The Arabic Translation of Aratus' Phaenomena

Author(s): Ernest Honigmann

Source: Isis , Mar., 1950, Vol. 41, No. 1 (Mar., 1950), pp. 30-31
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science
Society

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/226385

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 The Arabic Translation of Aratus'
Phaenomena
BY ERNEST HONIGMANN *

A RATUS' Phaenomena 1 are twice quoted in al-Birfini's India. The first passage
exhibits a translation of the first ten verses of his poem, the second a summary
of vv.96-I34.2 It can hardly be supposed that al-Biruni, who died in 440 H.
(I048 A.D.), made the translation of the Greek poem himself, or of parts of it; most
of the Arabic translations from this language were made in the ninth century.
Carlo Alfonso Nallino, who knew the history of Arabic astronomy better than any
other modern scholar, seems to have been doubtful about the question of whether an
Arabic translation of the Phaenomena ever existed. In his article "Astronomy" in the
Encyclopaedia of Isldm 3 he does not mention Aratus, but in his Arabic lectures on the
origin of astronomy among the Arabs, published about the same time, he speaks of "the
book of Aratus on the description of the constellations," adding the following note: "A
scholar of the third century B.C. Nobody mentions his book among those translated into
Arabic, but Abul ar-Rayhian al-Birilni, India, pp. 47-48, I92-I93, makes some quotation
from it as well as from a commentary on it." 4 In an article published in I922 he ex-
presses his opinion in a similar way: "Finally there appear to have been translated in
the same [viz., gth] century the book of the constellations of Aratus and a book on
magnitudes and distances of the celestial bodies, which, falsely attributed to Ptolemy,
is known by the Arabs under the name of Kitdb al-manshz7rdt." 5 Some years later,
when revising his article for an Italian retranslation which was published by his
daughter in I944, he mentioned, however, only the Kitab al-manshfirdt, omitting the
preceding words ". . . the book of the constellations of Aratus and . . ." in the same
sentence.0 It seems, therefore, that he had finally abandoned his former view that an
Arabic translation of Aratus' Phaenomena existed in the ninth century.
Yet this work was really translated; an author of the tenth century not only formally
states this fact, but also names the translator and finally adds: "and one can find it."
It is all the more astonishing that this statement has not yet been noticed since it figures
in a work which has been twice edited in Arabic and once translated into French. It is
true, however, that the two editors did their utmost to prevent the reader from realizing
that Aratus is mentioned in the passage in question, for, while one of them added to his

* New York City.
1 G. Sarton, Introduction to the History ofintorno
Science, vol. I (Baltimore I927), p. I57.
2Alberuni's India by Ed. Sachau, text (Lon-
don I887; Leipzig I925), p. 47 (1) sqq., I92 (12);
translation (London I9I0), vol. I, p. 97, 383, cf.
vol. II, p. 292, 349 sq.
'C. A. Nallino, "Astronomy," Encyclopaedia
of Isldm, vol. I (Leiden, London I9I2), p. 497-
50I. Carra de Vaux, Les Penseurs de l'Islam, t.
II (Paris I92I), p. I95-252, ch. VII-VIII
("L'astronomie") does not mention Aratus
either.
'Nallino, 'Ilm al-falak, ta'rikhuhu 'inda al-
'Arab fi'l-qurfun al-wustd (Rome IgII), p. 229;
Italian translation by Maria Nallino in her
father's Raccolta di scritti editi e inediti, vol. V
(Roma I944), p. 266; "iT libro di Arato (I2)
alla descrizione delle costellazioni," with
note I2: "Un dotto del III sec.av.Cr. Nessuno
ricorda il suo libro tra quelli tradotti in arabo,
ma Abfi ar-Rayhan al-Birfini nell'India p. 47-
48, I92-I93 riferisce qualcosa da esso e dal suo
commento."
'C. A. Nallino, "Sun, Moon and Stars
(Muhammadan) ," Encyclopaedia of Religion
and Ethics, ed. by James Hastings, vol. XII
(New York, Edinburgh I922), p. 95.b
6Raccolta di scritti editi e inediti, vol. V, p.
5I: "Finalmente sembra essere stato tradotto
nello stesso IX sec. un libro sulle grandezze e
distanze dei corpi celesti, che, attribuito falsa-
mente a Tolomeo, e conosciuto dagli Arabi col
nome di Kitdb al-Manshurdt."

