The ''Book of Fixed Stars'' ( ar, كتاب صور الكواكب ', literally ''The Book of the Shapes of Stars'') is an
astronomical
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, ...
text written by
Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi
ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Sufi ( fa, عبدالرحمن صوفی; December 7, 903 – May 25, 986) was an iranianRobert Harry van Gent. Biography of al-Sūfī'. "The Persian astronomer Abū al-Husayn ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn ‘Umar al-Sūfī was born i ...
(Azophi) around 964. Following
the translation movement in the 9th century AD, the book was written in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
, the common language for scholars across the vast Islamic territories, although the author himself was
Persian. It was an attempt to create a synthesis of the comprehensive star catalogue in
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of import ...
’s ''
Almagest
The ''Almagest'' is a 2nd-century Greek-language mathematical and astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths, written by Claudius Ptolemy ( ). One of the most influential scientific texts in history, it cano ...
'' (books VII and VIII) with the indigenous Arabic astronomical traditions on the
constellations (notably the
Bedouin constellation system of the ''Anwā’''). The original
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced ...
no longer survives as an
autograph
An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Inter ...
, however, the importance of tradition and the practice of diligence central to Islamic manuscript tradition have ensured the survival of the ''Book of Stars'' in later-made copies.
Historical context
The
treatise
A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions." Treat ...
was written in the Persian city of
Shiraz
Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 ...
, for the
patron
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
and
Buyid
The Buyid dynasty ( fa, آل بویه, Āl-e Būya), also spelled Buwayhid ( ar, البويهية, Al-Buwayhiyyah), was a Shia Iranian dynasty of Daylamite origin, which mainly ruled over Iraq and central and southern Iran from 934 to 1062. Coupl ...
emir
‘Abud al-Dawla.
Although al-Sufi made his
longitudinal
Longitudinal is a geometric term of location which may refer to:
* Longitude
** Line of longitude, also called a meridian
* Longitudinal engine, an internal combustion engine in which the crankshaft is oriented along the long axis of the vehicle, ...
calculations correct for the year 964 only, the work remained highly influential, functioning as the standard text on Arabic astronomy to be consulted in all Islamic territories and faithfully copied for many centuries after its production.
Since it was only correct for the single year of 964, the ''Book of Fixed Stars'' was intended to serve a broader educational purpose, rather than being concerned with the mathematical technicalities of astronomy.
The ''Book of Fixed Stars'' is representative of the concerns of Islamic scholars during the late-9th to 11th Centuries AD, where following the translation of
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium i ...
texts from
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
to Arabic, "Islamic astronomers and astrologers concentrated on analyzing, criticizing, and perfecting the geometrical models of Ptolemy". Medieval Islamic astronomers also drew from
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...
and
Middle Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...
sources to learn "methods for calculating the position of heavenly bodies, and for creating tables recording the movement of the sun, the moon, and the five known planets."
In the context of this shift to
observational
Observation is the active acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the perception and recording of data via the use of scientific instruments. The ...
and
theoretical astronomy set in motion by the translation movement, and with al-Sufi himself being an observational astronomer, the ''Book of Fixed Stars'' comprises an important organisation and revision of classical knowledge from
antiquity
Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to:
Historical objects or periods Artifacts
*Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures
Eras
Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...
(the first of its kind), and some of the earliest surviving examples of visual documentation of celestial bodies observable by the naked eye.
The interest in cataloging the stars also stems from the nature of worship in Islam. The religion requires that its members are able to locate
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow val ...
so that they may pray in the right direction, and to also be able to determine the correct times for prayer.
In addition to the daily requirements, during the festival of
Ramadan they must also know the moments of sunrise and sunset for fasting, and the location of the moon for the start of each month.
The ''Book of Fixed Stars'' also follows a trend of increased production of illustrated manuscripts, as it is one of the oldest surviving treatises of its kind.
