MEMORY OF THE WORLD
Turkey - Manuscripts of Kandilli Observatory
The aim of this project is the preservation of a collection of about 1300 works on astronomy in
three languages (Turkish, Persian and Arabic) held in the Library of Kandilli Observatory and
Earthquake Research Institute at Bogaziçi University in Istanbul.
Mathematics, medicine and astronomy were the core disciplines of Islamic science in
the Ottoman Empire.
The collection in the Library of the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research
Institute specializes in astronomical, astrological, mathematical and miscellaneous
works. This is perhaps the only collection in the world that houses manuscripts on
related subject matters. Therefore, it is significant for those scholars and experts who
are interested in these subjects and Ottoman and Islamic cultural structure.
The collection in the library comprises a total of 1339 works in 581 volumes.
822 of the works are in Turkish, 414 are in Arabic and 103 are in Persian.
Since this collection consists of a number of unique and rare manuscripts it occupies
an important place among other manuscript collections in the world.
There is no preservation budget. The collection is stored in a single room in glass cabinets and the
manuscripts are put into individual envelopes. There are no special regulations of room
temperature or humidity. The manuscripts have been microfilmed for recovery purposes. There is
no preservation staff, but one person has been assigned responsibility for these manuscripts.
The collection holds 1339 works in astronomy, astrology, mathematics, geography and
miscellaneous written in various dates from 11th to the early 20th centuries.
In the Islamic world, astronomical and astrological works and calendars were used in the following
areas: determining the proper time for planting and harvesting in farming, determining eclipses of
the sun and moon, determining the appropriate organization of one’s day, ship navigation (for
example, when the rûz-i Kasim or the winter arrives the ships come into harbour and war and
merchant ships do not navigate), finding directions and the time with an astrolabe; determining
prayer times in accordance with the position of the sun, determining sunrise and sunset as well as
the rising and setting of the moon, determining the arrival of Nevrûz (the first day of spring) and the
start of the Celâlî year according to Nevrûz, setting the time for judicial events and organizing
social life, such as setting work hours. In other words, astronomical and astrological works were
extremely important in organizing daily, religious, judicial and social activities.
The first calendar that occupies a significant place in the Islamic world is Turkish and was
presented to Fatih Sultan Mehmet (Mehmet the Conqueror). This work, entitled Takvîm ve
ahkâm-i sâl, comprises tables of the names of the Ottoman Sultans up to Fatih Sultan
Mehmet, shows the signs of stars and planetary houses, the qualities of good and bad
vibrations in the body, superstitious observances related to the stars and planets and the
four seasons of the year. This calendar was prepared for the year 1452 AD (See Fehmi
Edhem Karatay, Topkapi Saray Müzesi Kütüphanesi Türkçe Yazmalar Katalogu, v. 1,
Istanbul: Topkapi Sarayi Müzesi, 1961, p. 536). The Kandilli collection contains another
calendar in Persian prepared in 1489-90 AD and presented to Sultan Beyazit. As seen in
Bayezit's own manuscripts, the Sultan's personal seals are found at the beginning and end
of this calendar. In addition, since this collection contains works on astronomy, astrology,
mathematics and geography produced over many centuries, it reflects the cultural and
scientific accumulation of a nation. In particular, the rûznâmes are important in showing the
religious festivals and prayer times of the time in the Islamic world. In his work Osmanli
Türklerinde Ilim, Abdülhak Adnan Adivar (See Abdülhak Adnan Adivar, Osmanli Türklerinde
Ilim, 2th ed., Istanbul: Maarif Vekaleti, 1943 and A[bdülhak] Adnan Adivar, Osmanli
Türklerinde Ilim, 3th ed., Istanbul: Remzi, 1970) traces the history of science among the
Ottoman Turks, relying on various sources found in the Kandilli Observatory Library
(including Lalande's Tables astronomiques, a Turkish copy of Cassini's tables of astronomy
and Takiyeddîn's Âlâtu’l-rasadiye li-zîc-i sehinsâhiye etc). Since some works in this
collection are not known by numerous scholars and experts they possess importance of an
original nature.
The oldest works in this collection are Risâle-i sî-fasl, translated into Turkish by Ahmed-i
Daî (died after 824/1421) from Persian in the first half of the 15th centry, Tahdîd nihâyât alamâkin tashîh masâfât al-masâkin in Arabic by Birunî (362-443/973-1051) in 1025 AD and
Lubab al-ihtiyarât fî ta’yîn al-awkât in Persian by Husayn b. Ali b. Hasan Bayhakî al-Kâsifî
Husayn Waiz (died 910/1505) in 1461-62 AD.
A gurrename is the Turkish word for an Ottoman book -- concerned with the first day(s) of
the lunar month(s).
TULIPS
Everybody thinks that tulips come from Holland. Actually, Tulips are native to Central Asia
and Turkey. In the 16th Century they were brought to Holland from Turkey, and quickly
became widely popular. Today Tulips are cultivated in Holland in great numbers and in
huge fields. Dutch bulbs, including tulips and daffodils, are exported all around the world
so people think that it's originated from there as well. In fact many cultivated varieties were
widely grown in Turkey long before they were introduced to European gardens.
