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Mechanics

A New Arabic Text of Mechanics: Sinan ibn Thabit on the Theory of Simple Machines

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Mohammed Abattouy*

Note of the editor

This article was first published as Mohammed Abattouy, "A New Arabic text of Mechanics: Sinan ibn Thabit on the Theory of Simple Machines", in Studies on the History of Sciences, edited by Ja'far Aghayani Chavoshi, Tehran, 1390/2011, pp. 19-38.

Table of contents

1. Description of MS 3306 and its contents
2. Bio-bibliography of Sinan ibn Thabit
3. Survey of the Arabic tradition of the five simple machines
4. The Arabic text and English translation
5. Short analysis of the contents of the text
6. Appendix: Description of the contents of MS 3306
7. References

* * *

The fragment attributed to Sinan ibn Thabit on simple machines conserved in the MS 3306 is a completely new source that has never been studied before. In the following, the Arabic text and its English translation are presented, with historical and analytical commentaries, including a bio-bibliography of Sinan ibn Thabit.

Figure 1: The title of Sinan's text on the first page of MS 3306 and the first line of the text on the top of folio 132r.

1. Description of MS 3306 and its contents

As it is attested by a note written on its first folio, the materials conserved in the MS Orient fol. 3306 of the Berliner Staatsbibliothek (State Library of Berlin) were copied or bound in one volume in 1090 H (1679). These materials form a collection of texts of physics (mainly mechanics and optics) of which the list is given on the first page of the codex. This collection contains 10 titles in the following order:

• Risalat al-Jazari fi a'mal al-hiyal (Treatise of Al-Jazari on the construction of machines).
• Multaqatat Kitab al-tam li-Sinan b. Thabit fi dhikr usul al-khamsa (sic) (Extracts from the Complete Book by Sinan ibn Thabit on the five powers).
• Maqalat al-Khazini fi a'mal al-kura tadur bi-dhatiha (sic) (Treatise of Al-Khazini on the construction of a sphere that rotates by itself).
• Sharh kitab Biyanius (?) al-hakim fi san'at maraya al-muhriqa (sic) (Commentary on the book of Biyanius (?) the sage on the art of burning mirrors).
• Risala fi … li-ma'rifat al-sa'a wa-anwa' al-rukhama wa-ghayruhu (Treatise on … for the determination of the hour and different types of plates).
• Kitab Uqlidis al-hakim fi ‘ilm al-manazir wa-kayfiyyat al-shu'a' (The book of Euclid in the science of optics and the theory of rays).
• Risala fi ‘amal anwa' al-dawalib al-mudawwara min tilqa' dhatiha (Treatise on the construction of [various] types of wheels that move by themselves).
• Fawa'id fi ma'rifat mizan al-'adl wa ghayruhu (Utilities concerning the balance of justice and other things) [2].

Among these titles, only two are conserved in the volume as it is preserved at present in Berlin's Staatsbibliothek: a complete copy of the text of Al-Jazari on machines in 132 folios, accompanied with beautiful drawings in colour, marked by a good artistic quality, and two fragments from the text attributed to Sinan ibn Thabit. These two fragments are written on the folio 132 recto-verso. This folio is inserted at the end of Al-Jazari's treatise. Obviously, this folio 132 is part of a longer text on mechanics, but unfortunately this is the only surviving part. That the folio was originally part of a longer text is indicated by the fluent and normal course of discourse at the end of folio 132v and the way the last word ('imtala') is written, below the last line, so as to provide a reference to the first word on the next folio, which is no longer extant in the codex [3].

The two faces of folio 132 include the following materials. The recto displays a theory of simple machines that will be dealt with in the rest of this article. The verso contains descriptions of several mechanical devices (fig. 2a-b). The latter are referred to by a sentence which looks like a header (it is written in bold): "hadhihi usul mukhtalifa min usul al-hiyal" (these are various basic machines). Then begins the description of a machine: unbub ka's al-'adl (the pipe of the cup of justice). At the end of the description, the author states that this device was described in full in "Al-Kitab al-tam alladhi minhu ikhtasartu hadha" (the Complete Book from which I summarized this [extract]) [4].

