The Indian and Pseudo-Indian Passages in Greek and Latin Astronomical and Astrological Texts

Abstract

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)(ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)ContentsI. IntroductionII. Kalyana (parapegma)III. Curtius Rufus (new moon months; paksas)IV. Philostratus (planetary weekdays)V. lAbd al-Bari'VI. Sasanians (naksatras; planetary chords; decans; Zik i Shahriyaran).VII. Severus Sebokht (lunar nodes)VIII. Theophilus of Edessa (military astrology; zodiacal topothesia)IX. Mâshâ'allâh ("Era of the Flood"; planetary chords; cosmic magnet; navams'as)X. Zij al-Sindhind (Kalpa; Caturyuga; mean motions; year-length; sidereal zodiac; trepidation; longitudes of apogees and nodes; ahargarca; mean longitudes of planets; longitudinal difference; accumulated epact; trigonometric functions; equation of center; obliquity of ecliptic and method of declinations; equation of anomaly; combined effect of equations; time to first or second station; ascensional difference; terrestrial latitude; gnomon-shadows; lunar latitude; apparent diameters of sun, moon, and earth's shadow; eclipse-limit; totality of eclipse; duration of eclipse and of totality; color of eclipse; longitudinal parallax; latitudinal parallax; latitudes of planets; value of rr)XI. R$i (interrogations)XII. Bhuridasa and Buzuijmihr (Jovian dodecaeteris; theft)XIII. Abu Ma'shar (nativity of Ceylonese prince; childbirth; ketu; lunar nodes; terms; decans; revolution of years of nativities; place of sun in nativity; astrological places; fulfillment of interrogations)XIV. Ja'far al-Hindl (order of orbits of planets and fixed stars; benefic and malefic planets; quarters of a month; naksatras)XV. Al-QabTsI (karanas)XVI. Simeon Seth (precession; star-catalog)XVII. Vaticanus graecus 1056 (interrogations)XVIII. Parisinus graecus 2506 (lordships of months of pregnancy)XIX. Picatrix (names of planets)XX. Shams al-Din al-Bukhâri (year-beginning; adhimasas; Sin ri; s'ankutala and bâhu)XXI. ConclusionsI. IntroductionAstronomy and astrology in India1 are not indigenous sciences, but are local adaptations and developments of Mesopotamian,2 Greco-Babylonian,3 and Greek 4 texts; and, at an early stage of their developments, parts of the Indian traditions had influenced Sasanian5 and Syriac science before the rise of Islam. There existed, therefore, a more or less common understanding of astronomy and astrology in those regions of the world where Latin, Greek, Syriac, Pahlavi, and Sanskrit were used, though each culture had its particular idiosyncrasies and its special areas of sophistication. Islam was the heir to all of these traditions,6 which it was able to synthesize precisely because of their common features. The object of this paper is to attempt to isolate as many as possible of those elements of the Islamic adaptations of Indian astronomy and astrology that were included in the massive influx of translations of Arabic science into Byzantine Greek and into Latin, as well as in the subsequent translations of this material from Greek into Latin and from Latin into Greek; 1 omit the immense quantity of Hebrew and vernacular texts, and also those Greek and Latin works whose information concerning Indian science is secondary within each culture. Though I have utilized as many printed and manuscript sources as could reasonably be obtained, I am aware that much that is relevant must have escaped my notice, and can only hope that others more versed especially in the Latin sources will continue this work. I have tried, where possible, to add to the citation of the Greek or Latin text one of a Sanskrit passage of appropriate antiquity expressing the same or a similar idea; but, in the interest of avoiding excessive length, I have refrained from citing the Arabic intermediaries and from translating any passage.The period within which Arabic scientific texts were translated into Greek extended from the ninth to the fourteenth century, into Latin from the twelfth to the thirteenth only, though many more Latin translations were made in two centuries than Greek in six. …