The period in our history between 1718-1730 is called the "Tulip Era", under the reign of
sultan Ahmed III. This period is also expressed as an era of peace and enjoyment. Tulips
became and important style of life within the arts, folklore and the daily life. Many
embroidery and textile clothing handmade by woman, carpets, tiles, miniatures etc. had
tulip designs or shapes, large tulip gardens around the Golden Horn (a horn-shaped
estuary, dividing the European side of Istanbul.) were frequented by upscale people, and
so on. Also, the first printing house was founded by Ibrahim Müteferrika in Istanbul. The
Tulip Era was brought to an end after the Patrona Halil revolt in 1730, ending with the dethronation of the Sultan.
The botanical name for tulips, Tulipa, is derived from the Turkish word "tulbend" or
"turban", which the flower resembles. It's considered as the King of Bulbs.
Like many other products in western Europe, such as the potato and
tobacco, tulips came to the Netherlands from another part of the world.
Not introduced to the Netherlands until 1593, the tulip was first seen by
Europeans in Turkey. It was there in 1556 that Busbeq (A.G. Busbequius),
the ambassador sent by the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I to the Sultan of
the Ottoman Empire, witnessed the flowers growing in the gardens of
Adrianople and Constantinople. Scholars now believe that the Turks had
been cultivating tulips as early as AD 1000. Most of these tulips probably
originated in areas around the Black Sea, in the Crimea, and in the steppes
to the north of the Caucasus.
Soon after Ambassador Busbeq noticed the flowers in the Ottoman
Empire, tulips became one of the most sought after luxury items in Europe.
At first, in the 1560s, trade and diplomatic interaction with the Ottoman
Levant allowed for a small number of tulips to be imported into Hapsburg
Europe. In this early stage, tulip ownership was primarily limited to
wealthy nobles and scholars. Antwerp, Brussels, Augsburg, Paris, and
Prague are among some of the cities where such tulips first began to
circulate.
A key figure in the history of European tulip interest is the famous
botanist Carolus Clusius. Clusius, who had achieved great recognition for
his work with medicinal herbs in Prague and Vienna, accepted a position
as head botanist of the Dutch university in Leiden in the year 1593.
Previously, he had met with former Ambassador Busbeq in Vienna and
accepted several tulip bulbs and seeds. At Leiden’s innovative hortus
botanicus, or botanical garden, Clusius cultivated the bulbs and seeds and
thus introduced the flower to Holland.
Through botanical experimentation, Clusius and other horticulturists
produced new color variations in tulips. This breeding of tulips with new
color combinations had two important effects on the European —
primarily Dutch — tulip market. The most elegantly and vividly colored of
the new tulips, such as the Semper Augustus, which was white with red
flames, became exorbitantly priced. Only the wealthiest aristocrats and
merchants could afford these striped hybrid varieties. By the early 1630s,
however, flower growers had begun to raise vast crops of more simplycolored tulips. These flowers, such as the Yellow Crown tulips, could be
purchased cheaply by even the poorer segments of society. With an evergrowing number of varieties and an ever-widening price range, tulips
became one of the few luxury goods that could be purchased by members
of all classes.
The popularity of the tulip in the Dutch Republic reached its pinnacle in
the years 1636-37 during the craze known as ‘tulip mania.’
II
Ala al-Dīn Ali Kuşçu (1403 – 16 December 1474) was an astronomer who
He worked at this observatory in Samarkand, Uzbekistan (its ruins were
discovered by Russian archeologists in 1908. This one was built in its
honour in 1970s)
Ulugh Beg wrote the Zij-i-Sultani in 1437. For a century it was considered
the most accurate and extensive star catalogue until its time.
This sort of work is now being done by huge telescopes sent into
outerspace.
Ulugh Beg (who was eventually assassinated) built this madrasah in 1420s
The commentator was
Muslih al-Din al-Ansari al-Lari. He taught the Moghul emperor
Humayun,(1530-56). He was a Persian scholar and historian who after
Humayun's death, established himself as a merchant in Aleppo an Istanbul.
He wrote numerous annotations on numerous worksof philosophy and
logic.
then added the observatory
The city of Samarkand is most noted for its central position on the Silk
Road between China and the West, (it is mentioned in Marco Polo's
Travels) and it is also famous for being an Islamic centre for scholarly
study. This is the Registan, the ancient centre of the city
Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in
Literature, explores the metaphysical significance of the marketplace in a
volume of poetry entitled Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known,
2002.