Figure 2a-b: Folio 132 recto and folio 132 verso. The first containing the text of Multaqatat Kitab al-tam li-Sinan b. Thabit fi dhikr usul al-khamsa, whilst the second includes the description of various machines ('usul al-hiyal), being part of Sinan ibn Thabit's original treatise.

On the basis of the available data, it is possible to reconstruct the genesis of this text along three stages:

(1) First, Sinan ibn Thabit composed a book known as Al-Kitab al-tam, of which at least a part is devoted to mechanical issues. Given the title of the book, we can suppose that the treatise has an encyclopaedic scope, and hence was conceived as a treatise on mathematical sciences in which a part deals with mechanics, including the theory of simple machines and the description of a series of simple devices.

(2) At least the section of Al-Kitab al-tam devoted to the theory of simple machines was summarized (ikhtisar), probably by the author, namely Sinan ibn Thabit, but it is possible that this summary was achieved by another scholar.

(3) The fragment that survived on folio 132 in MS Berlin 3006 in its present form is an extract (multaqatat) from this summary; as it was said above, such an extract may have been composed by another scholar than the author of the book. Several indications attest that the two pages of folio 132 are part of a longer text. The exceptional status of this folio 132 is that it represents the only surviving evidence known so far of Sinan's Al-Kitab al-tam and the unique source we know of mentioning his interest for mechanics.

The last folio of MS Berlin 3306, namely folio 133, includes the last two pages of al-Jazari's treatise. On the recto, we find a part of Al-Jazari's text about a machine "zawraq fihi malah wa-fihi zammara" (a boat with a sailor and a flute). Then begins the colophon of Al-Jazari's treatise preceded by the list of letters in abjad system used in the treatise (21 letters of the Arabic alphabet) and the symbols to which they correspond in the book. This means that originally the copy of Al-Jazari's work preserved in MS 3306 was complete [5].

In the list of the contents of MS Berlin 3306 as well as in the title of the text on simple machines, the fragment in folio 132 is attributed to Sinan ibn Thabit. That the author of this text is Sinan ibn Thabit, the son of Thabit ibn Qurra, is supported by different arguments. First of all, the text is ascribed in the manuscript to Sinan ibn Thabit, identified as the son of Thabit ibn Qurra by the editors of the German catalogue where MS 3306 is mentioned [6]. Furthermore, several indications attest that the fragment is of an early date and may have been written by Sinan in the first half of the 10th century. This is confirmed by the archaic style of the vocabulary, as it is shown by the following two significant instances: the lever is called muhl; later on, the standard word for it was barim or bayram; the same for qarastun (= steelyard), transformed later on as qaffan and qabban [7].

On the other hand, as far as we know, there exists no scholar in the Islamic scholarship bearing the name Sinan ibn Thabit, but Abu Sa'id, the son of Thabit ibn Qurra. In addition, the text is bound with several early Arabic writings that still reflect traces of the Graeco-Arabic transmission period, as it is clearly shown in the table of contents of the codex. Nevertheless, no historical source ever mentioned a writing of Sinan ibn Thabit in mechanics, although this should not be considered a priori as a counter-argument to deny the possible existence of such an interest. The ongoing investigation on the corpus of Arabic mechanics and engineering and its achievements is changing; new discoveries were made and others are still to come. This has been proved in the field of theoretical mechanics, with the dramatic change generated by the recent research on the science of weight (‘ilm al-athqal) [8].

The MS Berlin 3306 was published online on the website of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, as a result of the investigation performed by the author of this article on this document in the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. This electronic edition may be accessed here: Anonymus, Ms. or. fol. 3306, Arabisches manuscript.

2. Bio-bibliography of Sinan ibn Thabit

Abu Sa'id Sinan ibn Thabit ibn Qurra al-Harrani is a well known scholar of the 10th century. He is mentioned in the classical and modern sources as a mathematician, astronomer, physician and historian. He was the son of Thabit ibn Qurra (d. 288 H/ 901), the famous Harranian scholar who flourished in Baghdad and excelled in different fields of science and medicine, including mathematics, astronomy and mechanics. Two sons of Abu Sa'id Sinan ibn Thabit distinguished themselves in science and medicine. The first one, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Sinan, was a genius mathematician. He left valuable works, such as his famous treatise on analysis and synthesis. He died in Baghdad in 335 H/946-947 when he was only 38 years old [9]. The second one is Abu 'l-Hasan Thabit b. Sinan (b. Thabit b. Qurra) who excelled in medicine and died in 363 H/973-73 [10].

