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Zurich Open Repository andArchiveUniversity of ZurichMain
LibraryStrickhofstrasse 39CH-8057 Zurichwww.zora.uzh.ch
Year: 2019
From katarchai to ikhtiyārāt : The emergence of a new Arabic
documenttype combining ephemerides and almanacs
Thomann, Johannes
Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of
ZurichZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-172445Book
SectionPublished Version
The following work is licensed under a Creative Commons:
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)License.
Originally published at:Thomann, Johannes (2019). From katarchai
to ikhtiyārāt : The emergence of a new Arabic documenttype
combining ephemerides and almanacs. In: Nodar, Alberto; Torallas
Tovar, Sofia. Proceedings ofthe 28th Congress of Papyrology
Barcelona 1–6 August 2016. Barcelona: Primera edición, 342-354.
-
From katarchai to ikhtiyārāt: The Emergence of a New Arabic
Document Type Combining Ephemerides and
Almanacs
Johannes Thomann
-
Coordinación y edición: Alberto Nodar – Sofía Torallas Tovar
Coedición: María Jesús Albarrán Martínez, Raquel Martín Hernández,
Irene Pajón Leyra, José Domingo Rodríguez Martín, Marco Antonio
Santamaría Diseño de cubierta: Sergio Carro Martín
Primera edición, junio 2019 © los editores y los autores 2019 La
propiedad de esta edición es de Publicacions de l’Abadia de
Montserrat Ausiàs Marc 92-98 – 08013 Barcelona
ISBN 978-84-9191-079-4 (Pamsa) ISBN 978-84-88042-89-7 (UPF)
Edición digital http://hdl.handle.net/10230/41902
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
Program of the congress
Photograph of participants
i
vi
xxi
PART I: Papyrology: methods and instruments
Archives for the History of Papyrology
1
ANDREA JÖRDENS, Die Papyrologie in einer Welt der Umbrüche
ROBERTA MAZZA, Papyrology and Ethics PETER ARZT-GRABNER, How to
Abbreviate a Papyrological Volume? Principles,
Inconsistencies, and Solutions PAOLA BOFFULA, Memorie dal
sottosuolo di Tebtynis a ... Roma e a Venezia! ELISABETH R.
O’CONNELL, Greek and Coptic manuscripts from First Millennium
CE Egypt (still) in the British Museum NATASCIA PELLÉ, Lettere
di B. P. Grenfell e A. S. Hunt a J. G. Smyly
3-14 15-27 28-55
56-67 68-80
81-89
PART II: Literary Papyri 91
IOANNA KARAMANOU, The earliest known Greek papyrus
(Archaeological Museum of Piraeus, MΠ 7449, 8517-8523): Text and
Contexts
FRANZISKA NAETHER, Wise Men and Women in Literary Papyri MAROULA
SALEMENOU, State Letters and Decrees in P.Haun. I 5 and P.Oxy.
