An Arabic celestial globe in Tartu

Araabia taevagloobus Tartus Tähtede asendi järgi võib Tartu Ülikooli ajaloo muuseumi valduses oleva gloobuse dateerida ajavahemikku 1250–1350. Nii varajasi islami taevagloobusi on maailmas väga vähe säilinud. Gloobuse jalg, mille töötlus on robustsem, on hilisem lisandus. Aegade jooksul on kaduma läinud gnoomonid, mis aitasid gloobuse abil määrata taevakehade asukohti. Sarnane gloobus on Louvre’is ja on arvatavasti valmistatud Maraghas (tänapäeval Põhja-Iraan) 1309–1315. Kasutatud kufa kirjastiil ja graveerimisviis sarnaneb Londonis erakollektsioonis oleva gloobuse omaga, mille valmistas 1285 Muhammad ibn Mahmud ibn Albi al-Tabari. Tähed on välja toodud hõbedaste märkidega ja nimeliselt on tähistatud 53 tähte või tähegruppi, sealhulgas 23 ekliptika lähedal, 16 põhja ja 14 lõuna pool. Gloobusel on näiteks järgmised tähed: Antaares, Altair, Deeneb, Arktuurus, Algol, Kapella, Riigel, Betelgeuse jt. Ekliptika on jaotatud 30-kraadisteks osadeks, need aga omakorda väga täpselt kraadideks (12 x 30 = 360). Taevaekvaator on samuti väga täpselt kraadideks jaotatud, kusjuures kufa kirjas on tähistatud iga viies kraad

Interpreting the Image of the Human Body in Premodern India

This paper sets out two main arguments. In part one, a description of the adherents of the various intellectual disciplines and religious faiths in premodern India is given, each having developed distinct and different imagined bodies; for example, the body described in Tantric circles had little or nothing in common with the body described in medical circles. In part two, an account is given of the encounter between Ayurvedic anatomy and early colonial European anatomy which led initially to attempts at synthesis; these gave way to an abandonment of the syncretist vision of the body and the acceptance of an epistemological suspension of judgment, in which radically different body conceptualizations are simultaneously held in unacknowledged cognitive dissonance

An Eleventh-Century Egyptian Guide to the Universe

Acquired by the Bodleian Library in 2002, the Book of Curiosities is now recognized as one of the most important discoveries in the history of cartography in recent decades. This eleventh-century Arabic treatise, composed in Egypt under the Fatimid caliphs, is a detailed account of the heavens and the Earth, illustrated by an unparalleled series of maps and astronomical diagrams

The Greek and Arabic fragments of Paul of Aegina's Therapy of Children

In this MPhil thesis I have collected, re-edited, translated, and commented upon the fragments of the Therapy and Upbringing of the Children by Paul of Aegina which mostly survive in the Arabic tradition. Since there has been very little scholarly work on this paediatric treatise by Paul of Aegina, and no critical edition of its major source, al-Baladī, the philological work of securing the text, translating it, and giving it a first although preliminary commentary has been the prime objective. There are three areas I could only touch upon without being able at this stage to undertake any in-depth study: Firstly the Greek sources for Paul's Therapy of Children could only be dealt with in a cursory way. I have placed in appendix I the fragments of Rufus' Therapy of Children, one of the major sources and a treatise that we will probably be able to restore to a great extent with the help of the Arabic fragments, as the reader will see from the material presented here, since the limited time and scope of this thesis did not allow for a full edition of the text of these fragments. Secondly I inquired into the translation technique applied to Paul's treatise in F9 only, a field that will certainly yield many wonderful fruits once tilled thoroughly. Thirdly, I could make but a few remarks about how Paul's Therapy of Children was used in the subsequent tradition. This said I think nonetheless that the present work will bear some new evidence that can cast a fresh light on Greek paediatrics from Rufus of Ephesus to Paul of Aegina

A mediaeval court physician at work: Ibn Jumay''s commentary on the Canon of Medicine

Ibn Jumay''s (d. c. 594/1198) commentary on the Canon of Medicine by Ibn Sīnā (d. 428/1037) occupies an important place in the history of medicine for it is the first Canon commentary written by a physician and thus stands at the start of a tradition extending over 500 years. In addition, it is a so-far neglected source for our understanding of mediaeval Islamic medicine. The present thesis analyses the commentary with the aims of (1) determining the methods by which the court physician composed his treatise and (2) understanding why Ibn Jumay' undertook to prepare a commentary on one of the most thorough medical compendia of the middle ages. Chapter One presents the biography of Ibn Jumay', reveals that his religion had little impact on his writings and surveys his library which played a pivotal role in the composition of the commentary. Chapter Two investigates Ibn Jumay''s methodology in the entire commentary; it reveals that with his philological and source-critical methods Ibn Jumay' wanted to establish an authoritative reading of the Canon and to demonstrate the high degree of his erudition. Chapter Three focuses on selected passages in the commentary in form of three case studies. Ibn Jumay''s comments on anatomy/dissection, assorted materia medica and headaches demonstrate the court physician’s reverence for ancient authorities and his quest to revive and refine their teachings. Chapter Four contextualises Ibn Jumay''s methods and agenda by comparing them to those of other relevant scholars of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The thesis concludes by arguing that Ibn Jumay''s commentary was part of his revival of the art of medicine and his attempt to gain power in the medical tradition by attaching his name to one of the greatest scholars of his time — the ra'īs Ibn Sīnā.This thesis is not currently available via ORA