Sinan ibn Thabit was the personal physician of two Abbasid Caliphs, Al-Muqtadir (r. 908-932) and Al-Qahir (r. 932-934). He served also Al-Radhi (934-940), with whom he entertained good relationships. The latter asked him to convert to Islam, but Sinan was not ready to embrace Islam and change his religion. Being afraid to disobey the Caliph's request, he fled to Khurasan. He came back to Baghdad after the destitution of Al-Qahir. But later on, he converted to Islam and died in Baghdad as a Muslim at the beginning of Dhu-'l-qi'da 331 H (August 943) [11].

Sinan ibn Thabit was the representative of the second generation of Harranian scientists and physicians in the Abbasid court in Baghdad, in the aftermath of the arrival and settlement of his father Thabit ibn Qurra in the Abbasids' capital in the middle of the 9th century. By converting to Islam, he put an end to the Sabian tradition of the prestigious family his father had founded in the capital of the Muslim empire, and strengthened its integration in the Muslim society. For a long time before and after him, scholars originating from Harran occupied eminent positions among the intellectual, scientific and medical elite at the caliphal court and in the high spheres of society.

Ibn abi 'Usaybi'a mentioned that Abu Sa'id Sinan ibn Thabit was well versed in the sciences like his father, and he was gifted in astronomy and in the art of medicine. He described in detail the efforts deployed by Sinan ibn Thabit in the organisation of hospitals and enumerated the moral qualities of Sinan, such as his commitment under Al-Muqtadir to provide medical care to prisoners in Baghdad and to poor people in the suburbs of the city [12].

Besides his distinction in medicine and astronomy, Sinan was also a historian and a gifted mathematician. Ibn al-Nadim ascribed to him two texts in mathematics: Kitab fi 'l-istiwa' (Book of levelling), and Islahuhu li-kitab (…)[13] fi al-'usul al-handasiyya, wa zada fi hadha al-kitab shay'an kathiran (his revision/edition of The Book… of Geometrical Principles, to which he added a great deal). Later on, Ibn al-Qifti provides the full title of this book and states that this treatise of 'usul handasiyya that Sinan ibn Thabit edited and augmented was the work of A/Iflatun (Plato?) [14]. It is possible to conjecture that this book of 'usul' worked out by Sinan ibn Thabit was a book of mathematical sciences in which our scholar enriched a Greek original text, and added one or more chapter, one of them dealing with mechanics. In this case, this book should bear in certain copies the name of Al-Kitab al-tam, from which the fragment of 'usul' on simple machines was extracted. However, no evidence is available to support such a conjecture, and one is bound to suppose that al-Kitab al-tam stands as an independent writing of Sinan, even though none of his bio-bibliographers made any mention of it.

Other works of mathematics are attributed to Sinan ibn Thabit, such as his edition of a text of Archimedes on the triangles, translated previously by Yusuf al-Qiss from Syriac [15]. The bio-bibliographers mention also that he performed the revision of the works of the mathematician al-Kuhi (Islahuhu li-'ibarat Abi Sahl al-Kuhi fi jami'i kutubihi). The fact that al-Kuhi asked Sinan to revise his writings is a sign of competence and recognition of his abilities, and testifies to the privileged relationships between the two scholars. Given what we know of Sinan's work, we can suppose that the revision went far beyond the linguistic and stylistic presentation of the texts to reach certain aspects of the contents [16].

3. Survey of the Arabic tradition of the five simple machines

As far as we know, no historical source mentioned that Sinan ibn Thabit wrote a text of mechanics titled Al-Kitab al-tam nor reported about his interest in mechanics. Thus, the material preserved in Codex Berlin 3306 and ascribed to this author is a new and unknown component of the Arabic corpus of mechanics, and one of the rare Arabic writings on the theory of simple machines or the five powers. This theory was directly inspired from Greek works translated into Arabic, such as the mechanical treatises of Pseudo-Aristotle, Heron and Pappus. Besides Sinan ibn Thabit's fragment, the main treatises which we know of today as having developed the theory of the five simple machines in Arabic mechanics are: Mi'yar al-'uqul, a Persian treatise attributed to Ibn Sina and Al-Isfizari's summary of the second book of Heron's Mechanics.

