''The Book of Fixed Stars'' ( ', literally ''The Book of the Shapes of Stars'') is an

astronomical Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include ...

text written by Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (Azophi) around 964. Following the translation movement in the 9th century AD, the book was written in

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 ...

, the common language for scholars across the vast Islamic territories, although the author himself was Persian. It was an attempt to create a synthesis of the comprehensive star catalogue in

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 ...

's ''

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 ...

'' (books VII and VIII) with the indigenous Arabic astronomical traditions on the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

s (notably the Arabic constellation system of the ''Anwā). The original

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

no longer survives as an

autograph An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Intern ...

; however, the importance of tradition and the practice of diligence central to Islamic manuscript tradition have ensured the survival of the ''Book of Stars'' in later-made copies.

Historical context

The

treatise A treatise is a Formality, formal and systematic written discourse on some subject concerned with investigating or exposing the main principles of the subject and its conclusions."mwod:treatise, Treatise." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Acc ...

was written in the Persian city of

Shiraz Shiraz (; ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the popu ...

, for the

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

and

Buyid The Buyid dynasty or Buyid Empire was a Zaydi and later Twelver Shi'a dynasty of Daylamite origin. Founded by Imad al-Dawla, they mainly ruled over central and southern Iran and Iraq from 934 to 1062. Coupled with the rise of other Iranian dyna ...

emir

'Adud al-Dawla Fannā (Panāh) Khusraw (), better known by his laqab of ʿAḍud al-Dawla (; 24 September 936 – 26 March 983) was an emir of the Buyid dynasty, ruling from 949 to 983. At the height of his power, he ruled an empire stretching from Makran ...

. Although al-Sufi made his longitudinal calculations correct for the year 964 only, the work remained highly influential, functioning as the standard text on Arabic astronomy to be consulted in all Islamic territories and faithfully copied for many centuries after its production. Since it was only correct for the single year of 964, the ''Book of Fixed Stars'' was intended to serve a broader educational purpose, rather than being concerned with the mathematical technicalities of astronomy. The ''Book of Fixed Stars'' is representative of the concerns of Islamic scholars during the late-9th to 11th centuries, where following the translation of

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

texts from

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

to Arabic, "Islamic astronomers and astrologers concentrated on analyzing, criticizing, and perfecting the geometrical models of Ptolemy". Medieval Islamic astronomers also drew from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

and

Middle Persian Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...

sources to learn "methods for calculating the position of heavenly bodies, and for creating tables recording the movement of the sun, the moon, and the five known planets." In the context of this shift to observational and

theoretical astronomy Theoretical astronomy is the use of analytical and computational models based on principles from physics and chemistry to describe and explain astronomical objects and astronomical phenomena. Theorists in astronomy endeavor to create theoretical ...

set in motion by the translation movement, and with al-Sufi himself being an observational astronomer, the ''Book of Fixed Stars'' comprises an important organisation and revision of classical knowledge from antiquity (the first of its kind), and some of the earliest surviving examples of visual documentation of celestial bodies observable by the naked eye. The interest in cataloging the stars also stems from the nature of worship in Islam. The religion requires that its members are able to locate

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

so that they may pray in the right direction, and to also be able to determine the correct times for prayer. In addition to the daily requirements, during the festival of

Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...

they must also know the moments of sunrise and sunset for fasting, and the location of the moon for the start of each month. The ''Book of Fixed Stars'' also follows a trend of increased production of illustrated manuscripts, as it is one of the oldest surviving treatises of its kind. This is not to say that this text was the first illustrated manuscript ever created, as there are many illustrated fragments that have been found and studied, most notably the

Fustat Fustat (), also Fostat, was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule, though it has been integrated into Cairo. It was built adjacent to what is now known as Old Cairo by the Rashidun Muslim general 'Amr ibn al-'As immediately after the Mus ...

fragments. The Fustat fragments are illustrated scraps of parchment that were found during excavations in Fustat, or Old Cairo. These fragments can be stylistically attributed to the Fatimid period (969-1171), therefore dating the existence of astronomical illustrations to many years before the creation of the ''Book of Fixed Stars''.Hoffman, Eva R. "The Beginnings of the Illustrated Arabic Book: An Intersection between Art and Scholarship". ''Muqarnas'', vol. 17, 2000, pp. 37–52. . Accessed 17 Oct. 2020. The increase in illustrated manuscripts is also related to the advent of paper in the Islamic world in the tenth century. The increased availability of paper, which was much cheaper than parchment, drove the production of books in the Islamic world.Bloom, Jonathan M. "The Introduction of Paper to the Islamic Lands and the Development of the Illustrated Manuscript." ''Muqarnas'' 17 (2000): 17-23. Accessed October 25, 2020. doi:10.2307/1523287.

The book was thoroughly illustrated along with observations and descriptions of the

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

s, their positions (copied from Ptolemy's ''

'' with the longitudes increased by 12° 42' to account for the

precession Precession is a change in the orientation of the rotational axis of a rotating body. In an appropriate reference frame it can be defined as a change in the first Euler angle, whereas the third Euler angle defines the rotation itself. In o ...

), their magnitudes (brightness) and their color. Notably, al-Sufi improved upon Ptolemy's system for measuring star brightness. Instead of two brightness categories ('more bright' and 'less bright'), al-Sufi employed three: AṢghareh ('less'), Akbareh ('greater'), and A'ẓameh ('much-greater'). Ihsan Hafez has recorded 132 stars in al-Sufi's work not mentioned by Ptolemy. Al-Sufi's results, as in Ptolemy's ''Almagest'', were set out

by constellation. For each constellation, he provided two drawings, one from the outside of a

celestial globe Celestial globes show the apparent positions of the stars in the sky. They omit the Sun, Moon, and planets because the positions of these bodies vary relative to those of the stars, but the ecliptic, along which the Sun moves, is indicated. ...

, and the other from the inside. Al-Sufi's reasoning for this was that 'the beholder might be confused if he saw the figure on the globe differing from what he sees in the sky', demonstrating the book's use as a teaching device. Persis Berkelamp argues that each paired constellation was drawn slightly differently to encourage students to study the manuscript closely.

Composition

Introduction

In his introduction, al-Sufi dedicates the work to his patron 'Adud al-Dawla and outlines the sources he has used to write the book. These sources, including a number of treatises and objects which are now lost, serve as important indicators and records of the knowledge ( ilm'') production at the time. For instance, the introduction lists the names of 3 authors (Ibn Kunasa, Ibn al-'Arabi, Abu Hanifa al-Dinawari) and their treatises concerning pre-Islamic Bedouin traditions, all of which are now lost.

Chapters

''The Book of Fixed Stars'' follows the 48 Ptolemaic constellations described in the ''Almagest'', with a chapter dedicated to each individual constellation. Each chapter is split into 4 subsections.

Ptolemaic constellations

Each chapter begins with a description of the specified constellation and the stars that make up each grouping, thus departing from the ''Almagest'' and its concern for describing the iconographical origins of each constellation outline in

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

. Here, al-Sufi is often critical of Ptolemy for seemingly prioritising the constellation outline over the actual stars in a constellation grouping, with some stars being overlooked. In making these revisions, al-Sufi was able to determine the boundaries for each constellation's star grouping.

Indigenous Arabic constellations

Al-Sufi continues his description of the specified constellation in terms of the Pre-Islamic Bedouin constellations and star groupings, noting their positions and distance to the Ptolemaic constellation stars.

Illustrations

In this section, al-Sufi presents two different views/illustrations of the specified Ptolemaic constellations: the constellation viewed in the sky from the ground and the constellation as viewed on top of a globe. The latter view can be explained by accounts of al-Sufi's drawing process, whereby the author carefully fitted a thin sheet of paper on top of a celestial globe and then directly copied the constellation outlines and star positions from the engravings. The inclusion of this globe view of each constellation also suggests that the ''Books of Fixed Stars'' was intended to be used by owners of celestial globes, and many surviving globes from the 13th and 14th centuries include statements attesting to the treatise as an influential source. Although al-Sufi names several sources in his introduction which contributed to the book's illustrations, none of these treatises nor celestial globes survive. These illustrations represent another important departure from the ''Almagest'' which does not include any illustrations.

Star Catalogue

The book includes a comprehensive catalogue of the individual stars, modified and extended from that of the ''Almagest'', and including revised star magnitude values.

Influence

The work was highly influential and survives in numerous manuscripts and translations. The oldest manuscript was thought to be MS. Marsh 144 in the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

, with a date of 1009'' ''CE, and allegedly the work of the author's son, but this is now disputed, and has been re-dated to the end of the 12th century. Manuscript MS 2.1198 in the Doha Museum is now considered the oldest, dated to 1125'' ''CE. There is a thirteenth-century copy in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

(Or. 5323). Its has the earliest known descriptions and illustrations of what he called "a little cloud", which is actually the

Andromeda Galaxy The Andromeda Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy and is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It was originally named the Andromeda Nebula and is cataloged as Messier 31, M31, and NGC 224. Andromeda has a Galaxy#Isophotal diameter, D25 isop ...

. He mentions it as lying before the mouth of a Big Fish, an Arabic

. This "cloud" was apparently commonly known to the

Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...

astronomers, very probably before 905, and al-Sufi attributes their discoveries in the text. This was the first

galaxy A galaxy is a Physical system, system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar medium, interstellar gas, cosmic dust, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek ' (), literally 'milky', ...

to be observed, as distinct from a

star cluster A star cluster is a group of stars held together by self-gravitation. Two main types of star clusters can be distinguished: globular clusters, tight groups of ten thousand to millions of old stars which are gravitationally bound; and open cluster ...

. It has been claimed that the first recorded mention of the

Large Magellanic Cloud The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is a dwarf galaxy and satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. At a distance of around , the LMC is the second- or third-closest galaxy to the Milky Way, after the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy, Sagittarius Dwarf ...

was given in the ''Book of Fixed Stars'' but this seems to be a misunderstanding of a reference to some stars south of Canopus which he admits he has not seen. He probably also cataloged the Omicron Velorum

as a "nebulous star", and an additional "nebulous object" in

Vulpecula Vulpecula is a faint constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for "little fox", although it is commonly known simply as the fox. It was identified in the seventeenth century, and is located in the middle of the Summer Triangle (an ...

, a cluster now variously known as Al-Sufi's Cluster, the "Coathanger asterism", Brocchi's Cluster or Collinder 399. The book has been translated into French by

Hans Schjellerup Hans Carl Frederik Christian Schjellerup (8 February 1827 – 13 November 1887) was a Danish astronomer. He was born at Odense, the son of a jeweller. Initially he was apprenticed as a watch maker, but in 1848 he passed the entrance exam for th ...

in 1874 and partially into English by Ihsan Hafez.Hafez, Ihsan (2010
Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi and his book of the fixed stars: a journey of re-discovery
PhD thesis, James Cook University.

Editions

* Text and French translation of Ṣūfī's introduction by J. J. A. Caussin de Perceval in ''Notices et extraits des manuscrits'' XII, Paris, 1831, pp. 236f. * H.C.F.C. Schjellerup
''Description des étoiles fixes par Abd-al-Rahman al-Sûfi''
St. Petersburg, 1874. Complete French translation from two late mss., with selected portions in Arabic. * ''Ketāb ṣowar al-kawākeb al-ṯābeta'', edited from five mss., and accompanied by the ''Orǰūza'' of Ebn al-Ṣūfī, Hyderabad, India, 1954 (introduction by H. J. J. Winter). * Facsimile edition of the Persian translation by Naṣīr-al-dīn Ṭūsī (Ayasofya 2595, autograph, from Uluḡ Beg's library), Tehran, 1348 Š./1969. * Critical edition of Ṭūsī's translation by Sayyed Moʿezz-al-dīn Mahdavī, Tehran, 1351 Š./1972. * The star nomenclature of the Castilian version, and of an Italian translation made from Castilian, was critically edited by O. J. Tallgren, "Los nombres árabes de las estrelas y la transcripción alfonsina", in ''Homenaje a R. Menéndez Pidal'' II, Madrid, 1925, with 'Correcciones y adiciones' in ''Revista de filología española'' 12, 1925, pp. 52f. * The Italian translation was edited by P. Knecht, ''I libri astronomici di Alfonso X in una versione fiorentina del trecento'', Saragossa, 1965. * Partial English translation; Hafez, Ihsan (2010
Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi and his book of the fixed stars: a journey of re-discovery
PhD thesis, James Cook University.

Gallery

File:Constellation Taureau - al-Sufi.jpg, Constellation Taurus File:Constellation Crabe - al-Sufi.jpg, Constellation

Cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

File:Constellation lièvre - al-Sufi.jpg, Constellation

Lepus Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...

File:Constellation Gemeaux - al-Sufi.jpg, Constellation Gemini File:Folio 165 from manuscript of as-Sufi treatese on the fixed stars. 1009-10. Bodleian Library, Oxford..jpg, Constellation Andromeda File:Azophi Ophiuchus.jpg, Constellation

Ophiuchus Ophiuchus () is a large constellation straddling the celestial equator. Its name comes from the Ancient Greek (), meaning "serpent-bearer", and it is commonly represented as a man grasping a snake. The serpent is represented by the constellati ...

References

Sources

* * Paul Kunitzsch, ''The Arabs and the Stars: Texts and Traditions on the Fixed Stars, and Their Influence in Medieval Europe'' (Variorum Reprint, Cs307) * Paul Kunitzsch, ''Arabische Sternnamen in Europa'', Wiesbaden, 1959, pp. 230f. * Paul Kunitzsch, "Ṣūfī Latinus", ''Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländische Gesellschaft'', 115, 1965, pp. 65–74. * Paul Kunitzsch, "Al-Ṣūfī" in: ''Dictionary of Scientific Biography'', XIII, New York, 1976, pp. 149–50. * J. Upton, "A Manuscript of "The Book of the Fixed Stars" by ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān aṣ-Ṣūfī", ''Metropolitan Museum Studies'', 4, 1933, pp. 179–97. * E. Wellesz, ''An Islamic Book of Constellations'', Oxford, 1965. * H. J. J. Winter, "Notes on al-Kitab Suwar Al-Kawakib", ''Archives Internationales d'Histoire des Sciences'', 8, 1955, pp. 126–33.

External links

Bodleian copy of ''Suwar al-Kawakib al-Thabitah'' (''Book of fixed Stars'')

Copy (dated ''c''. 1730) of al-Sufi's ''Book of the Fixed Stars''

* ttp://www.atlascoelestis.com/alsufi%20pagina.htm Pergamenthandschrift M II 141 in www.atlascoelestis.com
A page about Muslim Astronomers

- includes a detailed bibliography and a list of all known manuscripts of al-Ṣūfī's ''Book of the Fixed Stars''.

Slides and audio recording from a presentation on the book, with images and quotations from many different manuscripts.

* [http://www.atlascoelestis.com/Zagrebelsky/Tesi%20inglese%20al%20sufi%201367524_1.pdf Moya Carey, ''Painting the Stars in a Century of Change: A thirteenth-century copy of al-Sufi's "Treatise on the Fixed Stars" - British Library Or.5323''] {{DEFAULTSORT:Book Of Fixed Stars 10th-century Arabic-language books Astronomical catalogues of stars Astronomical works of the medieval Islamic world Scientific works of the Abbasid Caliphate Classical star atlases 964