XLII 3009: an Evaluation of Authenticity MARIA PAZ LOPEZ, Greek
Personal Names, Unnamed Characters and Pseudonyms
in the Ninos Novel MASSIMO MAGNANI, The ancient manuscript
tradition of the Euripidean
hypotheses MARIA KONSTANTINIDOU, Festal Letters: Fragments of a
Genre MARCO STROPPA, Papiri cristiani della collezione PSI: storia
recente e prospettive
future ANASTASIA MARAVELA, Scriptural Literacy Only? Rhetoric in
Early Christian
Papyrus Letters
93-104
105-113 114-123
124-134
135-143
144-152 153-161
162-177
PART III: Herculaneum 179
GIOVANNI INDELLI - FRANCESCA LONGO AURICCHIO, Le opere greche
della Biblioteca ercolanese: un aggiornamento
GIANLUCA DEL MASTRO, Su alcuni pezzi editi e inediti della
collezione ercolanese STEFANO NAPOLITANO, Falsificazioni nei
disegni di alcuni Papiri Ercolanesi ANGELICA DE GIANNI,
Osservazioni su alcuni disegni dei Papiri Ercolanesi GAIA BARBIERI,
Studi preliminari sul PHercul. 1289
181-190
191-194 195-206 207-218 219-230
-
VALERIA PIANO, P.Hercul. 1067 Reconsidered: Latest Results and
Prospective Researches
DANIEL DELATTRE - ANNICK MONET La Calomnie de Philodème
(PHerc.Paris.2), colonnes E-F-G. Une nouvelle référence à
Hésiode
MARIACRISTINA FIMIANI, On Several Unpublished Fragments of Book
4 of the Rhetoric of Philodemus of Gadara
FEDERICA NICOLARDI, I papiri del libro 1 del De rhetorica di
Filodemo. Dati generali e novità
CHRISTIAN VASSALLO, Analecta Xenophanea. GIULIANA LEONE - SERGIO
CARRELLI, Per l’edizione di Epicuro, Sulla natura, libro
incerto (P.Hercul. 1811/335)
231-240
241-249
250-254
255-262
263-273 274-288
PART IV: Paraliterary texts- School, Magic and astrology 289
RAFFAELLA CRIBIORE, Schools and School Exercises Again JULIA
LOUGOVAYA, Literary Ostraca: Choice of Material and Interpretation
of
Text PANAGIOTA SARISCHOULI, Key episodes of the Osirian myth in
Plutarch’s De Iside
et Osiride and in Greek and Demotic Magical Papyri: How do the
sources complement each other?
ELENI CHRONOPOULOU, The authorship of PGM VI (P.Lond. I 47) + II
(P.Berol. Inv. 5026)
EMILIO SUÁREZ, The flight of passion. Remarks on a formulaic
motif of erotic spells
JOHANNES THOMANN, From katarchai to ikhtiyārāt: The Emergence of
a New Arabic Document Type Combining Ephemerides and Almanacs
291-297 298-309
310-324
325-332
333-341
342-354
PART V: Scribal practice and book production 355
MARIE-HÉLÈNE MARGANNE, Les rouleaux composites répertoriés dans
le Catalogue des papyrus littéraires grecs et latins du CEDOPAL
NATHAN CARLIG, Les rouleaux littéraires grecs composites
profanes et chrétiens (début du IIIe – troisième quart du VIe
siècle)
GIOVANNA MENCI, Organizzazione dello spazio negli scholia minora
a Omero e nuove letture in P.Dura 3
PIERRE LUC ANGLES, Le grec tracé avec un pinceau comme méthode
d’identification des scripteurs digraphes: généalogie, limites,
redéfinition du critère
ANTONIO PARISI, Citazioni e meccanismi di citazione nei papiri
di Demetrio Lacone
ANTONIO RICCIARDETTO, Comparaison entre le système
d’abréviations de l’Anonyme de Londres et ceux de la Constitution
d’Athènes et des autres textes littéraires du Brit.Libr. inv.
131
YASMINE AMORY, Considérations autour du π épistolaire: une
contamination entre les ordres et la lettre antique tardive ?
BENJAMIN R. OVERCASH, Sacred Signs in Human Script(ure)s: Nomina
Sacra as Social Semiosis in Early Christian Material Culture
357-365
366-373
374-381
382-398
399-404
405-416
417-421
422-428
-
PART VI: Documentary papyri
429
Ptolemaic documents
CARLA BALCONI, Due ordini di comparizione di età tolemaica nella
collezione dell’Università Cattolica di Milano
STÉPHANIE WACKENIER, Quatre documents inédits des archives de
Haryôtês, basilicogrammate de l’Hérakléopolite
BIANCA BORRELLI, Primi risultati di un rinnovato studio del
secondo rotolo del P.Rev.Laws
CLAUDIA TIREL CENA, Alcune considerazioni su due papiri con
cessione e affitto di ἡµέραι ἁγνευτικαί
Roman and Byzantine documents
EL-SAYED GAD, ἀντίδοσις in Roman Egypt: A Sign of Continuity or
a Revival of an Ancient Institution?