Mi'yar al-'uqul dur fan jar athqal (The Measure of mind or the art of dragging weights) is a Persian treatise attributed to Abu ‘Ali al-Husayn ibn Sina (980-1037). It deals with the description of the five simple machines and of their use in displacing heavy loads. As such, the text is a precious source for the reconstruction of the theory of the five powers in Islamic science in the 10th and 11th centuries. Mi'yar al-'uqul is not just a mere summary of the Greek theory of simple machines as it was transmitted in Hellenistic sources. It represents the first systematic classification of those machines, individually and in combination [17].

Mi'yar al-'uqul describes the five simple machines in four chapters. In the first two chapters, the author follows closely Heron's characterization of the five powers, and borrows the essential part of his descriptions and drawings of the simple machines from Heron's Mechanics. The machines are quoted in this order: mihwar (windlass), muhl (lever), bakara (pulley, wheel), lawlab (screw) and isfin (wedge) [18]. The description of each machine is accompanied by a diagram and illustrated by a geometrical figure. The second part of the treatise, composed of chapters 3 and 4, contains descriptions of combinations of the five simple machines. Like Heron, ibn Sina classifies these combinations by the principle of likeness or unlikeness of the constituent five powers. Thus, in chapter 3, he describes combinations of like simple machines: windlasses, pulleys and levers. Then, in chapter 4, he goes beyond the limits of Heron's classification when he successively analyses all probable combinations and considers all practically probable pair wise combinations of unlike simple machines: windlass-pulley, windlass-lever, windlass-screw. Finally, in chapter 4-section 5, he describes a mechanism which is essentially a combination of four simple machines; only the wedge is left apart (fig. 3a-b).

Figure 3a-b: The five simple machines of the ancients, plus the "inclined plane", a device to which modern mechanicians reduced the wedge and the screw. Adapted from Unit 3: Simple machines, p. 2.

Another work in the Islamic tradition on simple machines is contained in Al-Isfizari's epitome of the second book of Heron's Mechanics. This summarized version exists in two known manuscript sources: MS 351 at the John Rylands Library in Manchester (UK) and MS Q'620 H-G at the ‘Uthmaniyya University Library in Hyderabad (India). Composed of a series of epitomes and commentaries on selected parts of the mechanical works of Heron, Apollonius and Banu Musa, this text has never been studied nor edited and was mentioned so far only in some studies by the author of this article (fig. 4) [19].

Figure 4a-b: The five simple machines in the Arabic version of Heron's Mechanics: (1) the windlass, (2) the lever, (3) the wedge, (4) the pulley and (5) the screw. Source: Andhra Pradesh Government Oriental Manuscripts Library and Research Institute in Hyderabad, MS Riyadhi 396, respectively on folios 14v, 15v, and 16r.

4. The Arabic text and English translation

In the following, a transcription of the text of Sinan's fragment is provided, with English translation. It should be pointed out that because of difficulties in reading some words of the last paragraph in the manuscript; the transcription proposed hereinafter for the last lines of the text is tentative only, until we have access to this fragment in another manuscript source.

On the other hand, as it may be seen on figure 5, the last part of the text is written in four lines on the left hand margin of the page. This may be due to the desire of the copyist to include all the text of Sinan's treatment of the theory of simple machines on the same page (perhaps for better reading).

Figure 5: Facsimile of the folio page 132r of Sinan ibn Thabit's fragment on simple machines in MS 3306. Source: The Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, electronic edition, Anonym., Ms. or. fol. 3306 - Arabisches manuscript.