[Hoffman, Eva R. "The Beginnings of the Illustrated Arabic Book: An Intersection between Art and Scholarship". ''Muqarnas'', vol. 17, 2000, pp. 37–52. ''JSTOR'', https://www.jstor.org/stable/1523289. Accessed 17 Oct. 2020.] This is not to say that this text was the first illustrated manuscript ever created, as there are many illustrated fragments that have been found and studied, most notably the
Fustat
Fusṭāṭ ( ar, الفُسطاط ''al-Fusṭāṭ''), also Al-Fusṭāṭ and Fosṭāṭ, was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule, and the historical centre of modern Cairo. It was built adjacent to what is now known as Old Cairo by ...
fragments.
The Fustat fragments are illustrated scraps of parchment that were found during excavations in Fustat, or Old Cairo. These fragments can be attributed to the stylings of the
Fatimid period (969-1171), therefore dating the existence of astronomical illustrations to many years before the creation of the ''Book of Fixed Stars''.
The increase in illustrated manuscripts is also related to the advent of paper in the Islamic world in the tenth century.
[Bloom, Jonathan M. "The Introduction of Paper to the Islamic Lands and the Development of the Illustrated Manuscript." ''Muqarnas'' 17 (2000): 17-23. Accessed October 25, 2020. doi:10.2307/1523287.] The increased availability of paper, which was much cheaper than parchment, drove the production of books in the Islamic world.
Contents
The book was thoroughly illustrated along with observations and descriptions of the
star
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth make ...
s, their positions (copied from Ptolemy's ''
Almagest
The ''Almagest'' is a 2nd-century Greek-language mathematical and astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths, written by Claudius Ptolemy ( ). One of the most influential scientific texts in history, it cano ...
'' with the longitudes increased by 12° 42' to account for the
precession
Precession is a change in the orientation of the rotational axis of a rotating body. In an appropriate reference frame it can be defined as a change in the first Euler angle, whereas the third Euler angle defines the rotation itself. In o ...
), their
magnitudes (brightness) and their color. Notably, al-Sufi improved upon Ptolemy's system for measuring star brightness. Instead of two brightness categories (‘more bright’ and ‘less bright’), al-Sufi employed three: AṢghareh (‘less’), Akbareh (‘greater’), and A’ẓameh (‘much-greater’).
Ihsan Hafez has recorded 132 stars in al-Sufi's work not mentioned by Ptolemy.
Al-Sufi's results, as in Ptolemy's ''Almagest'', were set out
constellation by constellation. For each constellation, he provided two drawings, one from the outside of a
celestial globe
Celestial globes show the apparent place, apparent positions of the stars in the sky. They omit the Sun, Moon, and planets because the positions of these bodies vary relative to those of the stars, but the ecliptic, along which the Sun moves, is ...
, and the other from the inside. Al-Sufi's reasoning for this was that ‘the beholder might be confused if he saw the figure on the globe differing from what he sees in the sky’, demonstrating the book's use as a teaching device. Persis Berkelamp argues that each paired constellation was drawn slightly differently to encourage students to study the manuscript closely.
Composition
Introduction
In his introduction, al-Sufi dedicates the work to his patron 'Abud al-Dawla and outlines the sources he has used to write the book.
These sources, including a number of treatises and objects which are now lost, serve as important indicators and records of the knowledge (
ilm'') production at the time. For instance, the introduction lists the names of 3 authors (Ibn Kunasa,
Ibn al-'Arabi Ibn al-ʿArabī may refer to:
* Ibn Arabi (1165–1240), Andalusi Muslim philosopher
* Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi (1076–1148), Andalusi Muslim scholar of Maliki jurisprudence
See also
* Ibn al-A'rabi, (ca. 760 – 846), philologist, genealogist, ...
,
Abu Hanifa al-Dinawari) and their treatises concerning pre-Islamic Bedouin traditions, all of which are now lost.
Chapters
''The Book of Fixed Stars'' follows the 48 Ptolemaic constellations described in the ''Almagest'', with a chapter dedicated to each individual constellation. Each chapter is split into 4 subsections.