MARIANNA THOMA, The law of succession in Roman Egypt: Siblings
and non-siblings disputes over inheritance
JOSÉ DOMINGO RODRÍGUEZ MARTÍN, Avoiding the Judge: the Exclusion
of the δίκη in Contractual Clauses
FABIAN REITER, Daddy finger, where are you? Zu den
Fingerbezeichnungen in den Signalements der römischen
Kaiserzeit
DOROTA DZIERZBICKA, Wine dealers and their networks in Roman and
Byzantine Egypt. Some remarks.
ADAM BULOW-JACOBSEN, The Ostraca from Umm Balad. CLEMENTINA
CAPUTO, Dati preliminari derivanti dallo studio degli ostraca
di
Berlino (O. Dime) da Soknopaiou Nesos SERENA PERRONE, Banking
Transactions On The Recto Of A Letter From Nero To
The Alexandrians (P.Genova I 10)? NAHUM COHEN, P.Berol. inv. no.
25141 – Sale of a Donkey, a Case of Tax
Evasion in Roman Egypt? ANDREA BERNINI, New evidence for Colonia
Aelia Capitolina (P.Mich. VII 445 +
inv. 3888c + inv. 3944k) JENS MANGERUD, Who was the wife of
Pompeius Niger?
Late Roman and Islamic documents JEAN-LUC FOURNET, Anatomie d’un
genre en mutation: la pétition de l’Antiquité
tardive ELIZABETH BUCHANAN, Rural Collective Action in Byzantine
Egypt (400-700 CE) JANNEKE DE JONG, A summary tax assessment from
eighth century Aphrodito STEFANIE SCHMIDT, Adopting and Adapting –
Zur Kopfsteuer im frühislamischen
Ägypten
431-436
437-447
448-455
456-464
465-474
475-483
484-493
494-509
510-524
525-533 534-539
540-550
551-556
557-562
563-570
571-590
591-599 600-608 609-616
PART VII: Latin papyri
617
MARIACHIARA SCAPPATICCIO, Papyri and LAtin Texts: INsights and
Updated Methodologies. Towards a philological, literary, and
historical approach to Latin papyri
SERENA AMMIRATI, New developments on Latin legal papyri: the ERC
project REDHIS and the membra disiecta of a lost legal
manuscript
GIULIO IOVINE, Preliminary inquiries on some unpublished Latin
documentary
619-627
628-637
638-643
-
papyri (P.Vindob. inv. L 74 recto; 98 verso; 169 recto) ORNELLA
SALATI, Accounting in the Roman Army. Some Remarks on PSI II
119r
+ Ch.L.A. IV 264 DARIO INTERNULLO, Latin Documents Written on
Papyrus in the Late Antique and
Early Medieval West (5th-11th century): an Overview
644-653
654-663
PART VIII: Linguistics and Lexicography 665
CHRISTOPH WEILBACH, The new Fachwörterbuch (nFWB). Introduction
and a lexicographic case: The meaning of βασιλικά in the papyri
NADINE QUENOUILLE, Hypomnema und seine verschiedenen Bedeutungen
ISABELLA BONATI, Medicalia Online: a lexical database of technical
terms in
medical papyri JOANNE V. STOLK, Itacism from Zenon to Dioscorus:
scribal corrections of and
in Greek documentary papyri AGNES MIHÁLYKÓ, The persistence of
Greek and the rise of Coptic in the early
Christian liturgy in Egypt ISABELLE MARTHOT-SANTANIELLO, Noms de
personne ou noms de lieu ? La
délicate question des ‘toponymes discriminants’ à la lumière des
papyrus d’Aphroditê (VIe -VIIIe siècle)
667-673
674-682 683-689
690-697
698-705
706-713
PART IX: Archaeology 715
ROGER S. BAGNALL - PAOLA DAVOLI, Papyrology, Stratigraphy, and
Excavation Methods
ANNEMARIE LUIJENDIJK, On Discarding Papyri in Roman and Late
Antique Egypt. Archaeology and Ancient Perspectives
MARIO CAPASSO, L’enigma Della Provenienza Dei Manoscritti Freer
E Dei Codici Cristiani Viennesi Alla Luce Dei Nuovi Scavi A
Soknopaiou Nesos
717-724
725-736
737-745
PART X: Papyri and realia 747
INES BOGENSPERGER - AIKATERINI KOROLI, Signs of Use, Techniques,
Patterns and Materials of Textiles: A Joint Investigation on
Textile Production of Late Antique Egypt
VALERIE SCHRAM, Ἐρίκινον ξύλον, de la bruyère en Égypte?
