Survey of Islamic Astronomical Tables

Description

E.S. Kennedy (au). The most impressive aspect of the source material for the study of medieval oriental astronomy is its overwhelming quantity of Byzantine Greek, Sanscrit, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, & Turkish astronomical & astrological manuscripts. Anyone wishing to assist in building up a precise & detailed picture of Islamic astronomy is constrained to choose his material from amid a welter of easily available manuscripts. Of these manuscript masses it is possible to isolate a fairly well-defined group of works, the “zijes,” which make up the most significant & historically rewarding subclass of the whole. A “zij” consists essentially of the numerical tables & accompanying explanation sufficient to enable the practising astronomer, or astrologer, to solve all the standard problems of his profession, i.e. to measure time & to compute planetary & stellar positions, appearance, & eclipses. This paper is a survey of the number, distribution, contents, & relations between “zijes” written in Arabic or Persian during the period from the 8th through the 15th centuries of the Christian era. Illus. Oversize.