Overview
- Presents an English-language translation of a major astronomical work of the Islamic era
- Contains what is perhaps the first English translation of a Persian work in hay’a
- Highlights a work that was to serve as a much-duplicated template for similar works in hay’a published subsequently in Arabic and Persian
Part of the book series: Archimedes (ARIM, volume 58)
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Introduction
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Part II
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Part III
Keywords
About this book
This book presents an English-language translation of Risālā-yi Muʿīnīya, or the Muʿīnīya Epistle. Risālā-yi Muʿīnīya is one of the earliest known works of Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī (1201–1274), an intellectual luminary of the 13th century CE. The work is notable for the choice of Ṭūsī’s native Persian as the language of the text. In addition, Ṭūsī organized his volume into a four-part structure, which went on to become a popular template for the Islamic astronomers who succeeded him.
This book helped ensure the patronage of Ṭūsī's courtly patrons during his decades-long stay with the Ismaʿīlīs, as well as the continuation of his remarkable career under the first Ilkhanid rulers of Persia. This translation helps make this notable treatise accessible to English language readers. It is among a handful of English translations of major astronomical works dealing with hay’a/cosmography in the Islamic world.
Subsequently Ṭūsī was to pen hisown commentary on the work (the Ḥall-i Mushkilāt-i Muʿīnīya, or A solution to the difficulties of the Muʿīnīya) and he used this occasion to discuss his celebrated mathematical formulation “the Ṭūsī Couple” (a concept that he merely hinted at in the Risālā-yi Muʿīnīya).
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Kaveh Niazi received a Ph.D in applied physics from the University of California, Berkeley (1995) as well as a Ph.D in the history of science from Columbia University, New York, in 2011. He is the author of "Quṭb al-Dīn Shīrāzī and the Configuration of the Heavens" (Springer, 2014). His research interests include the history of astronomy, geology, and engineering in the Islamic era.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: A Princely Pandect on Astronomy
Book Subtitle: Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī's Muʿīnīya Epistle and its Appendix
Authors: Kaveh Niazi
Series Title: Archimedes
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50761-9
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-50760-2Published: 19 November 2022
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-50763-3Published: 19 November 2023
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-50761-9Published: 18 November 2022
Series ISSN: 1385-0180
Series E-ISSN: 2215-0064
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIX, 516
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: History of Science, History of the Middle East, Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, multidisciplinary