749-760
761-770
PART XI: Conservation and Restoration 771
IRA RABIN - MYRIAM KRUTZSCH, The Writing Surface Papyrus and its
Materials 1. Can the writing material papyrus tell us where it was
produced? 2. Material study
of the inks MARIEKA KAYE, Exploring New Glass Technology for the
Glazing of Papyri CRISTINA IBÁÑEZ, A Proposal for the Unified
Definition of Damages to Papyri EMILY RAMOS The Preservation of the
Tebtunis Papyri at the University of
California Berkeley EVE MENEI - LAURENCE CAYLUX, Conservation of
the Louvre medical papyrus:
cautions, research, process
773-781
782-793 794-804 805-827
828-840
-
PART XII: Digitizing papyrus texts 841
NICOLA REGGIANI, The Corpus of Greek Medical Papyri Online and
the digital edition of ancient documents
FRANCESCA BERTONAZZI, Digital edition of P.Strasb. inv. 1187:
between the papyrus and the indirect tradition
843-856
857-871
-
Proceedings of the 28th International Congress of Papyrology,
Barcelona 2016 Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona 2019)
342-354
From katarchai to ikhtiyārāt: The Emergence of a New Arabic
Document Type
Combining Ephemerides and Almanacs
Johannes Thomann University of Zurich, Institute of Asian and
Oriental Studies
[email protected]
1. Ancient Hemerology, Greek katarchai, and Indian muhūrta
Hemerology looks back upon a long tradition in the Eastern
Mediterranean region. Lists of lucky and unlucky days exist from
the second millennium BCE onwards. A Hieratic papyrus found in
Lahun is the earliest such list.1 It is a calendar in which each
day is either labelled as good (nefer) in black, or as bad (dju) in
red, and three days are labelled as both good and bad. Hemerology
was widespread. A Linear B document is the first example in the
Greek language.2 In the Greek and Roman world, hemerology was
already well-established at an early date. But these practices were
based on cultic or civil calendars.3 In Hellenistic Egypt, a new
system of astrological interpretation of planetary constellations
arose, first in the form of horoscopic astrology, based on the
moment of birth of an individual, later, in the 1st century BCE, in
a new continuous form of astrology, the καταρχαί. The first Greek
author known to have written on the subject was Dorotheos of Sidon
(50-100 CE).4 The Greek text is lost, but an Arabic translation
survived.5 The καταρχαί, literally the ‘beginnings’, were used to
determine the best time to start a particular action. In the system
of Dorotheos, the future planetary position was compared with the
birth horoscope of the customer.
Astrologers used astronomical year-books, called ephemerides,
which listed each day of a year, grouped by month, in different
calendars, the positions of Sun, Moon, planets, lunar node, and
eventually daylength and altitude of the sun at noon. Twenty
fragmentary ephemerides on papyrus survived.
At first these were products of mathematical astronomy and
chronology without any reference to astrological concepts. This
changed in the 5th century CE. In three ephemerides of this time,
we find an additional column with astrological content. In
P.Oxy.Astr. 4180 (465 CE), the astrological nature of the zodiacal
sign of the moon is mentioned as solid, bicorporal and tropical.
The quality of the day is described as bad, mean, unlucky, and in
the lost part probably good.6
P.Vind. inv. 29370 (489 CE) lists the qualities ‘good’, ‘bad’,
‘without entourage’ and ‘ecliptical’,7 P.Mich. inv. 1454 (467 CE)
‘good’, ‘bad’, ‘mean’ and ‘ecliptical’.
