Falsafa

Comma for either/or — dharma, courage. Spelling forgiving — corage finds courage.

    astronomy · 2nd century · 4 crossings

    Almagest

    Μαθηματικὴ ΣύνταξιςMathēmatikē Syntaxis

    Ptolemy, in Greek

    Ptolemy's mathematical model of the heavens, completed in Alexandria around 150 CE. Even its common name records the crossing: Almagest is Latin for al-Majisti, the Arabic rendering of a Greek superlative, 'the greatest'.

    The chain

    c. 150 Greek original

    written by Ptolemy in Alexandria

    1. 827–828 Greek Arabic translation attested

      المجسطيal-Majisṭī

      translated by al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn Matar for al-Ma'mun in Baghdad

      The earliest surviving Arabic Almagest, dated 212 of the Hijra. Lost Syriac and 'old Arabic' versions of around 800, promoted by the Barmakids, preceded it.

      1. c. 1140–1175 Arabic Latin translation attested

        Almagesti

        translated by Gerard of Cremona in Toledo

        Completed by 1175: a colophon records a copy made on 11 August of that year, and the work may have begun decades earlier. This edge follows the al-Hajjaj version for Books I-IX; Kunitzsch showed that Books X-XIII and the star catalogue follow the Ishaq-Thabit recension instead. A direct Greek-to-Latin translation made in Sicily in the mid-12th century circulated little.

    2. c. 879–890 Greek Arabic translation attested

      translated by Ishaq ibn Hunayn in Baghdad

      The second surviving Arabic translation, made half a century after al-Hajjaj's.

      1. c. 890–901 Arabic Arabic revision attested

        revised by Thabit ibn Qurra in Baghdad

        Completed before Thabit's death in 901. The Ishaq-Thabit Almagest became the standard eastern text.