An Edition, Translation, and Commentary of Two Medieval Persian Astronomical Texts

University Of Oklahoma Norman Campus, Norman OK

Investigators

Abstract

SES 99-11005 - F. Jamil Ragep (University of Oklahoma) "An Edition, Translation, and Commentary of Two Medieval Persian Astronomical Texts" One of the more interesting genres of medieval Islamic scientific literature is a type of theoretical astronomical work known as hay'a, whose primary purpose was to provide a summary, usually without computational details, of Ptolemaic astronomy. The more elementary hay 'a works became an important vehicle for establishing a widely accepted rational, scientific cosmology in premodern times. (This latter point is especially important when we attempt to assess the relationship of science and religion in Islam.) In its more advanced forms, this genre, which thrived in Islam for well over 800-years, provided a locus for criticisms of Ptolemy, detailed discussions of mathematical models and their relations to physics, and alternative, non-Ptolemaic astronomical models. These models almost certainly influenced a number of early modern European scientists including Copernicus, and the genre itself was instrumental in the development of an analogous astronomical tradition (theorica) in Europe. This grant supports the completion of an edition, translation, and commentary of two representatives of this tradition, namely the Risalah-i Muniyya and its "appendix," the Hall-i Mushkilat-i Muiniyya, both written by the Persian polymath Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201-1274 A.D.). They are particularly significant since in them Tusi first announced and presented his new devices (the Tusi couples) and non-Ptolemaic planetary models, which modern scholars had previously thought were associated with the later Maragha observatory of the Mongols. These treatises also provide insight into the Persian court culture that patronized Tusi at the time. Preliminary editions and translations of both texts, which are in medieval Persian, were completed some years ago by Professors Jamil Ragep of the University of Oklahoma and Wheeler Thackston of Harvard University. This grant provides the support required to allow the PI to collate the preliminary editions with eight additional manuscripts that he recently obtained from Middle Eastern and European libraries, and to enable him to continue to support three assistants (two of whom are native speakers of Persian) who have long contributed to his scholarship.