed, dark. [54] To it are beasts of prey and water animals, flowing waters and trees of moderate height; having many chil-dren, corrupt, cautious, prone to anger, lying, master of cares, beautiful in face, generous of soul, without voice. [55] To it of the body of man are the penis,15 the testicles, the bladder, the rump, and the perineum. [56J To it of countries are the land of al-I;Iigaz, the Desert of the Arabs and its districts in the direction of the Yemen, Tangier, Qfimis, and Rayy; and to is a share in Sogdiana.

[57] Sagittarius is the house of Jupiter, and the exaltation of the Tail is in its third degree. [58J It has three decans: the first decan belongs to Mercury, the second to the Moon, the third to Saturn. [59]16

It is masculine, diurnal, bicorporal; daylight is at its shortest in its latter part; of incomplete figure, upright, possessing two natures, cut in two parts; the first part in human form, royal, noble; the second part possesses four feet which have hooves. [60] To it belong beasts of prey and insects of the earth; having few children, half-voiced, master of strategem, cunning. [61] To it of the body of man are the two thighs. [62] To it of countries are Baghdad and al-Gibal, I~fahan,the places of the Herpads and the murmuring songs of the fire-worshippers. 17

[63] Capricorn is the house of Saturn, and the exaltation of Mars is in its 28th degree. [64] It has three decans: the first decan belongs .to Jupiter, the second to Mars, the third to the Sun. [65J Its nature is

15P substitutes the female pudenda, which is added at the end of the list in K. 16 Latin adds: 'Its nature is hot and dry, fiery, of yellow bile; its taste is acid (perhaps a mistake for 'bitter')'. This is not in K.

(15)

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cold and dry, earthy, black bile, and it is feminine, nocturnal, tropical;, in its first part the daylight begins to increase over the night; round, of incomplete figure; [66] possessing two essences and two natures; its first half is earthy, belongs to the land and is dry, and sometimes it indicates riding animals and failure to produce men; its latter half is watery and belongs to the sea; abounding in children, twins of children, indicating birds.IS [67] To it belong earth, ploughing, grass and plants like this,

and the insects of the earth; corrupt, beautiful in its way of life, weak in voice, prone to anger, cautious, master of strategem, of many cares, dark, libidinous. [68] To it of the body of man are the two knees. [69] To it of countries are Ethiopia and the Indus, Makran, Sind, Oman and Balfrain as far as Sind and Hind.

[70] Aquarius is the house of Saturn. [71] It has three decans: its first decan belongs to Venus, the second to Mercury, the third to the lVloon. [72] Its nature is hot and moist, airy, sanguine, and it is masculine, diurnal, fixed. [73] To it belong tall trees and flowing waters, in human form, having few children, and sometimes it indicates barrenness, weak in voice. [74] To it of the body of man are the two shanks which are below the knees. [75] To it of countries are al-Suwad, Kufa and its region, the rear of al-Bigaz, the land of the Copts in Egypt and the western part of the land of Sind.

[76] Pisces is the house of Jupiter, and the exaltation of Venus is in its 27th degree. [77]Ithas three decans: the first decan belongs to Sat-urn, the second to Jupiter, the third to Mars. [78] Its nature is cold and

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moist, watery, phlegmatic, and it is feminine, nocturnal, bicorporal. In its last part is the equinox,19 and belonging to its last half are trees of moderate height. [79] To it are beasts of prey and creatures of the water and stagnant waters; moderate in libido, having many children, cut in its limbs, without voice, cautious, master of strategem, rash, always delaying. [80] To it of the body of man are the feet. [81] To it of countries are· Tabaristan and the region north of the land of Gurgan; to it is a share in the Byzantine Empire; to it is <the land> from the Byzantine Empire to. Syria, and to it is al-Gazlra, Egypt, Alexandria and the sea of Yemen; and God is wisest.

[82] This is the summary of the natures of these signs and their indications.. [83] In them the planets have detriment and fall. [84] The opposite of the house of each planet is its detriment, and its fall is in the sign opposite to that of its exaltation, with the same num-ber of degrees as the exaltation. [85] Every three of them agree in one nature. [86] So Aries, Leo and Sagittarius come together and fill; they are trined, fiery, eastern; and their Lords by day are the Sun, then Jupiter, by night are Jupiter, then the Sun, and the participant with them both by day and night is Saturn. [87) Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn possess the giving of wealth and prosperity; they are trined, earthy, southern; and their Lords by day are Venus, then the Moon, by night are the Moon, then Venus, and the participant with them both by day and night is Mars, and Mercury shares with them both in Virgo. [88] Gemini, Libra and Aquarius give and empty; they are trined, airy, western; and their Lords by day are Saturn, then Mercury,

(17)

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by night Mercury, then Saturn, and the participant with them both by day and night is Jupiter. [89] Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces pour forth and take; they are trined, watery, northern; and their Lords by day are Venus, then Mars, by night are Mars, then Venus, and the participant with them both by day and night is the Moon.

