Rius, Mònica

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 Reviews 253 
ca. 950). Interestingly, the descrip-
tion of Q×sim’s thurayy× explicitly 
mentions the length of the longest 
night (the winter solstice) in Ifr÷qiya 
and calculates it for a latitude of 
some 33º; this does not fit any city 
in al-Andalus but corresponds well 
to Qayraw×n and to Baghdad. We 
have here an example of the role of 
Qayraw×n as a link in the chain of 
transmission between East and West. 
On p. 64 the authors ascribe a 
Latin translation of Ibn Ab÷ l-Rij×l’s 
famous al-Kit×b al-b×riþ f÷ a¬k×m 
al-nujým to Constantine the African. 
To the best of my knowledge this 
book was first translated into Casti-
lian by Alfonso X in 1254 and the 
Castilian version was translated 
twice into Latin. 
The third debatable point appears 
on p. 67 where the authors deal with 
Maghrib÷ astronomical tables of the 
12
th
 – 14th c. and mention three au-
thors: Ibn al-Kamm×d, Ibn Is¬×q 
and Ibn al-Raqq×m. As regards Ibn 
al-Kamm×d (fl. 1116), there is no 
evidence of any connection of his 
with the Maghrib, and his al-Z÷j al-
Muqtabas (extant only in a Latin 
translation by Johannes de Dumpno) 
is calculated for the coordinates of 
Cordova; he is also the author of 
two other non-extant z÷jes named al-
Kawr þal× l-Dawr and al-Amad þal× 
l-Abad. As for the second author, 
Ibn Is¬×q (fl. Tunis and Marr×kush 
ca. 1193-1222) left an unfinished z÷j 
containing numerical tables but not 
canons, which was the object of five 
recensions: one of them, by an ano-
nymous Tunisian astronomer, is 
extant in ms. Hyderabad Andra 
Pradesh State Library 298; another 
one is Ibn al-Bann×’s Minh×j; 
finally, Ibn al-Raqq×m (fl. Tunis, 
Bij×ya and Granada, d. 1315) com-
piled three different recensions of 
Ibn Is¬×q’s z÷j, all of which are ex-
tant: al-Z÷j al-Mustawf÷, al-Z÷j al-
Sh×mil and al-Z÷j al-Qaw÷m. 
These shortcomings do not de-
tract in any way from the value of 
the book. I would be most grateful if 
Prof. Djebbar or any of his disciples 
could write a more detailed survey 
of the history of Mathematics in the 
Maghrib and al-Andalus, a task for 
which they are the only competent 
scholars alive today.  
  Julio Samsó 
Sonja Brentjes, Travellers from 
Europe in the Ottoman and Safa-
vid Empires, 16th-17th centuries. 
Seeking, Transforming, Discar-
ding Knowledge, Variorum Col-
lected Studies Series, Ashgate-
Variorum, 2010, 350p. 
First of all, we should welcome the 
apparition of this volume, which is 
an important contribution to Arabic 
and Islamic studies. There are num-
ber of reasons supporting this state-
ment. On one hand, the choice of 
the topic and, specially, the period 
of time considered are truly attrac-
tive. Whereas cultural interchanges 
between Islamic countries and Eu-
rope in Medieval or Contemporary 
times had been a subject of many 
essays, the 16
th
 and the 17
th
 centu-
ries were almost forgotten by most 
of scholars. When, in 1999, the 
254 Reviews 
author started to analyse these cen-
turies, a major change happened. On 
the other hand, Sonja Brentjes co-
vers the gap seeking for an innova-
tive point of view, rejecting the 
borders between closed disciplines 
(i.e. Islamic studies vs. European 
studies). The author claims –and I 
agree with her– that it is not possi-
ble to understand the whole subject 
if one half is forgotten. This goal, of 
course, made the research more 
complete, but also more difficult 
because the elements included are 
from a different origin. 
As usual in Variorum Collected 
Studies Series, the book is a reprint 
of different articles except number 
III, which is the first publication. 
The authorship of the eight works 
included is individual excluding the 
article number IV, “Pietro della 
Valle’s Latin Geography of Safavid 
Iran (1624-1628): Introduction”, 
written in collaboration with 
Volkmar Schüller. Thus, the volume 
gives an overview of the research on 
cultural transmission carried out by 
Professor Brentjes during the last 
decade. The eight articles are I “The 
interests of the Republic of Letters 
in the Middle East, 1550-1700”; II 
“On the relation between the Otto-
man Empire and the West European 
Republic of Letters (17
th
-18
th
 
