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the flame in (that smoke) descends back to the source of the smoke [lit. the thing turned into smoke, mutadhakkin] - just as, when you extinguish a lamp but its smoke continues to rise, and you then bring (the lamp) near another lamp and place (the first lamp) below (the second lamp) in such a way that smoke rises from the extinguished (lamp) to (the lamp) which is lit, you then see fire being ignited in that smoke, descending to the extinguished (lamp) in the column ['amrSd] of its smoke and kindling it -just so ... Abu'l-Barakat, K. al-muctabar, 11.224.24-225. f3: ... .UI JI>~YI~ l ~ ~ i ~ ~ ~ Jl U I ~ & J ~ > - ~ l ~ ~ ~ I once saw on a dark night in al-Hilla in violent wind lights [anwar] like very large columns [extending] from the earth to the sky ... In the first of these passages the word "column" occurs in the context of a comparison of the way in which smoky exhalation is ignited to that of smoke in lamps, a comparison which we also encounter in the passage of Cund. under examination here. In the second, we find the phrase "from the earth to the sky", which we also find in the passages of the Tcgrat tCgratii and But. quoted above. The evidence we have here is admittedly a little too weak to enable us to identify with certainty the K. al-muctabaras the source of the phrase "like columns" in Cad, but the identification is given some additional support by a number of passages in But., where the source can be identified with greater certainty as the K. al-mu ' tab~r.~~ I have dwelt at some length on the phrase "like columns" partly as an instance illustrating the complexities involved in the study of Barhebraeus' sources; for it shows how in looking for Barhebraeus' sources we must analyse the text not at the level of passages or sentences, but at the level of single phrases and words. Another reason for dwelling on the phrase was the light it helps cast on the relationship between the four works of Barhebraeus mentioned here. We have seen that in Cand. and Tegrat tegrmi Barhebneus setems to envisage by "columns of light/fire" a phenomenon constantly in mwon like shooting stars. In the K. d-zalge; on the other hand, as a result of the omission of various phrases which are in the corresponding part of Cund., Barhebraeus appears to be thinking of a stationary phenomenon, and the same may be said of the passage of But. quoted above. If this interpretation is correct, since we know the dates of composition of Cund. and But., namely ca. 126617 for Cand. Base I1 and 128516 for BU~.,~' it will allows us to trace a change in Barhebraeus' thought concerning the phenomenon 63 Cf. Lettinck (1999) 84, where there is a summary of Mucfabar 11.224.24-225.21. 64 BH follows K. al-muctabar in parts of his discussion of minerals in But. Min. chap. 3 (3.1.5, corr. Mucfabar 11.230.17-20; 3.3.3, corr. 11.230.24-231.18). as well as in his refutation of ash.ology and alchemy in But. De generatione et cormptione, chap. 2, sect. 5 (ms. Laur. or. 83, 44v; corr. Mucfabar II.232f.) and chap. 4, sect. 3 (50r-51r; corr. 11.231f.). 65 See n. 30 above.
THE GRECO-SYRIAC AND ARABIC SOURCES OF BARHEBRAEUS' MINERALOGY he described as "columns of lightfire" and also to suggest grouping Cand. and TEgrat tEgriita on the one hand as relatively early works and But. and K. d-zalgt? on the other as works belonging to a later period.66 3. Sources of Geographical Information 3.1. B-mni, TaJhim li-awaJil sirticat al-tanjim In his attempt to explain many of the place-names found in the Second Base of Cand., BakoS frequently turned to the Tclrikh al-hind (K. fi tahiq ma li-1-hind min maqdah maqbulah fi '1- 'aql aw mardhzilah) of Abii '1-Rayhii1-1 Muhammad b. Abad al-Biruni (973-after 1050). In doing so, he was looking in the right area, but not quite in the right place. A large proportion of the passages dealing with geographical matters in Cad. 11.3.1.2 can, in fact, be identified as close paraphrases of passages out of another work of Biriini, K. al-tafhim li-awcl'il sins 'at a1 -tanjim (= ~afirn ).67 Qubbat al-ard: Cand. 92.10-93.5 We might take as an example the passage concerning the "'centre of the earth".68 - Cand. 9210-93.5: + h a * ci&mm *+- -3 mra. Amos, 4- h n o d a r Am eb F* 7- & dm Aa-3 d w d L a . &+k A a +*x &. *aha *- am +&a +tad3 * dad +*. rwiirr . ru&a am *-a. Ga *A am *+& am h*a ++a*. -=am d a m . +a\ -a. d-a A d +\a* Am Ld. ,-4 bw * 4+am L a FLlzma &+* p-rrra. & *+'Ins A e&a. -4 *-.03~ w-nuqdta d-metpasqanut sum d-shawyuta meneh d-hana hudra qubbt5h awket m s a C ~ miirana'it d-arca metqarya. w-'a1 aykannayutfih d-dukkt5 hadl w-la meddem eshkalyan 66 K. d-zalgt? must of course be later than Cund. since by all appearances it is essentially a summary of Cund. - It might be mentioned here that there are further instances where Zalgt? agrees with But. against Cand. (e.g. in quoting Psalm 104.32 in connection with earthquakes: Zalge. Bodl. Or. 467, 13r 7-9; But. Min. 2.3.4 fin.). - On the other hand, a relatively early ter&usante quem for theZalgp is provided by a mention of this work in theAw~arrGztTlHorreum mysteriorum (in 11. Thess. 2.3, ms. Bodl. Hunt. 1, p. 145b 50f., cf. Gottsberger [I9001 169 n.2), which work, in turn, seems to have been completed in 1273 (so the date in the colophon of Laur. or. 230, S.E. Assemani 117421 68, Schroter [I8571 2; contra "1278", J.S. Assemani, BO 11.277, Baumstark, GSL 314, et al.). The ZalgF must also be placed before the Nomocmon and Swd sopy'wlSem sapientiue (see Nom. V11.9 [Bedjan] 106.10f.. [Ciqekl 64a 4f.; Senn sap. (Janssens] 54.5, tr. 173). 67 Besides here, Biriini is likely to be a major source for the geographical information in the section on the sea (ed. BakoS 15(1166), as well for the discussions of astronomy (196-212) and chronology (212-218) later on in the 2nd Base of Cand. 68 On the qubbat al-ard, see the article "al-Kubba, Kubbat aI-cAIam, K. al-Ad, K. Ann", EI' V [I9801 297 [Ch. Pellat]. 247
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