Ptolemaic constellations
Each chapter begins with a description of the specified constellation and the stars that make up each grouping, thus departing from the ''Almagest'' and its concern for describing the iconographical origins of each constellation outline in
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...
.
Here, al-Sufi is often critical of Ptolemy for seemingly prioritising the constellation outline over the actual stars in a constellation grouping, with some stars being overlooked.
In making these revisions, al-Sufi was able to determine the boundaries for each constellation's star grouping.
Indigenous Arabic constellations
Al-Sufi continues his description of the specified constellation in terms of the Pre-Islamic Bedouin constellations and star groupings, noting their positions and distance to the Ptolemaic constellation stars.
Illustrations
In this section, al-Sufi presents 2 different views/illustrations of the specified Ptolemaic constellations: the constellation viewed in the sky from the ground and the constellation as viewed on top of a globe.
The latter view can be explained by accounts of al-Sufi's drawing process, whereby the author carefully fitted a thin sheet of paper on top of a celestial globe and then directly copied the constellation outlines and star positions from the engravings.
The inclusion of this globe view of each constellation also suggests that the ''Books of Fixed Stars'' was intended to be used by owners of celestial globes, and many surviving globes from the 13th and 14th Centuries include statements attesting to the treatise as an influential source.
Although al-Sufi names several sources in his introduction which contributed to the book's illustrations, none of these treatises nor celestial globes survive.
These illustrations represent another important departure from the ''Almagest'' which does not include any illustrations.
Star Catalogue
The book includes a comprehensive catalogue of the individual stars, modified and extended from that of the ''Almagest'', and including revised star magnitude values.
Influence
The work was highly influential and survives in numerous manuscripts and translations. The oldest manuscript, kept in the
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the sec ...
, dates to 1009 and is allegedly the work of the author's son, though this is disputed.
There is a thirteenth-century copy in the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...
(Or. 5323).
He has the earliest known descriptions and illustrations of what he called "a little cloud", which is actually the
Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy (IPA: ), also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224 and originally the Andromeda Nebula, is a barred spiral galaxy with the diameter of about approximately from Earth and the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way. The gal ...
. He mentions it as lying before the mouth of a Big Fish, an Arabic
constellation. This "cloud" was apparently commonly known to the
Isfahan astronomers, very probably before 905, and al-Sufi attributes their discoveries in the text.
This was the first
galaxy
A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar Sys ...
to be observed, as distinct from a
star cluster
Star clusters are large groups of stars. Two main types of star clusters can be distinguished: globular clusters are tight groups of ten thousand to millions of old stars which are gravitationally bound, while open clusters are more loosely clus ...
.
It has been claimed that the first recorded mention of the
Large Magellanic Cloud
The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), or Nubecula Major, is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. At a distance of around 50 kiloparsecs (≈160,000 light-years), the LMC is the second- or third-closest galaxy to the Milky Way, after the ...
was given in the ''Book of Fixed Stars''
but this seems to be a misunderstanding of a reference to some stars south of Canopus which he admits he has not seen.
He probably also cataloged the
Omicron Velorum star cluster
Star clusters are large groups of stars. Two main types of star clusters can be distinguished: globular clusters are tight groups of ten thousand to millions of old stars which are gravitationally bound, while open clusters are more loosely clus ...
as a "nebulous star", and an additional "nebulous object" in
Vulpecula
Vulpecula is a faint constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for "little fox", although it is commonly known simply as the fox. It was identified in the seventeenth century, and is located in the middle of the Summer Triangle (an ...
, a cluster now variously known as Al-Sufi's Cluster, the "Coathanger
asterism",
Brocchi's Cluster
Brocchi's Cluster (also known as Collinder 399, Cr 399 or Al Sufi's Cluster) is a asterism of six stars in an apparent row, across 1.3° of the night sky and four others, in the south of the constellation Vulpecula, thus near Sagitta. Its nickn ...
or Collinder 399.