Multaqata [min al-]Kitab al-tam li-Sinan ibn Thabit fi dhikr al-usul al-khamsa

Extracts from the Complete Book by Sinan ibn Thabit on the Five Powers

These are basic principles of the art of mechanics extracted from a book which has been summarized by Sinan ibn Thabit from his book called The Complete Book.	?????? ????? ?????? ?? ???? ?? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ?? ????? ??????? ??????? ?????.
These are five basic [machines], and their names are: the axle introduced in a wheel [the windlass], the lever, the pulley, the wedge and the screw.	??? ???? ???? ???????? ???: ?????? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ????? ??????? ?????? ??????? [20] ??????.
The axle introduced in a wheel: Its description: you take a round axle of which the middle or any other part has been squared, and it is introduced in a wheel as the axle of the cart-wheel is introduced in its wheel.	?????? ?????? ?? ????: ???? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ??? ??? ????? ?? ???? ??? ???? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ?????? ?? ????.
But the hole of the wheel in which the axle is introduced is made squared also, fitting on the squared part of the axle. The wheel must have teeth/cogs. This is its description.	???? ?????? ????? ???? ?????? ??? ?????? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ??????? ???? ??? ????????? ???? ????.
As for the utility drawn from it, it is [used] for raising heavy things and in all what requires the multiplication of force, so that the force of one single man may do what can be done definitely by several men only, and this either in throwing or in pulling or otherwise.	???? ???????? ?? ????? ?? ??? ??????? ??????? ??? ???? ?? ????? ??? ??? ?? ????? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ???? ?? ?? ????? ??? ??????? ??? ??? ????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ?? ?? ??? ?? ?? ??????.
The method to raise a heavy thing with it is that a spoke is spoked in a place of the axle and to which is fastened the rope by which the weight is suspended. When the wheel revolves, it is pulled by its cogs or by another wheel with the cogs of which its cogs are entangled.	???? ????? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ???? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ???? ????? ?????? ???? ??????? ????? ??????????? ?? ????? ???? ????? ?????????? ???????? ???.
The lever: There is no difference between it and the steelyard (qarastun) in its theory. It is the principle to which most of the matter of heaviness and lightness is reduced.	?????: ?? ??? ???? ???? ???????? ?? ????? ??? ????? ???? ???? ???? ???? ??? ????? ??????.
The lever is this instrument used by the carpenters which is called al-barim. It is called in some books of mechanics al-qarus. The instrument used by sailors known as al-jalis is this one.	?????? ?? ??? ????? ???? ???????? ???? ??????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ??? ????? ???????. ?????? ???? ???????? ???????? ??????? [21] ?? ???.
[The beginning of the paragraph on the pulley is missing] The description of this instrument is that we take two hard and solid wooden plates. We dig in each one of them at several places and we set at each place a wheel which turns therein on an axle. The number of wheels in one of them should equal those in the other. We suspend one of the plates above the position to which we want to raise the weight and [we attach] the other to the weight which we want to raise.	[...] ???? ??? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ??????? ????? ?? ?? ????? ???? ??? ????? ????? ?? ?? ???? ???? ???? ???? ??? ??? ????. ????? ??? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ??????. ????? ??????? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ??????? ?? ????? ???? ???? ????.
Then we take a long rope and we grasp one of its ends so that the weight may be pulled by it. We introduce the other end in one of the wheels attached to the higher plate. We lower it and revolve it around one of the wheels attached to the lower plate. We lift it and revolve it on the second wheel attached to the higher plate. We lower it and revolve it on the second wheel attached to the lower plate.	????? ???? ????? ????? ??? ????? ????? ?? ????? ????? ????? ????? ?? ???? ????? ???? ?? ?????? ??????? ?????? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ???? ?? ?????? ??????? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??????? ?? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??????? ?? ?????? ??????.
We keep repeating this according to the ratio of the weight we want to raise to the pulling force. Then we fasten the end of the rope that we have revolved to one of the wheels, be it one of the highers or one of the lowers. We have then four proportional magnitudes:	??? ???? ???? ??? ??? ??? ???? ????? ???? ???? ???? ??? ????? ???????. ???? ????? ??? ????? ???? ?????? ??? ??? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ??????? ????? ??? ?? ??? ???? ????? ?????? ???????:
The ratio of the number of wheels, which is also the number of revolutions of the rope, to one is as the ratio of the raised weight to the weight raising it without the intermediary of the force pulling it. If three of them are known and one is unknown, whatever it is, we may know its magnitude and determine it by the method of the four proportional numbers.	???? ??? ????? ??? ??? ????? ????? ??? ?????? ????? ????? ???? ??? ??? ????? ???? ????? ???? ???? ????? ??????? ??. ???? ??? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ????? ?? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ??????????? ????? ??????? ??????? ?????????.
The screw: If it is said absolutely, the screw means a rounded [piece of] wood on which a screwed line (kha? lawlabi) is marked. It may be composed of a pipe which occupies its length in whole or in part.	??????: ??? ????? ?????? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ??? ???? ????? ???? ?? ????? ??? ????? ?? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ?? ???? ???? ??? ???? ????.
But it has inside a screwed line corresponding to this line so that when the pipe is kept fixed while the screw is revolved, it goes in and out. If it is revolved and prevented from going in and out, it enters in the pipe… [22] With the condition that the screw is set on a plane circle so that the… [23]	??? ?? ?? ?????? ?? ????? ????? ??? ???? ????? ?? ???? ???????? ????? ?????? ??? ????. ??? ???? ???? [24] ?? ?????? ??????? ??? ??? ???????? ????? [25] ??? ?? ???/???? ?? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ????? ????? ????? ?????? (?) ???.
It occurs in this instrument, I mean the screw, a motion composed of two motions, the circular motion and the straightforward motion. In the screw having closer lines (al-mutaqarib al-khutut) the circular motion dominates (aghlab) and its rotation is easier. Hence the weight it raises is greater and the time of its lifting is longer.	???? ????? ???? ?????? ???? ???? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ???? ????????? ????? ?????????. ??????? ???????? ?????? ???? ????????? ??? ???? ??????? ???? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ????? ??????? ????.
In the screw having wider lines the motion of straightness dominates, and it acts contrarily to the one having closer lines, with respect to the magnitude of what it raises, to the time in which it raises it and in every other circumstance. It is by these two motions that we mark the screwed line.	??????? ???????? ?????? ?????????? ?? ????? ???? ??? ?? ????? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ??? ???? ??????? ??? ?? ?? ???? ???????? ?????? ??????? ???????? ??? ???? ???????.
The wedge Its utility is in the matter of mechanics ('amr al-hiyal) and it is very rarely used [outside of it]. It acts in one exclusive place where it does a wonderful action can not be replaced [27] by anything else amongst the rest of the five powers (al-khams usul) [28], namely in cutting and extracting stones (qatc… qalc), and in sum in splitting (shaq) everything that may be splitted... [29]	?????? [26] ??????? ????????? ?? ?? ??? ????? ????????? ???? ??? ??? ???? ???? ???? ??? ???? ????? ??? ???? ??? ??? ??? ???? ??? ??? ?? ???? ????? ????? ??? ??? ??????? ??????? ???????? ?? ?? ??? ???. ?????? ???? ???????? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ?? ????? ?????????.. [30].