Hellenistic astrologers were successful missionaries of their
discipline, noticeable as far as India. In the Yavanajātaka
(«Nativity of the Greek»), Greek and Indian astrology were merged.8
Two chapters are devoted to the καταρχαί, which were called
muhūrta, literally
1 UC 32192; Szpakowska (2010) 523; Collier / Quirke (2004)
26-27. 2 Tn316; Ventris / Chadwick (1973) 284-286. 3 Salzman (1990)
1-16. 4 Jones (2008). 5 Pingree (1976). 6 Jones (1999) i 190-191,
ii 192-199. 7 Gerstinger / Neugebauer (1962); Jones (1994);
Kreuzsaler (2015). 8 Pingree (1978); Mak (2014) 1104.
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From katarchai to ikhtiyārāt
343
‘moment, short space of time’.9 A similar topic was military
astrology, called yātrā ‘expedition’, also contained in the
Yavanajātaka.10 This branch of astrology had no Greek prototype but
was based on earlier Indian literature on omina. In the same work,
a new technique of interrogations, praśnajñāna, ‘science of
question’, was developed: the question of a customer was to be
answered based on a horoscope cast for the time of asking.11
2. The katarchai/muhūrta/ikhtiyārāt in Arabic Astrological
literature
Sanskrit works on astronomy and astrology were among the first
scientific texts which were translated into Arabic in mid 8th
century.12 Another line of transmission were translations from
Pahlavī into Arabic.13 Besides the work of Dorotheos of Sidon, for
example, the Anthologiae of Vettius Valens (120-184 CE) were
translated from a Pahlavī version into Arabic. From the latter, a
quotation concerning the καταρχαί is found in the Kitāb al-Bāriʾ of
Ibn Abī l-Rijāl.14 In the first half of the 9th century CE, Greek
astrological works were translated into Arabic. The Tetrabiblos of
Ptolemy had the greatest impact on Arabic astrology, but it only
remarks occasionally on the καταρχαί. An early Arabic work on the
ikhtiyārāt was written by Sahl Ibn Bish (c. 786-845 CE).15 It is
arranged by astrological houses, which was not the case in book
five of Dorotheos of Sidon, which was organised by human activities
like building a house or buying a slave. Sahl’s example was
influential, and the arrangement by astrological houses is found in
the Madkhal of Kūshyār Ibn Labbān and the Kitāb al-Bāriʾ of Ibn Abī
Rijāl.16 The ikhtiyārāt were highly relevant in ordinary life,
possibly higher than birth astrology. Historical accounts refer to
events in which leading political figures coordinated their actions
according to those astrological prognoses.17 Most prominent was
choosing the right time for the founding of Baghdad in 762
CE.18
3. Arabic Documentary Evidence for the ikhtiyārāt
The earliest documentary evidence of the ikhtiyārāt, as the
καταρχαί were called in Arabic, is an almanac (fig. 1), P.Berol.
inv. 12793 (910 CE).19 The fragment was part of a bifolium. The
type of page layout has no resemblance with any Greek astronomical
document. A single page covered the data for five days. The first
of the three columns shows the zodiacal signs of the sun and the
planets. The middle column lists the date, the moon’s position in
degrees, the aspects of the moon and the astrological
interpretation. In the last column the position of the moon in the
lunar mansions, the time of dusk and the dates in the Persian,
Roman, and Coptic calendar.
9 Pingree (1978) ii 183-186, 402-405; Pingree (1981) 101-107. 10
Pingree (1978) ii 174-183, 388-402; Pingree (1981) 107-108. 11
Pingree (1978) ii 132-174, 370-388; Pingree (1981) 110-114. 12
Thomann (2014b) 505-509. 13 Pingree (1997) 39-62. 14 Nallino (1922)
353. 15 Crofts (1985). 16 Kūshyār (1997) 236-261; Aly Aben Ragel
(2005) 87-190; Albohazen (1551) 269-351. 17 Nallino (1939-1948) 5:
38-40; Fahd (1966) 483-488. 18 Ibn al-Faqīh al-Hamadhānī (1996)
291; al-Bīrūnī (1879) 262. 19 Thomann (2017).