[
The book has been translated into French by Hans Schjellerup in 1874] and into English by Ihsan Hafez.[Hafez, Ihsan (2010]
Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi and his book of the fixed stars: a journey of re-discovery
PhD thesis, James Cook University.
Editions
* Text and French translation of Ṣūfī's introduction by J. J. A. Caussin de Perceval in ''Notices et extraits des manuscrits'' XII, Paris, 1831, pp. 236f.
* H.C.F.C. Schjellerup
''Description des étoiles fixes par Abd-al-Rahman al-Sûfi''
St. Petersburg, 1874. Complete French translation from two late mss., with selected portions in Arabic.
* ''Ketāb ṣowar al-kawākeb al-ṯābeta'', edited from five mss., and accompanied by the ''Orǰūza'' of Ebn al-Ṣūfī, Hyderabad, India, 1954 (introduction by H. J. J. Winter).
* Facsimile edition of the Persian translation by Naṣīr-al-dīn Ṭūsī (Ayasofya 2595, autograph, from Uluḡ Beg's library), Tehran, 1348 Š./1969.
* Critical edition of Ṭūsī's translation by Sayyed Moʿezz-al-dīn Mahdavī, Tehran, 1351 Š./1972.
* The star nomenclature of the Castilian version, and of an Italian translation made from Castilian, was critically edited by O. J. Tallgren, "Los nombres árabes de las estrelas y la transcripción alfonsina", in ''Homenaje a R. Menéndez Pidal'' II, Madrid, 1925, with 'Correcciones y adiciones' in ''Revista de filología española'' 12, 1925, pp. 52f.
* The Italian translation was edited by P. Knecht, ''I libri astronomici di Alfonso X in una versione fiorentina del trecento'', Saragossa, 1965.
*English translation; Hafez, Ihsan (2010
Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi and his book of the fixed stars: a journey of re-discovery
PhD thesis, James Cook University.
References
*Paul Kunitzsch, ''The Arabs and the Stars: Texts and Traditions on the Fixed Stars, and Their Influence in Medieval Europe'' (Variorum Reprint, Cs307)
*Paul Kunitzsch, ''Arabische Sternnamen in Europa'', Wiesbaden, 1959, pp. 230f.
*Paul Kunitzsch, "Ṣūfī Latinus", ''Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländische Gesellschaft'', 115, 1965, pp. 65–74.
*Paul Kunitzsch, "Al-Ṣūfī" in: ''Dictionary of Scientific Biography'', XIII, New York, 1976, pp. 149–50.
* J. Upton, "A Manuscript of “The Book of the Fixed Stars” by ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān aṣ-Ṣūfī", ''Metropolitan Museum Studies'', 4, 1933, pp. 179–97.
*E. Wellesz, ''An Islamic Book of Constellations'', Oxford, 1965.
*H. J. J. Winter, "Notes on al-Kitab Suwar Al-Kawakib", ''Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Sciences'', 8, 1955, pp. 126–33.
External links
Bodleian copy of ''Suwar al-Kawakib al-Thabitah'' (''Book of fixed Stars'')
Copy (dated ''c''. 1730) of al-Sufi's ''Book of the Fixed Stars''
* ttp://www.atlascoelestis.com/alsufi%20pagina.htm Pergamenthandschrift M II 141 in www.atlascoelestis.combr>A page about Muslim Astronomers
- includes a detailed bibliography and a list of all known manuscripts of al-Ṣūfī's ''Book of the Fixed Stars''.
Slides and audio recording from a presentation on the book, with images and quotations from many different manuscripts.
*[http://www.atlascoelestis.com/Zagrebelsky/Tesi%20inglese%20al%20sufi%201367524_1.pdf Moya Carey, ''Painting the Stars in a Century of Change: A thirteenth-century copy of al-Sufi's "Treatise on the Fixed Stars" - British Library Or.5323'']
{{DEFAULTSORT:Book Of Fixed Stars
10th-century Arabic books
Astronomical catalogues of stars
Astronomical works of the medieval Islamic world
Scientific works of the Abbasid Caliphate
Classical star atlases
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