End Notes

[1] I thank the Department of Oriental Manuscripts at the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin for allowing me to consult the MS Orient fol. 3306 in September 1999 and for providing me with a paper copy of some folios of the Codex. Work on this article began in Berlin when I was a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (1996-2003).

[2] Two items of the list of contents could not be deciphered: see fig. 9. The codex is described in the vol. 17 of the series Verzeichnis der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland (List of the oriental manuscripts in Germany): Voigt 1990, pp. 149-152. However, this description leaves unanswered the question of the provenience of the volume and the fate of the leaflets containing the nine texts originally included in it. On the first folio, we find the accession number, acc. Ms 1917.1, probably the date of its purchasing in a German library. For more details on the contents of the manuscript, see the Appendix below. Just under the list of the texts bound originally in the codex, the first page of MS Berlin 3306 provides some data on the ownership of the manuscript and a precious date: the text seems to have been copied in Rabi' al awwal 1090 H by a certain Ibn Muhammad… al-Sharif. Unfortunately, the rest of the name is covered by a stamp, which makes it difficult to identify this person.

[3] In this respect, it is safe to suppose that the loss of the rest of the text to which the content on folio 132 belongs is due to accidental circumstances. Obviously, the items documented in the table of contents of MS Berlin 3306 were in full assembled in the codex; their loss may have happened before the manuscript was transferred to the German modern collections.

[4] The verso of folio 132 contains the description of two other machines refered to as Al-'asl al-thani and 'Asl thalith (respectively the second and third machines).

[5] However, this manuscript copy was not used in the edition and translation of al-Jazari's treatise by Hill 1974 and al-Hassan 1979.

[6] See Voight 1990, p. 200.

[7] For supplementary clues going in the same direction, see below Section 5.

[8] For a general survey on the research carried out in the last years on the Arabic science of weights and its signification for the reconstruction of the different traditions of medieval mechanics, see Abattouy 2006 and Abattouy 2007b.

