Sahl ibn Bischr

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Sahl ibn Bischr al-Tabari (stani) , also Sahl ibn Bishr (al-Israili) , Sahl ben Bischr ( Arabic سهل بن بشر), Sahl al-Tabari or Rabbi from Tabaristan (Rabban al-Tabari) , first name also Saul , also known as Za (c) hel or Zael , Cheel as well as Thetel , Zethel and Techel , (first half of the 9th century; verifiable from 823) was a Jewish astrologer , astronomer , doctor and mathematician of Persian origin from Tabaristan who worked in Baghdad . He was the father of the famous scientist and doctor Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari (Ali bin Radha al-Tabari), who converted to Islam. He is the author of several astrological treatises that were important for the early Middle Ages and that were part of the Greek astrological tradition (such as Dorotheos of Sidon ).

According to Viktor Stegemann , he was a servant of al-Hasan (al-Ḥasan ibn Sahl, d. 850), the brother of al-Fadl ibn Sahl and advisor to the caliph al-Ma'mun in Khorasan and lived around 785 to possibly 845.

In particular, his book On Elections was very popular and influential in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It deals with the astrological complex of topics, when is the appropriate time for planned actions.

He was also the author of a book on algebra.

Sahl ibn Bishr to be the first to Almagest of Ptolemy have translated into Arabic. The translation has not been preserved and its existence is doubted by others. However, there was at least one early Arabic and one Syrian translation before the first surviving translation by al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn Matar , which have not survived, but from which quotations are known.

Works

His astrological works consist of five books, which are available in Latin translation in at least 50 manuscripts and in seven printed editions from 1484 to 1551. The translator is unknown, but the translations existed as early as the 12th century.

  • Introductorium (introduction)
  • Quinquaginga precepta (Fifty Laws)
  • De Interrogationibus (About Questions)
  • De Electionibus (The Book of Elections)
  • Liber temporum (book about times)

After Viktor Stegemann, the translators are unknown, but he suspects one of the well-known translators of the 12th century Hermann von Carinthia , Plato von Tivoli , Johannes Hispalensis . Benjamin Dykes speaks in favor of Johannes Hispalensis, who also had a name as a professional translator of Arabic texts on astrology.

A sixth book on astrology, Fatidica (Prophecies), is preserved in a translation by Hermann von Carinthia from 1138 (manuscript in the Cambridge University Library).

On Sahl ibn Bischr there is probably also a Liber Sigillorum , a script also known as a “stone book” that speaks of figures engraved in stones. He describes magical effects of the amulets serving cut stones and gems .

Some of his books have also been preserved in Arabic, including:

  • Ahkam fi al-Nujum (The Laws of Astrology)
  • Kitab al-ikhtiyarat 'ala al-buyut al-ithnai' ashar (The Book of Elections, corresponding to the twelve houses ( zodiac )
  • al-Masa'il al-Nujumiyah (The Astrological Problems)

literature

Expenditure:

  • Benjamin N. Dykes (translator and editor) Works of Sahl and Masha'allah , Cazimi Press 2008 (works by Sahl ibn Bischr and Māschā'allāh bin Atari in English translation with detailed introduction, by Sahl ibn Bischr: The introduction, The fifty judgements , On Elections, On Questions, On Times), Dykes website
  • Carol Mary Croft's Kitāb Al-ik̲tiyārāt ʻalā L-buyūt Al-it̲nai ʻašar by Sahl Ibn Bišr Al-Isrāʼīlī. With Its Latin Translation De Electionibus , Dissertation, University of Glasgow 1985 (Book of Elections after the Twelve Houses, On Elections by ibn Bischr, Arabic and Latin editions)
  • Saul ibn Bishr The introduction to the science and judgment of the stars , American Federation of Astrology 2008

Secondary literature:

  • Viktor Stegemann Dorotheos von Sidon and the so-called Introductorium des Sahl Ibn Bišr , Prague 1942 (with Latin, Greek, Arabic text of the Introductorium and German translation of the Arabic text, using a manuscript from the Leipzig University Library)
  • Viktor Stegemann The fragments of Dorotheos of Sidon (= sources and studies on the history and culture of antiquity and the Middle Ages. Series B: Summarized groups of monuments. Book 1). 4 deliveries planned. Heidelberg 1939 (series 1) and 1943 (series 2), no more published (= habilitation thesis, University of Würzburg, 1937)
  • FJ Carmody Arabic Astronomical and Astrological Sciences in Latin Translation. A Critical Bibliography , Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1956, p. 41
  • Walter Pagel : Paracelsus and Techellus the Jew. In: Bulletin of the History of Medicine. Volume 34, 1960, pp. 274-277.
  • F. Sezgin History of Arabic Literature , Volume VII, Leiden, 1979, pp. 125-126.
  • Moritz Steinschneider : Sahl ben Bischr, Sahl al-Tabari and Ali b. Sahl. In: Journal of the German Oriental Society. Volume 54, No. 1, 1900, pp. 39-48.

Electronic edition at the Warburg Institute with further bibliographical information:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. According to Isidore Singer, Cyrus Adler (editor) Jewish Encyclopedia , Volume 8, 1912, Article Mathematics , p. 376, the name was Sahl ibn Bischr ibn Habib ibn Hani (or Haya), with the addition Abu Othman
  2. ^ The identification of Sahl al-Tabari or Rabban al-Tabari with Sahl ibn Bischr is based on Moritz Steinschneider
  3. ^ Johannes G. Mayer : An iatromathematic manuscript with Techel's Steinbuch and the pseudo-Albertine treatise 'De vino et eius proprietatibus'. In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 14, 1996, pp. 305-309.
  4. See literature, quoted from excerpts in the work edition by Benjamin Dykes
  5. al Jabar wal-Mukabalab , after Singer, Adler (Ed.) The jewish encyclopedia , Volume 8, 1912, p. 376 (article Mathematics )
  6. Article Sahl in The Jewish Encyclopedia , 1901, online , there reference is made to: Moritz Steinschneider Zur Pseudepigraphischen Literatur , Berlin 1862, p. 78.Sahl al-Tabari, the translator of the Almagest, is identified by Steinschneider with Sahl ibn Bischr.
  7. Olaf Pedersen , A survey of the Almagest, Springer 2010, p. 15
  8. Especially early book editions in Venice in 1493 and in Basel in 1533
  9. Information based on the electronic edition in the Warburg Institute, see literature
  10. Foreword to the edition of the work, see literature
  11. ^ Johannes G. Mayer: An iatromathematic manuscript with Techel's Steinbuch and the pseudo-Albertine treatise 'De vino et eius proprietatibus'. In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 14, 1996, pp. 305-309, in particular pp. 307 f.
  12. Konrad Goehl, Johannes Gottfried Mayer: Ancient gems: stone magic and love magic up to the Christian Middle Ages. The Jew “Techel” or “Cheel” and the “coelatio lapidum” with edition and translation of two stone books. In: Konrad Goehl, Johannes Gottfried Mayer (Hrsg.): Editions and studies on Latin and German specialist prose of the Middle Ages. Festival ceremony for Gundolf Keil. Königshausen and Neumann, Würzburg 2000. ISBN 3-8260-1851-6 . Pp. 265-316.