centuries)”; III “The presence of 
ancient secular and religious texts in 
the unpublished and printed writings 
of Pietro della Valle (1586-1652)”; 
IV “Pietro della Valle’s Latin 
Geography of Safavid Iran (1624-
1628): Introduction”; V “Early mo-
dern Western European travellers in 
the Middle East and their reports 
about the sciences”; VI “Pride and 
prejudice: the invention of a ‘histo-
riography of science’ in the Otto-
man and Safavid empires by Euro-
pean travellers and writers in the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries”; 
VII “Peirec’s interests in the Middle 
East and Northern Africa in respect 
to geography and cartography”; and 
VIII “Astronomy a temptation? On 
early modern encounters across the 
Mediterranean Sea”. 
One of the main contributions of 
the book is questioning the metho-
dology used so far in order to avoid 
prejudices. The evaluation of a cul-
ture is always dangerous, especially 
if it only consists of the contraposi-
tion of identities seen as dichoto-
mies (Europe vs. Islam; West vs. 
East) without considering important 
factors, namely, the diversity inside 
each area. In fact, appropriation of 
evaluation has been a European 
privilege so far. The cultural transla-
tion, hence, takes up the complexi-
ties of the early modern writing 
about Western Asia and the scienti-
fic traditions of Islamic societies. 
Furthermore, S. Brentjes adds new 
data on the geography of knowledge 
showing how merchants bought 
manuscripts not only from Northern 
Africa and Western Asia, but also 
from the Ottoman Empire, Safavid 
Iran and Mughal India. Besides, the 
unpublished letters from the Euro-
pean travellers such as Pietro della 
Valle offer a new sight on the way 
some visitors understood these 
“unknown regions” and demonstrate 
how the official vision of a link 
 Reviews 255 
between Europe and the ancient au-
thors was built. Indeed, European 
authors from the seventeenth centu-
ry interested in geography were 
more attentive to contemporary in-
formation than to the classical one.  
A new approach to the role 
played by missionaries is also given. 
That is, although this role has been 
analysed in other areas (such as 
China or Latin America), it was still 
necessary to show that Catholic and 
Protestant priests spent long time in 
Islamic countries, learnt Arabic and 
acted as cultural promoters of the 
Christianity largely through schools. 
Although they accomplished their 
official aim, they also took part in 
astronomical observations or other 
activities seen sometimes as dama-
ging and other times simply as con-
doned. 
Crucial are the author’s conside-
rations concerning those who were 
the intermediaries working with 
visitors in the Ottoman and Safavid 
Empires. In this sense, Christian 
communities in Asia appear to work 
as the key contact for travellers. 
Some cities, like Aleppo or Cairo 
were a hub where Europeans learnt 
Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish and other 
languages. From a philological 
point of view, it is interesting to 
notice that centuries ago some tra-
vellers complained about the diffi-
culties to learn oriental languages 
because language teaching methods 
–and specially the achievement of 
speaking skills– of certain langua-
ges are currently being discussed. 
The articles about Pietro della 
Valle and François Pétis de la Croix 
are good examples of how elites 
acquired formation and on how 
scientific translators reached certain 
level of a foreign language. 
S. Brentjes claims that it is ne-
cessary to deconstruct the traditional 
point of view about the role the 
Ottoman Empire played –and still 
plays–, otherwise, history would 
keep the negative perception of its 
influence. It is true that Turkish and 
Iranian studies in some European 
scholastic traditions are if not 
excluded, al least, marginalised. But, 
it is also true that negative percep-
tions are not limited to these areas, 
but to any subject which is simply 
not related to the Christian Western 
culture. 
Mònica Rius 


Sonja Brentjes, Travellers from Europe in the Ottoman and Safavid Empires, 16th-17th centuries. Seeking, Transforming, Discarding Knowledge, Variorum Collected Studies Series, Ashgate- Variorum, 2010, 350p.

Sonja Brentjes, Travellers from Europe in the Ottoman and Safavid Empires, 16th-17th centuries. Seeking, Transforming, Discarding Knowledge, Variorum Collected Studies Series, Ashgate- Variorum, 2010, 350p.

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