The racecourses at Sāmarrā’

This research presents the results of an interdisciplinary study which examined how increased adoption of water management technologies from the Hellenistic-Early Islamic period transformed the formerly marginal and rain-fed Balikh Valley of Syria into a productive landscape. Data including CORONA satellite images, topographical models and archaeological surveys were used to identify and analyse systems of canals, qanats and tunnels. Analysis of this identified a peak in the use of irrigation in the later imperial period, especially at the time of the Early Islamic empire when the city of Raqqa attained enhanced political significance, with indications that ancient systems were able to utilise most of the available water resources in the valley. Water management activity also appears to have led to changes in the environment of the Balikh, such as the formation and drainage of marshes and rerouting of existing hydraulic networks.

show abstract

The Second Revival of Astronomy in the Tenth Century and the Establishment of Astronomy as an Element of Encyclopedic Education

Thomann

2017

Asiatische Studien - Études Asiatiques

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the fourth/tenth century a great number of new intellectual centers appeared in the Islamic world, and an increase in the number of persons involved in production of written works on mathematics and astronomy took place. One such new center was Aleppo under the Ḥamdanid ruler Sayf al-Dawla. According to al-Qabīṣī the generosity of Sayf al-Dawla led to the situation that ignorant people pretended to be astronomers or astrologer. Therefore, al-Qabīṣī argued, exams should be established for testing the level of competence and the completeness of knowledge of a candidate. Al-Qabīṣī was engaged in teaching by giving lectures based on a textbook, the Fuṣūl of al-Farghānī. This was a novelty in teaching astronomy, since before memorizing didactic poems and operating with astronomical instruments was the preferred method. While al-Qabīṣī’s aim in teaching astronomy was to train future professional astronomers and astrologers, in other contexts astronomy was a propaedeutic subject as part of the quadrivium. The philosopher Muḥammad Ibn al-Haytham (not to be confused with the mathematician al-Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham) wrote a commentary of the Almagest, in which his intention was “to elucidate subtle ideas for the benefit of students”, and not to go into technical details of calculation. Obviously his aim was to educate future philosophers in the “philosophical sciences” (mathematics, natural sciences and metaphysics). Some generations earlier, al-Fārābī wrote a commentary on the Almagest with similar intentions. His preferred subject was the geometric proof, while observations and calculations were of little interest. Astronomy was incorporated into a curriculum of general scientific knowledge, – similar to the curriculum of the Alexandrian schools in late antiquity –, and ancient Greek texts on astronomy were preferred. This development was indeed a renaissance in the sense Jacob Burckhardt used the term.

show abstract

The racecourses at Sāmarrā’

Cited by 4 publications

References 7 publications

The Archaeology of Landscape

The Archaeology of Landscape

Imperial irrigated landscapes in the Balikh Valley

The Second Revival of Astronomy in the Tenth Century and the Establishment of Astronomy as an Element of Encyclopedic Education

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About