astronomi

                                   astronomi

Built on a leveled-off hill to the south of Tabrız, the complex contained numerous
buildings, a library, and an astronomical observatory equipped with
various instruments, a quadrant, armillary sphere, etc. Funded in part by vaqf
revenues, the observatory also served as a training center for astronomers.11 Its
first director, Nasır al-Dın Tusı, and his associates also received generous stipends
and “shares.”12 Often seen as the apex of Islamic observatories,
Maraghah had a long life because Hülegü’s successors maintained some interest
in its work.13 When its operations ceased is not known precisely but it was
still active when Öljeitü visited the site in 1304.14
Assembled at Maraghah were scientific works in diverse languages and scientists
from many parts of Eurasia. All the educational and scientific work at
the observatory was under the direction of the famed mathematician and
astronomer Nasır al-Dın Tusı, whom Hülegü “rescued” from the Isma¨ılıs.15
And, most important from our perspective, Hülegü ordered Tusı to collaborate
with the Chinese astronomers he had brought from the East. More particularly,
Tusı and his Chinese colleague Fum.njı were to teach one another
their respective astronomical traditions and techniques. Tusı, according to
Rashıd al-Dın, rapidly mastered Chinese astronomy.16
The major by-product of this compelled collaboration was the famous Zıji
Il-khanı, “Astronomical Tables of the Il-qans.” According to the Persian
sources the Zıj was compiled by a team of Muslim scholars, which included,
in addition to Tusı, Mu¨ayyad al-Dın ¨Arudı, Fakhr al-Dın Akhlatı, and
Najm al-Dın Qazvını.17 No Chinese are named but it is clear that Fum.njı and
associates were deeply involved in the project.18 This is evident from Tusı’s
extensive knowledge of the Chinese calendrical system. In the treatment of
this system the Zıj makes extensive use of Chinese technical vocabulary. For
example, the three cycles of the sexagenary system are properly called “upper
beginning [shang v.n, Chinese shang-yuan],” “middle beginning [jung v.n,
Chinese chung-yuan],” and “lower beginning [kha v.n, Chinese hsia-yuan].” A
longer period of time is called a v.n, which answers to the Chinese wan,
“10,000.” Further, the Zıj gives the Chinese names for the ten celestial stems
and twelve earthly branches that make up the sexagenary cycle. For example,
the year 1203 is designated as kuı khaı, the Chinese kuei-hai.19
The purpose of the Chinese material was the preparation of conversion
Astronomy 163
11 The best history of Maraghah is Sayili, The Observatory in Islam, pp. 187–223.
12 Rashıd/Jahn I, p. 8. 13 Ibid., p. 75. 14 Qashanı/Hambly, p. 41.
15 Bar Hebraeus, pp. 2 and 451.
16 Rashıd al-Dın, Chinageschichte, folio 392r, tafel 2, Persian text, and p. 22, German translation.
17 Hamd-Allah MustawfıQazvını, The Ta©rıkh-i Guzıdah or “Select History,” ed. by E. G. Browne
and R. A. Nicholson (Leiden: E. J. Brill, and London: Luzac, 1913), pt. II, p. 143.
18 The introduction to the Zıj notes that Tusı assembled scholars and books from many lands to
prepare the tables. See John A. Boyle, tr., “The Longer Introduction to the Zıj-i Ilkhanı of
Nasir-ad-dın Tusı,” Journal of Semitic Studies 8 (1963), 246–47.
19 Rashıd al-Dın, Chinageschichte, folio 393v, tafel 5, Persian text, and pp. 22–23, German translation,
and Boyle, “The Longer Introduction to the Zıj-i Ilkhanı,” p. 248, Persian text, and
pp. 250–51, English translation.