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J. Thomann
344
Fig. 1 P.ThomannAlmanac (910 CE) Ägyptisches Museum und
Papyrussammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, SPK. Photo: Sandra
Steiß.
The astrological indications are more specific than those found
in the Greek ephemerides. They touch on medical treatment, or the
choice of important people to be addressed, topics which are common
in astrological manuals. Obviously, these interpretations are based
on the aspects of the moon with the sun and the planets. The
aspects, σχήµατα in Greek, munāẓarāt in Arabic, are opposition,
trine, quadrature, sextile and –not counted among the aspects–
conjunction. Opposition was associated with enmity, trine with
compatibility, quartile with antagonism, sextile with friendship,
while conjunction was considered neutral.20 In Indian astrology,
the course of the moon through the lunar mansions was used in
military astrology to determine a favorable time for a military
expedition. It may well be that the indications in the third column
of the moon’s position in the lunar mansions served the same
purpose. The unusual zig-zag ornament which divides the columns is
a style element in Sassanid pottery. As it seems, this document is
a surviving example for an almanac in the Indo-Iranian
tradition.
There is another similar example of an almanac P.Stras. inv. Ar.
419 (934/935 CE).21 Within it, the right column corresponds to the
middle column in the previous document. It contains the date, the
zodiacal sign of the moon, its aspects and astrological
interpretations. Additionally, the time for the particular events
is recorded in hours.
In contrast to these two almanacs, the earliest Arabic ephemeris
is very similar in layout to the ancient Greek ephemerides (fig.
2): P.ThomannEphemeris 931 (931/932 CE).22 Calendrical columns,
followed by columns for sun, moon, planets, lunar node, solar
altitude at noon and daylength. However, there is no column for
astrological indications. This seems to have been the standard, as
four later ephemerides indicate (fig. 3-6): P.ThomannEphemeris 954
(954/955 CE), P.Vind. inv. A.Ch. 13577 (994 CE), P.Vind. inv. A.Ch.
32363 (1002 CE) and P.ThomannEphemeris 1026 (1026/1027 CE).23
20 Abū Ma‘shar Abbreviation III.10, Burnett / Yamamoto / Yano
(1994) 41. 21 Thomann (forthcoming). 22 Thomann (2015a). 23 Thomann
(2013); Thomann (2014a); Thomann (2015c); Thomann (2015d); Thomann
(2015e); Thomann (2015f); Thomann (forthcoming).
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From katarchai to ikhtiyārāt
345
Fig. 2 P.ThomannEphemeris 931 (931 CE)
Fig. 3 P.ThomannEphemeris 954 (954 CE)
© BNU - Cliché J.-P. Rosenkranz
-
J. Thomann
346
Fig. 4 P.Vind. inv.A.Ch. 13577 (994 CE)
Fig. 5 P.Vind. inv. A.Ch.32363 (1002 CE)
Fig. 6 P.ThomannEphemeris 1026 (1026 CE)
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From katarchai to ikhtiyārāt
347
4. The Underlying Theory of the ikhtiyārat in Documents
The procedures which led to the astrological interpretations in
the Arabic ephemerides and almanacs are not described in the
standard manuals on astrology, but there is a very short treatise
attributed to al-Kindī which describes in brief terms the method
how to compile such daily recommendations of actions.24 Depending
on the aspects of the moon with the sun and the planets, actions
which correspond with the planets’ character are recommended. No
warnings are given, since only the harmonious aspects trine and
sextile are taken into consideration.
The actions which are recommended by al-Kindī appear very
similar in the almanacs and ephemerides. In the almanac for
1149/1150 CE for instance (fig. 7), the moon in sextile to the sun
is said to be favorable for speaking to the king, and the same is
found in al-Kindī. Moon in sextile to Mercury is said to be
favorable for speaking to the secretaries, a statement also found
in al-Kindī. In the case of Mercury, the harmonious aspect of
sextile is crucial. If the moon is in opposition to Mercury, it is
said to be unfavorable for speaking to the secretaries. In
contrast, when the moon is in opposition to benevolent Jupiter, the
recommendation is favorable for drinking medicine. The same is
found in al-Kindī, but restricted to sextile and trine. The
underlying implications of the almanacs’ and ephemerides’
interpretations seem to be the following: Aspects to benevolent
planets are always good. Harmonious aspects to the other planets
are also good. Only inharmonious aspects to the non-benevolent
planets are bad. The entire system is a straightforward combination
of standard elements in astrology.
