Sahl ibn Bishr al-Israili (c. 786–c. 845) was a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

or Syriac Christian

astrologer Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

and

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

from Tabaristan. He was the father of Ali ibn Sahl the scientist and physician, who became a convert to Islam. He served as astrologer to the governor of Khuristan and then to the

vizier A vizier (; ; ) is a high-ranking political advisor or Minister (government), minister in the Near East. The Abbasids, Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was at first merely a help ...

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. He wrote books on astronomy, astrology, and arithmetic, all in Arabic.

His works

Sahl is believed to be the first who translated the ''

Almagest The ''Almagest'' ( ) is a 2nd-century Greek mathematics, mathematical and Greek astronomy, astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths, written by Ptolemy, Claudius Ptolemy ( ) in Koine Greek. One of the most i ...

'' of

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

into

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. Sahl ibn Bishr wrote in the Greek astrological tradition. Sahl's first five books were preserved in the translation of John of Seville ( Johannes Hispanus) (c. 1090 – c. 1150). See the English translation by Holden. The sixth book deals with three thematic topics regarding the influences on the world and its inhabitants was translated by

Herman of Carinthia Herman of Carinthia (1105/1110 – after 1154), also called Hermanus Dalmata or Sclavus Dalmata, Secundus, by his own words born in the "heart of Istria", was a philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, mathematician and translator of Arabic works int ...

. The work contains divinations based on the movements of the planets and comets. * ''The Introduction to the Science of the Judgments of the Stars''. Translated by James Herschel Holden (Tempe, Az.: A.F.A., Inc., 2008)ix, 213 pp. There are some books by Sahl ibn Bishr in Arabic such as: * ''Ahkam fi al-Nujum'' (''"Laws of the Astrology"'') * ''Kitab al-ikhtiyarat 'ala al-buyut al-ithnai 'ashar'' (''"Book of elections according to the twelve houses"''). * ''al-Masa'il al-Nujumiyah'' (''"The astrological problems"'')

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sahl ibn Bishr 780s births 845 deaths 9th-century Iranian astronomers Astronomers of the medieval Islamic world People from Mazandaran province Medieval Iranian astrologers 9th-century Iranian mathematicians 9th-century astronomers People from Amol 9th-century astrologers Christians in the Abbasid Caliphate 9th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate