Abu Ma?

ar on Historical Astrology: The Book of Religions and Dynasties (On the Great
Conjunctions) by Keiji Yamamoto; Charles Burnett
Review by: Kevin T. van Bladel
Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 123, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 2003), pp. 442-443
Published by: American Oriental Society
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3217715 .
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442 Journal of the American Oriental Society 123.2 (2003)

Abu Ma'sar on Historical Astrology: The Book of Religions and Dynasties (On the Great Conjunc-
tions). Edited and translatedby KEIJIYAMAMOTO and CHARLES BURNETT. 2 vols.: vol. 1, The Ara-
bic Original;vol. 2, The Latin Versions. Leiden: BRILL,2000. Pp. xxvii + 620; xxxiii + 578. $362.

These two large volumes are an importantcontribution to the study of the history of astrology
and of medieval sciences. The main part of the first volume is a critical edition of the Arabic Kitab
al-Milal wa-d-duwal (The Book of Religions and Dynasties) of Abu Mac'aral-Balhi (d. 886) with a
facing English translation.In the second volume we are given a critical edition of the Latin transla-
tion of this text, made probablyin Toledo aroundthe 1130s. Abu Ma'Car,who flourishedas an author
in Baghdad,is consideredthe most importantastrologerafter Ptolemy. His works in general, contain-
ing a synthesis of Greek, Sasanian, and Indian astrologicaldoctrines and methods typical of the early
'Abbasidperiod, became standardauthoritiesin Asia and in Europe.
If the Arabic and Latin editions were all that these two volumes contributed,they would be very
valuable. However, they are made indispensable references for the student of historical astrology by
the accompanying explanatory introductionsto the subject. Also included are valuable Arabic and
Latin editions of several short texts by other authors(including al-Kindi, Masa'allah,Ibn Abi r-Rijal,
Kanka al-Hindi) pertinent to the history of Abu Ma'sar's text and its doctrines. These short texts
especially should not go unnoticed in a work bearing only the name Abu Ma'iar.
The first volume begins with a brief introductionto Abu Maciar's life and works and the subject
of historical astrology, a survey of the Arabic manuscriptsand a stemmacodicum. The Arabic edition
showing variantreadings in footnotes with facing English translationsfills altogether511 pages. The
editor has identified two recensions of the text, a western and an eastern, and has presentedthe west-
ern recension.
Note that the mysterious name on line 209 of the Arabic edition (vol. 1, p. 23) is to be read
>nynws,that is Annianus (an early fourth-centuryEgyptian Christianmonk whose world chronicle or
list of dates is now lost). Cf. the same citation in al-Biruni, al-Athar al-baqiya, ed. Sachau, 21.19
(lacking the words wa-sahr) and in Barhebraeus,Ta'rihmuhtasar ad-duwal, ed. Salihani, 15.16-19.
There are five appendicesto the Arabic edition in the first volume. Appendix I is the edition of an
Arabic text, included at the end of manuscriptsof the westernrecension, which lists without comment
the climes of the earthand the planets and zodiacal signs correspondingto them. This is importantas
a geographicaldocumentin Arabic, drawingfrom Ptolemy's Tetrabiblosand other sources. Appendix
II is the edition of a chronological appendixto The Book of Religions and Dynasties, giving the dates
of the eras of the world. Appendix III is a new edition of the text of al-Kindi's treatiseon the duration
of the rule of the Arabs, which drew from one of the same sources that Abu Ma'sar's work of histori-
cal astrology used. Appendix IV is a partial edition of the Arabic text of Maisaallah's book On the
Accession of the Caliphs, previously available only in English translation.The portion of the text ed-
ited here also has passages correspondingto The Book of Religions and Dynasties. Appendix V pre-
sents an excerpt of the Kitab al-Bari' of Ibn Abi r-Rijal that contains parallels to Abu Maciar'swork,
although it is uncertainwhether they derive from Abu MaC'aror from a shared source directly or in-
directly. All of these short Arabic editions have facing English translationsand include annotations
showing the correspondencesof these texts with Macsar'swork.
The first volume ends with a valuable article entitled "The Sources and Doctrines of The Book of
Religions and Dynasties" (pp. 573-613). I would recommendthat the readernot alreadyfamiliarwith
historical astrology begin the study of these volumes with this excellent essay, a clear exposition of
the Greek, Iranian,and Indian elements in Abu Maciar's system, and how they all work together.
The second volume contains the Latin version of Abu Mac'ar's historical astrology, generally
known in Europe as the De magnis conjunctionibus(On the GreatConjunctions).The editor intended
the text to "elucidateAbuiMaC'ar'stext, ratherthan to show the Western traditionof that work" (2:
xxx), and therefore tried to representthe archetype used by the Latin translators,basing the text on
the few extant manuscriptsthat present a plain translationof the Arabic without extensive glosses.
On the glosses and revisions in the vulgate traditionof this work in Latin, see Charles Burnett, "The
Strategy of Revision in the Arabic-LatinTranslationsfrom Toledo: The Case of Abu Macshar'sDe
magnis coniunctionibus," in Les Traducteursau travail: Leurs manuscrits et leurs methodes, ed.

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 Reviews of Books 443

J. Hamesse (Turnhout,2001), 51-113 and 529-40. There are three apparatuscritici accompanying:
one giving the shorterLatin glosses from the rest of the Latin manuscripttradition, one comparing
the Latin translationwith the Arabic original, and one giving the text of the traditionthat served as
the basis for most of the edition when the editor did not use its readings.The Latin text is keyed to the
line numbersof the Arabic edition of the first volume, an extremely useful featureof the Latin edition
that makes it indispensable to readers of the Arabic original.
Following the main text of the Latin edition are the glosses and notes from the heavily annotated
branchof the manuscripttraditionthat were too long to include in the second apparatuscriticus noted
above. These are accompaniedby facing English translation,since they contain materialnot found in
Abu Ma'sar's book.
Like the first volume, the second contains texts related to Abu Mac'ar'sbook of historical astrol-
ogy, this time of texts surviving in Latin translation. The first is of "Kankaf Hindus," i.e., Kanka
al-Hindi, the second of Masa'allah, and the third anonymous notes on the De conjunctionibus.This
volume is completed by Arabic-Latinand Latin-Arabicglossaries and indexes of places and races,
persons, topics, and a general index of subjects.
Obviously these volumes will be of benefit to historians of science, of Islam, of Arabic, of Latin,
of Graeco-Arabicstudies, and of medieval history in general. They provide a comprehensive intro-
duction to and critical edition of the most importantsurviving work of historical astrology. Let us
hope that the collaborationof Keiji Yamamotoand CharlesBurnett,which, along with the furthercol-
laborationof Michio Yano, has also brought us the edition of Abu MaCsar'sThe Abbreviationof the
Introductionto Astrology, together with the Medieval Latin translation of Adelard of Bath (Leiden,
1994), will continue in the future.

KEVINT. VANBLADEL
YALE UNIVERSITY

Alfarabi and the Foundation of Islamic Political Philosophy. By MUHSINS. MAHDI.Chicago: UNI-
VERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, 2001. Pp. xvii + 264. $37.50.

Muhsin Mahdi's Alfarabi and the Foundation of Islamic Political Philosophy, many years in the
making, is likely the most anticipatedand longed for study to appearin the field of Islamic philoso-
phy. Mahdi, the James R. Jewett Professor Emeritus of Arabic at HarvardUniversity, is by ijmd' the
leading scholar of Islamic philosophy of our day. Admired for his wide learning, keen analysis, pro-
found insight, and philosophic reflection, Mahdi has charted the straightpath for understandingthe
falasifah, and has guided students throughoutthe world in their researches.Yet his greatest contribu-
tions and strongestpassions have focused on one thinker,al-mu'allimal-thdni,Alfarabi(ca. 870-950).
He once told me that he has antennaehomed in on Alfarabi, and I suspect this must be true. He has
located and identified numerous manuscriptsby Alfarabi, and has discovered and published critical
editions of several of his most importantwritings. Mahdi's own studies on Alfarabi have shed light
on almost every aspect of the Master's writings and, in some cases, radicallychanged our understand-
ing of him. The appearanceof Mahdi's Alfarabi is thus a cause for celebration, but the reader may
well wonder in what ways does it contributeto our knowledge of Alfarabi and his political teachings.
The initial sentiment of the impatient reader with justifiably high expectations for the book may
be one of disappointment.Alfahari consists of eleven chapters and an illuminating introductionor
key to understandingthem. In addition, there is a foreword by CharlesE. Butterworth,Mahdi's clos-
est disciple and an expert in Islamic political philosophy, and a bibliographyof works mentioned, list
of acknowledgments,and very useful index. But the readerexpecting a tour-de-forcecritical study of
Alfarabi in light of the scholarshipof past generations, as no one betterthan Mahdi could do, will be
struckby a feeling of letdown. The very short list of secondaryliteraturein the bibliographyincludes
only three studies on Alfarabi:two by Leo Straussfrom 1936 and 1945, and one by IbrahimMadkour

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