A Greek text “On ephemerides” of unknown origin has been found,
transmitted together with Theon’s Commentary on Ptolemy’s Handy
tables, which contains a passage on how to derive the general
καταρχαί (καθολικαὶ καταρχαί) from the moon’s aspects with the
planets.25 The text was probably written in the 5th century CE.26
The rules differ from the rules of al-Kindī. But the judgments
ἀγαθή and φαύλη correspond to those found in the ephemerides. It
remains to be seen if the rules apply to the data in detail. There
is another similar Greek text in a Paris MS.27
5. The Social Context of the ikhtiyārāt
None of the documents mentioned so far were found during a
regular excavation. Documents from the Geniza were displaced from
where they were used. All the more important is a note in the final
report of the al-Fustat excavation in 1980. A document described as
astrological responses was found in room IV-6B.28 The house to
which this room belongs is part of the worker’s quarter. These
houses are characterized by a lack of ornaments and highly unstable
construction. Their inhabitants must have belonged to an
underprivileged class of people in comparison to inhabitants of
other quarters in al-Fustat. The fact that an astrological document
was found at such a place indicates that astrology was not
restricted to the elite or a bourgeois milieu but found its way to
the houses of the proletarians.29
24 MS Leiden UB, Or. 199; German translation: Wiedemann (1912).
25 Delambre (1817) 635-637; Halma (1825) 38-42; Curtis / Robbins
(1934) 83; Tihon (1978) 359. 26 Personal communication by Alexander
Jones. 27 MS BnF gr. 2425 (unpublished); I owe this information to
Alexander Jones. 28 Richards (1989) 68. 29 Scanlon (1997) 367.
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J. Thomann
348
Fig. 7 P.ThomannEphemeris 1149 (1149 CE) © Cambridge University
Library
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From katarchai to ikhtiyārāt
349
6. The Emergence of a New Type of Document Containing
ikhtiyārāt
A new type is presented in the ephemeris (fig. 8) P.Vind. inv.
A.Ch.1252 + P.Vind. inv. A.Ch.14324 (1044/1045 CE).30 The
astrological part occupies an entire page facing the page with the
astronomical data. For each month, a double page features the
astronomical data on the right and the astrological data on the
left. The left page has a title with the word ikhtiyārāt, written
in eastern Kufi. One can assume that there was at least an
additional column to the right for the identification of the
day.
Fig. 8 P.Vind. inv. A.Ch.1252 + P.Vind. inv. A.Ch.14324 (1044
CE)
An entire folio of an ephemeris (fig. 7) P.Cambridge UL inv.
Michael. Chartae D 58 (1149/1150 CE) allows us to reconstruct the
layout of a double page of this type.31 The main title is The
elections of the days (ikhtiyārāt al-ayyām). Above it, two lines
indicate the Arabic calendar, the lunar mansion and the lunar
latitude. The two columns to the right contain the names of the
weekdays and the moon as the subject of the phrases in the third
column. This wide column contains the astrological data, the
zodiacal sign of the moon, the aspects, their time and the
astrological interpretation. Some interpretations are general, like
auspicious, inauspicious or mixed. Others are more specific, like
inauspicious for speaking to the secretaries, auspicious for
acquiring and dressing in new clothing, or [auspicious] for
addressing women and eunuchs. If no aspects correspond, the
standard phrase is «a day of rest, quietness, and comfort». This
means ‘don’t do or begin anything important’.