[90] Six of these signs are direct in rising: these are from the begin-ning of Cancer to the end of Sagittarius. [91] Six of them are crooked in rising: these are from the beginning of Capricorn to the end of Gemini. [92] The crooked in rising obey the direct in rising, since the length of daylight of one of the two is equal to the length of night of the other. Two <signs> indicate agreement and friendship, for example, Gemini and Cancer, Taurus and Leo, and the others like these.2o [93] Those agreeing in the length of daylight are said to be powerful agreeing in power. [94] It may be said of the signs that are direct and crooked in rising that one of them obeys another in the other way; for example, that Gemini obeys Leo, Taurus Cancer, Virgo Capricorn, Pisces Scor-pio, Aquarius Sagittarius, and Capricorn Scorpio.21 _{[95] As for Aries}

obeying Libra, and Capricorn, Cancer, even if one of the two obeys its companion, neither pair of them indicates agreement and friendship be-cause of their being in opposition to each other. [96] Of them (as may be said of each pair of them) there are those 'agreeing in the zodiac-belt', namely, the pairs which are equal in their rising times, such as Aries and Pisces, Taurus and Aquarius, Capricorn and Gemini and the others which follow this. [97] Of them there are those 'agreeing in the path', namely the pairs of signs which belong to one planet, such as Capricorn and Aquarius to Saturn, and Sagittarius and Pisces to Jupiter.

20The Latin gives the full list of signs agreeing in this way.

21It is difficult to see the rationale of this arrangement. One would expect IGemini obeys Leo, Taurus Virgo, Pisces Scorpio and Aquarius Sagittarius.' However, the same pairs appear in K, p. 338 where we find also the reciprocal arrangement; 'Ge. obeys Le., Le. obeys Ge., Ta. Can., Can. Ta., Cap. Vi., Vi. Cap., Sc. Pi., Pi. Sc., Sa. ~q.,Aq. Sa., Cap.Sc., Sc. Cap.'

(18)

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[98] The <zodi~cal> circle is divided at every moment into four divisions. [99] The quadrant which is from the ascendant to midheaven is eastern, masculine, advancing. [100] The quadrant which is from the degree of midheaven to the degree of the descendant is southern, feminine, retreating; [101J The quadrant which is from the descendant to the degree of the fourth <place> is western, masculine, advancing. [102J The quadrant which is from the fourth <place> to the degree of the ascendant is northern, feminine, retreating. [103] That part of the <zodfacal> circle which is above the earth may be called its right, and what is under the earth, its left. [104]22 The two feminine quadrants are called left also. [105] The half which is from midheaven through the ascendant to the end of the third place is called ascending, and the other half is called descending.

[106} These four quadrants are divided ·into 12 divisions according to the number of the signs. Each division is called a place. [107] The place which is at the beginning of the quadrant is called the 'cardine'; the place which follows it is called the 'succedent to the cardine'; and the third place from it is called the one 'falling from the cardine'. [108] Each place is called by a name proper to it, and has an indication of things which' are ascribed to it. [109] The first place is that whose beginning rises over the eastern horizon and is called the ascendant: it indicates bodies, life23_{and the conditions of every commencement. [110]} The second is called the place of wealth and livelihood. [111] The third

22Latin adds: 'according to some, the two higher parts are called masculine, right and advancing'.

The Abbreivation of the Introduction To Astrology - Abu Mashar

ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY

THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE

Texts and Studies

H. DAIBER and D. PINGREE

VOLUME XV

/

THE ABBREVIATION OF THE

iINTRODUCTION TO ASTROLOGY

TOGETHER WITH THE MEDIEVAL LATIN TRANSLATION

OF ADELARD OF BATH

CHARLES BURNETT

KEijI YAMAMOTO

MICHIO YANO

qi/C;

CONTENTS

PREFACE

...

."

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1

PART ONE

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ARABIC TEXT AND TRANSLATION

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