30

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 The Arabic Translation of Aratus' Phaenomena 31

name the note: "Corrupta nomina," the other one changed it in his translation into
"Eratosthenes."
The passage figures in the Kitdb al-'Unwdn or "Universal History" by Mahbbib or
Agapius of Manbij,7 written in A.D. 94I-2.8 In A. Vasiliev's French translation it runs
as follows:

A cette epoque parut et se fit connaitre Atlas,
fils de Promethee,9 qui enseignait la magie
(astrologie). On raconte que, sa magie atteig-
nant la sphere celeste, il connut tout ce qui s'y
passait de ses mysteres. A cause de cela, on
donna le nom d'Atlas a la montagne qui s'eleve
au-dessus des nuages. D'apres ses connaissances
et ses livres, Eratosthene, le savant, traca les
plans de la sphere avec toutes les especes de ses
constellations et leurs termes. Ce livre fut tra-
duit du grec en arabe par Thahir ibn al-Hoseln,
homme ing6nieux (litteralement "le possesseur
de deux mains droits,")"' avec ses cartes, tous ses
plans et toutes les especes de ses finesses. C'est
un livre remarquable et, si l'on veut, on peut le
retrouver.

As I stated above, the Arabic text unmistakably exhibits the name Aratus and not
Eratosthenes.
As to the translator, Agapius can hardly mean any other person than Abu't-Taiyib
Tahir ibn al-Husain, a general of al-Ma'mfin and subsequently governor of Khurasan,
the founder of the dynasty of the Tahirids, who lived from I59-207 H. (775/6-822/3
A.D.).11 Though "many of the Tahirids, from Tahir b.al-Husain to 'Ubaid Allah b.
'Abd Allah were celebrated as poets and authors," 12 we can hardly suppose that this
general and governor was able to translate a Greek poem into Arabic. Yet he was cer-
tainly interested in astronomy, for we know that the famous Jewish astronomer Abfl
'Uthman Sahl b.Bisr b.Habib b.Hanl' was at his service, probably as his court astrono-
mer.13 It is probable that Sahl b.Bisr was in reality the translator of Aratus' work,
though no other translation of a Greek work by him seems to be known. In any case
there can be no more any doubt that an Arabic translation of Aratus' Phaenomena
existed as early as the first decades of the ninth century.

7 Agapius, edited with a French transl. by A.
Vasiliev, Patrologia Orientalis, vol. V, fasc. IV
(Paris I9I0), p. 677 [12I](i-e). Agapius epis-
copus Mabugensis, "Historia universalis," ed. P.
L. Cheikho, S.I., Corpus Scriptorum Christian-
orum Orientalium, scr. Arab., series III, t. V,
textus (Beryti I9I2), p. 602j-6I4.
8 Cf. Cheikho, loc. cit., Introd., p. 4. Vasiliev,
Patr. Orient., VIII, p. I96, n. i. C. Karalevsky,
"Agapios (6) de Minbij," Dictionnaire d'His-
toire et de Geographie Ecclesiastiques, vol. I
(Paris I9II), col. 899-goo.
'This translation of the word "Frlm(n)fis"
is hardly correct, for Atlas was Prometheus'
brother. I cannot explain the word either
(phr6nimos, i.e., olodphron Od. I. 52 ?). Cheikho
prints "Atlsfrimfls," adding the enigmatic note
5: "vocatur in Exodo (II. 22) Gersam."
10 Cf. Greek amphoterodexios (Judges III.
15. Pallad., Dial. c. i6, p. 95s ed. Coleman-
Norton) or amphidgxios.
W. Barthold, "Tahir b.al-Husain," Ency-
clopaedia of Isldm, IV, p. 6io-i.
2 W. Barthold, "Tahirids," ibidem, IV, p.
6I4-5.
" M. Steinschneider, Die arabische Literatur
der Juden (Frankfurt a.M. I902), p. 23-32. H.
Suter, "Die Mathematiker und Astronomen der
Araber und ihre Werke," Abhandl. z. Geschichte
d. Mathem. Wissensch., Heft X, Supplem. der
Zeitschrift f. Mathem. u. Physik, XLV (Leipzig
I900), p. I5. C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der
arabischen Litteratur, 2., den Supplement-biinden
angepasste Aufl., I (Leiden I943), p. 252; cf.
Suppl., Bd. I (Leiden I937), p. I49. Sarton,
Introduction (vol. I, 569).

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