Martin Gansten wrote:

astroart wrote:Good source in this area is :David Pingree, "From astral Omens to Astrology.From Babylon to B?k?ner", Roma, 1997

It's about the only academic source to date, as far as I know (except for a few earlier snippets from Pingree here and there, some of which he corrected in this little volume). It's a fair start, though not without its mistakes.

What do you mean by that, Martin?

astroart wrote:Martin,
I think that a very good source for your future studies in the field of t?jika system can be:

David Pingree, Catalogue of Jyoti?a Manuscripts in the Wellcome
Library. Sanskrit Astral and Mathematical Literature, Sir Henry
Wellcome Asian Series, Vol. 2, Leiden?Boston: Brill, 2004

Oh, one of those inexpensive Brill paperbacks! (I have done a bit of writing for Brill myself, but I can't afford to buy the books.) It would probably be very useful, though, so I'll try to get hold of it through interlibrary loan if possible (it seems not to be available in Sweden). Thanks for the tip.

Last I heard, Pingree's own MSS were still being catalogued. That collection should probably hold some texts of interest as well.

levente_laszlo (osthanes) wrote:

Martin Gansten wrote:

astroart wrote:Good source in this area is :David Pingree, "From astral Omens to Astrology.From Babylon to B?k?ner", Roma, 1997

It's about the only academic source to date, as far as I know (except for a few earlier snippets from Pingree here and there, some of which he corrected in this little volume). It's a fair start, though not without its mistakes.

What do you mean by that, Martin?

I have commented on some of them in the forthcoming article I referred to above. It should be out soon.

Re-reading the last few posts, I see that I should probably clarify one point:

astroart wrote:do you have any information about translations of Persian authors from this period into Sanskrit?

I am not actually aware of any pre-Muslim Persian authors being referred to by name in any Sanskrit texts; and the T?jika texts we have are not direct translations, but versified reworkings of Persian or Perso-Arabic material. Later compilers do refer to an original T?jika work in 'Persian' (p?ras?); but whether they differentiated between Persian and Arabic is an open question. Some non-Indian authors mentioned are known simply as 'the Roman' or 'the Yavana' (which by this time probably means not 'the Greek' but just 'the western foreigner'); indeed, certain names cited are not really those of authors at all. I plan to write a short article on this in due course.

The one definite source that we have established beyond reasonable doubt is Sahl, who of course belonged to the Muslim era (9th century) and wrote in Arabic. But T?jika texts also contain certain Persian elements not preserved by any Arabic author I have read -- for example, a more sophisticated method of determining the Ruler of the Year.

The one definite source that we have established beyond reasonable doubt is Sahl, who of course belonged to the Muslim era (9th century) and wrote in Arabic.

Martin,
which exactly book of Sahl do you mean: Kitab Ta??wil sini l-maw?lid(On the Transfers of the Years of the Nativity) -only in Arabic or The Introduction to the Science of the Judgements of the Stars - in Latin and English translation too?

astroart wrote:Martin,
which exactly book of Sahl do you mean: Kitab Ta??wil sini l-maw?lid(On the Transfers of the Years of the Nativity) -only in Arabic or The Introduction to the Science of the Judgements of the Stars - in Latin and English translation too?

Our article deals with the Introduction (Kit?b al-?a?k?m ?al? ?n-ni?ba al-falakiyya), but I know that other of Sahl's texts were used too. I would be very interested in examining the K. Ta??wil, but unfortunately my Arabic isn't up to it yet. Do you know if the text has been edited, or exists only in manuscript(s)?

I would be very interested in examining the K. Ta??wil, but unfortunately my Arabic isn't up to it yet. Do you know if the text has been edited, or exists only in manuscript(s)?

My information is from "The Fihrist" of Ibn al-Nad?m.

Martin Gansten wrote:

astroart wrote: info about prof. H?bner and his publications:

http://www.uni-muenster.de/KlassischePh ... index.html

I just noted that Wolfgang H?bner's title is given not only as Prof. Dr. but as Prof. Dr. Dr.! If this is not just a slip of the pen, it must be because of his honorary doctorate.

It (probably) means he has written a Habilitation, although two doctorates is not impossible. An honorary doctorate is h.c.