All documents shown so far were found in Egypt, but there are
two unpublished fragments of an ephemeris for 1182/1183 CE, which
was produced for a geographical latitude far north of Egypt. The
fragments were found in a bookbinding, but no information of their
origin is available. They are kept in the Islamisches Museum in
Berlin (no inventory number). The layout of its astrological part
is more complex. The first column contains the lunar mansions, the
second the time when the moon enters a new zodiacal sign, and the
third the zodiacal sign. The fourth column is filled with single
letters and a few words like ‘before’, ‘morning’, and ‘dawn’, which
seem to indicate the time during the day. The single letters are 30
Thomann (2015g); Thomann (forthcoming). 31 Thomann (2015b).
-
J. Thomann
350
abbreviations for the planets and the aspects, using the last
letter respectively. The same holds true for the fourth column,
which contains data for nighttime. No astrological interpretation
is given. A similar system of abbreviations is found in the almanac
NJS ENA 2982.14 (1233/1234) from the Cairo Geniza (unpublished). In
that case, the zodiacal signs and the times of the aspects are
indicated by Indian numerals.
In contrast to ephemerides, almanacs do not contain the daily
positions of the Sun and the planets, but rather give the zodiacal
sign of the moon for each day. The almanac (fig. 9) P.Vind. inv.
A.Ch. 1488 (990/991 CE) is a predecessor for the later almanacs in
the Geniza.32 The layout of its pages is as follows: the first 16
days of a Coptic month in a two-column table on the right, and the
remaining 14 days in another two-column table on the left. The
first column contains the name of the weekday, and the second the
zodiacal sign of the moon, the planetary aspects and astrological
judgments.
Fig. 9 P.Vind. inv. A.Ch. 1488 (990 CE)
In the almanac PSI. inv. Arab. ins. 5-325a (1128/1129 CE) the
layout has changed to one table with thirty rows for the days of a
month (unpublished). One column contains the days of the week, the
second the word moon, as the subject of the phrases following in
column three, which features the zodiacal sign, the aspects with
their times of the day and the astrological interpretation. It
resembles the oldest almanac from the Geniza T-S Ar. 41:103
(1131/1132 CE).33 This underlines the cross-cultural character of
astrology.
7. The Later History of the New Document Type and its
Transmission to the West
This new type became the standard format in the Islamic world,
as can be seen in the earliest completely preserved astronomical
yearbook of 1329 CE, produced in Yemen.34 In the Ottoman Empire, it
remained standard format with minor alterations until the 19th
century.35 The format was used in a Byzantine Almanac for Trebizond
in the year 1336 (fig. 10), again with one page for the
astronomical data of one month, and the facing page with the
καταρχαί.36 The same format was also adopted in medieval Western
Europe. A Latin ephemeris of the 13th century CE (fig. 11) has
exactly this style (MS Paris, BnF lat. 16210) (unpublished).
32 Thomann (2015h). 33 Goldstein / Pingree (1979) 155-161. 34
King (2004) 421. 35 Kurz (2007); Kut (2007) 199-279; (2012)
517-536; Orthmann (2013) 46. 36 Mercier (1994).
-
From katarchai to ikhtiyārāt
351
The same layout also continued to be used in the age of
printing. It is still found in the Ephemerides of Johannes Kepler
(fig. 12).37
Fig. 10 MS Munich BVB cod. graec. 525. Source:
www.digitale-sammlungen.de
Fig. 11 MS Paris, BnF lat. 16210. Source: gallica.bnf.fr/BnF
8. Conclusion
The Arabic revival of Greek astronomy and astrology was both an
act of tradition and an act of innovation. Greek type ephemerides
reappeared after a break of five centuries in Islamic Egypt. At
about the same time, almanacs of the Indo-Persian tradition were in
use. In the 11th century a new document type combining the layout
typical to ephemerides with that to almanacs with the ikhtiyārāt on
a double-page was created. This new type became the standard format
in the Islamic world until the end of the Ottoman Empire. The same
type was also adopted in medieval Western Europe, and continued to
be the standard format in the age of printing up to the 17th
century. The double-page layout with ephemerides on the left
side
37 Kepler (1617).
-
J. Thomann
352
and the astrological aspect on the right side illustrates that
modern European science was only in part based on Greek scientific
tradition. It was in equal parts based on Arabic tradition.
Fig. 12 Johannes Kepler, Ephemerides 1617
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