The ''Kitāb Hurūshiyūsh'' () is the name conventionally given to a medieval

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

translation of

Orosius Paulus Orosius (; born 375/385 – 420 AD), less often Paul Orosius in English, was a Roman priest, historian and theologian, and a student of Augustine of Hippo. It is possible that he was born in '' Bracara Augusta'' (now Braga, Portugal), ...

's early fifth-century ''Historiae adversus paganos''. The translation is not unique as an Andalusian translation of a Christian text into Arabic, but few others survive as they were no longer preserved once Arabic ceased to be widely read in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

. In the assessment of Ann Christys, the unique manuscript of the Arabic Orosius is now 'their most important representative.'

Origins

Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun (27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732–808 Hijri year, AH) was an Arabs, Arab Islamic scholar, historian, philosopher and sociologist. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages, and cons ...

, who quoted extensively from the book, noted that it was translated by the Christian Bishop of Cordoba () in collaboration with a Muslim scholar, Qasim Ibn Asbagh, but the date of its origin is uncertain.

Bernard Lewis Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British-American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near ...

speculated that it was the first and only translation of a western European work into Arabic until the sixteenth century. Ibn Juljul (d. 994) also mentions the book and states that it was in Latin and that, "''there are many people who can read it in your country (i.e. Cordoba) and are able to translate it to Arabic''" but without mentioning who actually did the translation. Medieval historians speculated about its origin, suggesting that it was by Ḥafṣ ibn Albār, noted for his translation into Arabic of the

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...

, and associated with the court of

al-Ḥakam II Al-Hakam II, also known as Abū al-ʿĀṣ al-Mustanṣir bi-Llāh al-Hakam b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (; 13 January 915 – 1 October 976), was the Caliph of Córdoba. He was the second Umayyad Caliph of Córdoba in Al-Andalus, and son of Abd-al-Rah ...

, but while this may not be wrong, there is no convincing evidence to support these claims. Another suggested Christian translator is Bishop Reccemund of Elvira (, Rabi' ibn Zayd), who was the ambassador of Abd al-Rahman III to King Otto I in 956.

Style

According to Ann Christys,

the translators were obviously struggling with their material. Orosius' convoluted style was difficult to understand, and they may have been working with a corrupt version of the ''Histories''. They took great liberties with the text, abbreviating and transposing it and sprinkling their effort with disclaimers, such as 'we have suppressed this, but through a love of conciseness and not wanting to go on at length'. They left out almost the whole of Orosius' prefaces to Books 5, 6 and 7. Some sections may have been omitted because they were incomprehensible. Others were glossed extensively. There are many spelling mistakes, particularly in the names of places and people, although some of these may be the fault of later copyists. There are many instances of muslim influence on the text, which begins with the ''bismillah'', the opening words of the Qurʾan. The clearest example of Arabicizing is the presentation of personal names in their Arabic form X ibn Y. This necessitated the invention of names for the forgotten fathers of the heroes of antiquity. The founder of Rome became Romulus ibn Marcus ... Emperors were almost always made the son of their predecessor. Some of the biblical characters were given the forms of their names as they appear in the Qurʾan. Mount Ararat, where the Ark came to rest, was identified with Mount Judi, according to islamic belief.

A quotation from the verse of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

was rendered into Arabic verse. There are many additions to Orosius's material, many of which could have come from the works of

Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville (; 4 April 636) was a Spania, Hispano-Roman scholar, theologian and Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seville, archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of the 19th-century historian Charles Forbes René de Montal ...

, particularly his ''Chronicle''.

Manuscript

The text is known from one, paper manuscript, Columbia University Library MS X-893 712 H, of 129 pages. The manuscript is thought to be missing a couple of pages from the beginning and its contents list shows that it is missing several pages from the end, which moreover once extended Orosius's history as far as the

Umayyad conquest of Hispania The Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula (; 711–720s), also known as the Arab conquest of Spain, was the Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom, Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania in the early 8th century. The conquest re ...

in 711. The origin of the manuscript is uncertain: somewhere in Hispania or North Africa (more likely the latter), perhaps from the thirteenth or fourteenth century (again, more likely the latter). Both the translation and the surviving manuscript could have been made for either a Muslim or Christian audience: the manuscript contains both a gloss in Latin, suggesting a Christian reader, and glosses on two folios in Arabic criticising Christian belief.Ann Christys, ''Christians in al-Andalus (711-1000)'' (Abingdon: Routledge, 2002), .

Influence

The translation was influential on Arabic historians, especially

Ibn Khaldūn Ibn Khaldun (27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732–808 Hijri year, AH) was an Arabs, Arab Islamic scholar, historian, philosopher and sociologist. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages, and cons ...

, who was the only Muslim historian to quote from it extensively.

Editions and translations

* 1982, Tarikh al-'alam, Orosius (The History of the World, Orosius), by Abderrahman Badawi - Beirut. The first published complete modern Arabic edition, based on the unique manuscript of New York. * 2001, Kitāb Hurūšiyūš (): traducción Árabe de las Historiae adversus paganos de Orosio / edición y estudio Mayte Penelas - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas : Agencia Española de cooperación internacional. The Arabic text, and an introduction in Spanish. A

Horizon 2020 The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the Europe ...

-funded project promised an English translation of the ''Kitāb Hurūshiyūsh'' by Marco Di Branco, to be published in 2022.''The So-called "Kitab Hurushysh": English Translation and Commentary'' (Pisa University Press, 2022). * Marco Di Branco (trans.), ''Ibn Ḫaldūn tra Alessandro e Cesare: la Grecia e Roma nel Libro degli esempi. (Kitāb al-ʻIbar, II 149 BĀ - 172 BĀ ed. Chabbouh)'' (Il Poligrafo, 2020),

References

Notes

:1.