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Lot Essay
The long preamble to this work recounts how the Caliph al-Mu'tasim billah conquered the town of 'Amuriyyah and came to hear of a monastery in Antioch that had been under the influence of Alexander the Great. He sent some people to investigate the monastery and there was found a manuscript written in Greek and Latin which was translated by various people. This work is a digest of that work.
The present work is in ten sections that concern the order of the heavens, antidotes against poisons, talismans against disease, the properties of the various parts of animals. There are frequent references to Greek authors such as Aristotle and Hermes.
The work is a translation from the Greek and Latin by Muhammad ibn Khalid, a 9th century astronomer and son of Khalid ibn 'Abd al-Malik al-Marvarrudi, also an astronomer who worked for the Caliph al-Ma'mun. It is also known in Persian as Dhahirat al-Iskander.
The present work is in ten sections that concern the order of the heavens, antidotes against poisons, talismans against disease, the properties of the various parts of animals. There are frequent references to Greek authors such as Aristotle and Hermes.
The work is a translation from the Greek and Latin by Muhammad ibn Khalid, a 9th century astronomer and son of Khalid ibn 'Abd al-Malik al-Marvarrudi, also an astronomer who worked for the Caliph al-Ma'mun. It is also known in Persian as Dhahirat al-Iskander.