Al-ʻIjliyyah bint al-ʻIjliyy () was a 10th-century maker of

astrolabes An astrolabe (; ; ) is an astronomical instrument dating to ancient times. It serves as a star chart and physical model of the visible half-dome of the sky. Its various functions also make it an elaborate inclinometer and an analog calculati ...

active in

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

, in what is now northern

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. She is sometimes known in modern popular literature as Mariam al-Asṭurlābiyya () but her supposed first name 'Mariam' is not mentioned in the only known source about her life.

Life

According to

ibn al-Nadim Abū al-Faraj Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq an-Nadīm (), also Ibn Abī Yaʿqūb Isḥāq ibn Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Warrāq, and commonly known by the '' nasab'' (patronymic) Ibn an-Nadīm (; died 17 September 995 or 998), was an important Muslim ...

, she was the daughter of another astrolabe maker known as al-ʻIjliyy; she and her father were apprentices (''tilmīthah'') of an astrolabe maker from Baghdad, Nasṭūlus. Al-ʻIjliyyah manufactured

astrolabe An astrolabe (; ; ) is an astronomy, astronomical list of astronomical instruments, instrument dating to ancient times. It serves as a star chart and Model#Physical model, physical model of the visible celestial sphere, half-dome of the sky. It ...

s, an astronomical instrument, during the 10th century; she was employed by the first Emir of Aleppo,

Sayf al-Dawla ʿAlī ibn ʾAbū'l-Hayjāʾ ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥamdān ibn Ḥamdūn ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taghlibī (, 22 June 916 – 8 February 967), more commonly known simply by his honorific of Sayf al-Dawla (, ), was the founder of the Emirate of Aleppo, ...

, who reigned from 944 to 967. Beyond that information, nothing is known about her. Her supposed name, "Mariam", is not supported by sources from her time, and the phrase "al-Asturlabiyy" in the names by which she and her father are known simply means "the astrolabist", and indicates their profession; astrolabes were long known by her time.

Legacy

The main-belt asteroid 7060 Al-ʻIjliya, discovered by Henry E. Holt at

Palomar Observatory The Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in the Palomar Mountains of San Diego County, California, United States. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observat ...

in 1990, was named in her honor. The naming citation was published on 14 November 2016 (). She inspired a character in the 2015 award-winning book ''Binti'' and

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series Vikings: Valhalla. She was named an extraordinary woman from the

Islamic Golden Age The Islamic Golden Age was a period of scientific, economic, and cultural flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 13th century. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign o ...

by 1001 Inventions.

References

External links

Astrolabe: the 13th Century iPhone
– Daily Sabah
GPS and its Islamic origins
The Star Online, 3 October 2013 {{Authority control 10th-century astronomers Scientific instrument makers Women astronomers Medieval women scientists Syrian women scientists 10th-century women Medieval Syrian astronomers Women scholars of the medieval Islamic world

Life

Legacy

See also

References

External links