[9] See the biography and works of Ibrahim ibn Sinan in the following classical sources and modern scholarly works: Ibn al-Nadim 1871-72, vol. 1, p. 272, Sezgin 1974, pp. 292-295, Sezgin 1978, pp. 193-195, and John J. O'Connor, Edmund F. Robertson's online article Ibrahim ibn Sinan ibn Thabit ibn Qurra, MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive. His works are edited and analysed in Sa'idan 1983, Rashed 1996 and Rashed & Belhosta 2000.

[10] Ibn al-Nadim 1871-72, vol. 1, p. 302; and Ibn abi 'Usaybi'a 1965, pp. 304-07.

[11] The story of Sinan's conversion is narrated by Ibn al-Nadim 1871-72, vol. 1, p. 302, Ibn Abi 'Usaybi'a 1965, p. 300, and Ibn al-Qifti 1903, p. 190.

[12] Ibn Abi 'Usaybi'a 1965, pp. 301-304; Ibn al-Qifti 1903, pp. 193-194.

[13] Blank in the manuscript.

[14] The editor of Ibn al-Qifti's book notes here that the manuscript bears at this place "Aqatun". On the basis of this information reported in the Arabic sources concerning the work of Sinan on a book of "geometrical principles", Heath, in his commentary to the English translation of Euclid's Elements, stated that Sinan b. Thabit "wrote an ‘improvement of the book of... on the Elements of Geometry, in which he made various additions to the original.' It is natural to conjecture that Euclid is the name missing in this description… The latest editor of the Tarikh al-hukama' [by Ibn al-Qifti], however, makes the name to be Iflaton (=Plato), and he refers to the statement by the Fihrist… attributing to Plato a work on the Elements of Geometry translated by Qusta ibn Luqa. It is just possible, therefore, that at the time of Qusta [mid-9th century] the Arabs were acquainted with a book on the Elements of Geometry translated from the Greek, which they attributed to Plato": see Euclide 1956, p. 88.

[15] Ibn al-Nadim 1871-72, vol. 1, p. 302; Ibn abi 'Usaybi'a 1965, p. 304; Ibn al-Qifti 1903, p. 195; Sezgin 1974, p. 291.

[16] Sinan ibn Thabit's reputation as a mathematician is confirmed also by the historian Al- Mas'udi (d. 346 H) in Muruj al-dhahab: Al-Mas'udi 1973, vol. 1, pp. 16-17.

[17] See the the recent edition of the original text (Ibn Sina [1952]) and the short chracterisation of its contents in Rozhanskaya 1996, pp. 633-634.

[18] This is also the order in which these machines were studied in Sinan's text: see below, section 5.

[19] See Abattouy 2000. Al-Isfizari's works of mechanics are being edited, translated into English and commented upon by Mohammed Abattouy and Salim Al-Hassani in the framework of a research project sponsored by Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation in London. The outcome of this project will appear soon in a book: see The Isfizari project.

[20] Ajanan in MS.

[21] This word corresponds to the latin calix, already used by the Roman engineer Sextus Julius Frontinus (ca. 40-103 CE) in the sense of ‘conduit of acqueduct'. This sense is approximate to the qallus that occurs in the Arabic mechanical texts (for instance, in the translation of Heron's and Pappus' Mechanics) where it means a rope.

[22] A corruption in the page here prevents from reading the word.

[23] The last two words of the phrase are not readable.

[24] The rest of the text is written, in the same handwriting, in four lines occupying the left margin of the page on folio 132r (see fig. 5).

[25] Not clear in the manuscript.

[26] Ajana is used until today for the wedge; for example, in Egypt, where it means a sharp knife.

[27] A corruption in the page here prevents from reading several words; the proposed sentence tends to replace the approximate meaning, which is apparently that the role of the wedge "can not be replaced" by any other machine.

[28] In the MS, "khams sul", which is evidently an orthographic slip.

[29] The last 10 words are without clear meaning. They are about the use of the wedge in the "wall of the town" (sur al-madina).

[30] Several words of this phrase are not clear in the manuscript; the proposed reading is a tentative reconstruction.

* Professor of History and Philosophy of Science, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco. Senior Research Fellow, Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation, Manchester, UK, and Chief Editor of www.MuslimHeritage.com.

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by: Professor Mohammed Abattouy, Tue 07 February, 2012