To hear him read from this collection go to:
http://forum-network.org/tags/samarkand-other-markets-i-have-known
scoll forward to 46 minutes......to hear it
The Bibi-Khanym Mosque remains one of the city's most famous
landmarks. (This is what it looked like in 1907; taken by color
photography pioneer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii It shows the
mosque's appearance after its collapse in the earthquake of 1897.) It was
built with precious stones from India between 1399 and 1404
Today it looks like this (none of the orginal remains):
CLIKC ON THIS HYPERLINK TO GO ON A 3D TOUR OF THIS
MOSQUE
http://www.world-heritage-tour.org/asia/central-asia/uzbekistan/samarkand/bibi-khanymmosque/sphere-quicktime.html
http://www.scribd.com/doc/9376276/Cultural-Translation-in-Early-Modern-Europe
this is a book edited by Peter Burke
Got to Page 204 for the chapter on the translation of European Turkish
culture
III
IV
Risala means “message” in Arabic. In Islam it has a broader meaning.
dar hay a, written in Persian in 1235; its appen- dix the Hall-i mushkildt-i Mu
Tnniya, also writ- ten in Persian, probably shortly after the Risalah-
Ris¯ala dar hay'a ("Treatise on Spherical Astronomy") by the
IV
irtifa
means 'altitude'
V
Marifet-name by
İbrahim Hakkı Erzurumi
Book of Gnosis
Ibrahim Hakkı Erzurumi (18 May 1703 – 22 June 1780) was a Turkish and
Sufi philosopher and encyclopedist. In 1756 he published his work
Marifetname (Book of Gnosis) which was a compilation and commentary
on astronomy, mathematics, anatomy, psychology, philosophy, and Islamic
mysticism. It is famous for containing the first treatment of postCopernican astronomy by a Muslim scholar.
is generally understood to be the inner, mystical dimension of Islam
Oriental medical manuscripts of Uzbekistan
were not extensively studied. The last twenty
years, however, brought Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan
to semi-isolation. For centuries Uzbekistan had
intensive relationships with these countries in
many ways including medical. Many medical
manuscripts were brought to Uzbek states (1)
from different parts of Islamic world. Many works,
including some writings of Abu Ali Ibn Sina
(Avicenna) were composed there.
IX
Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf al-Shami al-Asadi (Arabic: ‫تقي الدين‬
‫محمد بن معروف الشامي السعدي‬, Turkish: Takiyuddin) (1526–1585) was a major
Ottoman Turkish[1] or Arab[2] Muslim polymath: a scientist, astronomer
and astrologer, engineer and inventor, clockmaker, physicist and
mathematician, botanist and zoologist, pharmacist and physician, Islamic
judge and mosque timekeeper, Islamic philosopher and theologian, and
madrasah teacher. He was the author of more than 90 books on a wide
variety of subjects, including astronomy, astrology, clocks, engineering,
mathematics, mechanics, optics and natural philosophy,[3][4] though only
24 of those works have survived.[4] He was widely regarded by his
contemporaries in the Ottoman Empire as "the greatest scientist on
earth".[5][6]
One of his books, Al-Turuq al-samiyya fi al-alat al-ruhaniyya (Arabic:
‫()الطرق السامية في اآلالت الروحانية‬The Sublime Methods of Spiritual Machines)
(1551), described the workings of a rudimentary steam turbine, predating
the more famous discovery of steam power by Giovanni Branca in
1629.[7] Taqi al-Din is also known for the invention of a six-cylinder
'Monobloc' pump in 1559, the invention of a variety of accurate clocks
(including a weight-powered astronomical clock with an alarm)[8][9] from
1556 to 1580, the possible invention of an early telescope some time
before 1574,[4] his construction of the Istanbul observatory of Taqi al-Din
in 1577, and his astronomical activity there until 1580.
Taqi al-Din was born in 1521 in Damascus, Syria, and was educated in
Cairo, Egypt. He became a qadi (judge in Islamic law), Islamic theologian,
muwaqqit (religious timekeeper) at a mosque and teacher at a madrasah
for some time, while publishing a number of scientific books during this
time. In 1571, he moved to Istanbul to become the official astronomer for
Sultan Selim II of the Ottoman Empire. When Selim II died, Murad III
became the new sultan, and Taqi al-Din convinced Murad to fund the
building of a new observatory on the basis that it would help in making
accurate astrological predictions. The project began in 1575,[2] and was
completed in 1577, at nearly the same time as Tycho Brahe's observatory
at Uraniborg. This would become known as the Istanbul observatory of
Taqi al-Din, an observatory built to rival Ulugh Beg's Samarkand
observatory. At the new observatory, Taqi al-Din updated the old Zij
astronomical tables, particularly Ulugh Beg's Zij-i-Sultani, describing the
motions of the planets, sun, moon and stars.[3][10] He invetned a framed
sextant similar to what Tycho Brahe later used as shown in the picture
Alat ar-Ruhaniyya
measn the Sublime Method of Spiritual Machines
n 16th-century Damascus, the polymath judge Taqi al-Din penned some 19
books on physics and hydraulics, including the intriguingly titled Al-Turuq alSaniyya fi al-Alat al-Ruhaniyya (Sublime Methods of Spiritual Machines), an
illustrated catalog written around 1551 that describes clocks, pumps, loadlifting equipment and other contrivances, including a water-powered sixcylinder “monobloc” pump. Its scoop paddlewheel turns an axle that sets cams
and piston rods in motion, drawing water through a series of valves and
accelerating it with great force into a delivery pipe. In the West, ironically,
Agostino Ramelli, Italian physicist and author of the 1588 tome Le diverse et
artificiose machine, received credit for devices Taqi al-Din had published 37
years earlier.