A HISTORY OF INNER ASIA

130 A history of Inner Asia
an underground gallery; its presumed northern segment would have
risen to a height of 30 meters above the ground.A circular structure,
three storeys high (30.4m), is believed to have surrounded it, and to have
housed a number of other astronomomical instruments.Observations
carried on here by Ulugh Beg together with his colleagues eventually
produced the famous Zij-i Gurgani (also called Zij-i Jadid-i Sultani) a book
consisting of two parts: a theoretical introduction written in Persian, and
a catalog of 1,018 fixed stars together with tables of the planets, of calendar
calculations, and of trigonometry.The whole work – in particular
the catalog – was based on Islamic and classical astronomy whose
ultimate authorities were Hipparchos and Ptolemy, but it corrected or
updated them.This was its value, which Europe’s scientists came to
appreciate and exploit for their own rapidly improving work.I.Greave
published the first Latin translation of the Zij-i Gurgani as Binae tabulae
geographicae, una Nassir-Eddini Persae, altera Ulug-Beigi Tartari (London,
1652), and T.Hyde followed with his version, Tabulae longitudinis et latitudinis
stellarum fixarum ex observatione Ulug-beigi (Oxford, 1665); the Polish
astronomer Jan Hevelius (1611–87) included substantial parts from it in
his Atlas firmamenti stellarum; and even after all these stages were superseded
by newer data, Ulugh Beg continued to receive recognition as one
of the trailblazers in man’s discovery of nature.Ulugh Beg and his
school also made remarkable discoveries in mathematics and trigonometry,
such as the solution of the third-degree algebraic equation.
Along with these activities, Ulugh Beg displayed a breadth of vision
that encompassed other, more traditional fields of Islamic learning and
art.He paid attention to religious sciences, apparently memorizing the
Koran in all the seven established textual traditions; and like virtually
every educated Muslim of his milieu, he appreciated and wrote poetry
and – a less common feature – composed music.His activity as a composer
reveals that the Timurid prince’s life was not all science and religion
but included times of relaxation and perhaps even revelry, in which
wine was no stranger.Finally Ulugh Beg also fostered the study and
writing of history; in this he rivaled several other Timurid rulers, beginning
with Timur himself, but he was less lucky: the Ulus-i arbaa-i Jingizi
(The Four Genghisid Fiefdoms), written in Turki, may have been a valuable
complement to Rashid al-Din’s and Juvayni’s famous works, but it
has survived only in a few abridged manuscripts.
Ulugh Beg should have ascended his father’s throne at Herat when
Shahrukh died in 1447, and he did indeed make a briefly successful
attempt to do so; but here again this grandson of Timur showed that he