The document presented here is a two-page fragment of the work known in medieval Europe as the Picatrix. This was a book of astronomy, astrology, mystical and occult knowledge, alchemy, and magic composed in Arabic in Moorish Spain some time before the middle of the 11th century. The version known in Europe was a Latin translation of a lost Arabic original, dating from around 1250. Jun 25, 2017 Download link of an PDF version of the translated Picatrix at the end of the article. It is referred to as the Picatrix, the four-hundred-page book containing comprehensive details of magic and astrology which explains to the reader how to create magical statues, talismans and even entire cities using the power of astrology.
Picatrix is the name used today, and historically in, for a originally written in titled غاية الحكيم Ġāyat al-, which most scholars assume was written in the middle of the 11th century, though a supported argument for composition in the first half of the 10th century has been made. The Arabic title has been translated as 'The Aim of the Sage' or 'The Goal of The Wise'. The original Arabic work was translated into Spanish and then into Latin during the 13th century.
The name 'Picatrix' is also sometimes used to refer to the author.Picatrix is a composite work that synthesizes older works on. One of the most influential interpretations suggests it is to be regarded as a 'handbook of talismanic magic'. Another researcher summarizes it as 'the most thorough exposition of celestial magic in Arabic', indicating the sources for the work as 'Arabic texts on, and produced in the in the ninth and tenth centuries A.D.' According to 'In reality the Latin version of the Picatrix is as indispensable as the or the writings of for understanding a conspicuous part of the production of the Renaissance, including the figurative arts.' It has significantly influenced West European from in the 15th century, to in the 17th century. The manuscript in the passed through several hands:, and.According to the prologue of the Latin translation, Picatrix was translated into from the Arabic by order of at some time between 1256 and 1258. The Latin version was produced sometime later, based on translation of the Spanish manuscripts.
It has been attributed to Maslama ibn Ahmad (an Andalusian ), but many have called this attribution into question. Consequently, the author is sometimes indicated as 'Pseudo-Majriti'.The Spanish and Latin versions were the only ones known to Western scholars until Wilhelm Printz discovered an Arabic version in or around 1920. Contents.Content and sourcesThe work is divided into four books, which exhibit a marked absence of systematic exposition. Observed 'Picatrix prescribes propitious times and places and the attitude and gestures of the suppliant; he also indicates what terms must be used in petitioning the stars.' As an example, Seznec then reproduces a prayer to Saturn from the work, noting that has pointed out that this invocation exhibits 'the accent and even the very terms of a Greek astrological prayer to Kronos. This is one indication that the sources of Picatrix are in large part Hellenistic.' :O Master of sublime name and great power, supreme Master; O Master Saturn: Thou, the Cold, the Sterile, the Mournful, the Pernicious; Thou, whose life is sincere and whose word sure; Thou, the Sage and Solitary, the Impenetrable; Thou, whose promises are kept; Thou who art weak and weary; Thou who hast cares greater than any other, who knowest neither pleasure nor joy; Thou, the old and cunning, master of all artifice, deceitful, wise, and judicious; Thou who bringest prosperity or ruin, and makest men to be happy or unhappy!
I conjure thee, O Supreme Father, by Thy great benevolence and Thy generous bounty, to do for me what I ask.According to Garin:The work's point of departure is the unity of reality divided into symmetrical and corresponding degrees, planes or worlds: a reality stretched between two poles: the original One, God the source of all existence, and man, the microcosm, who, with his science ( scientia) brings the dispersion back to its origin, identifying and using their correspondences.According to the Prologue, the author researched over two hundred works in the creation of Picatrix. However, there are three significant Near/Middle Eastern influences:, the, and a text called Agriculture. The influence of Jabir Ibn Hayyan comes in the form of a cosmological background that removes magical practices from the context of diabolical influences and reasserts these practices as having a divine origin. The author of Picatrix utilizes theories of Template:Dn that mirror the work of Jabir. Authorship and significance of titleThe Arab historian, ascribed authorship of Picatrix (referring to the original Arabic version, under the title Ġāyat al-Ḥakīm) to the mathematician, al-Majriti, who died between 1005CE and 1008CE. However, according to Holmyard, the earliest manuscript attribution of the work to Maslama al-Majriti was made by the alchemist, who died shortly after 1360, while Ibn Khaldun died some 20 years later.
However, no biography of al-Majriti mentions him as the author of this work.More recent attributions of authorship range from 'the Arabic version is anonymous' to reiterations of the old claim that the author is 'the celebrated astronomer and mathematician Abu l-Qasim Maslama b. Ahmad Al-Majriti'.
One recent study in Studia Islamica suggests that the authorship of this work should be attributed to Maslama b. Qasim al-Qurtubi (died 353/964), who according to Ibn al-Faradi was 'a man of charms and talismans'.
If this suggestion is correct it would place the work in the context of and.The odd Latin title is sometimes explained as a sloppy transliteration of one 'Buqratis', mentioned several times in the second of the four books of the work. Others have suggested that the title (or the name of the author) is a way of attributing the work to Hippocrates (via a transcription of the name Burqratis or Biqratis in the Arabic text). Where it appears in the Arabic original, the Latin text does translate the name Burqratis as Picatrix, however, this still does not establish the identity of Burqratis. Some have argued that this was a corruption of the name, but this explanation has fallen into disfavor because the text cites Hippocrates under the name Ypocras.However, another interpretation, perhaps more convincing, suggests that Picatrix is a translation of the first name of the individual often indicated as the author of the work, (pseudo) Maslama al-Majriti. Maslama derives from the Arabic root s-l-m, of which one of the meanings offered in Arabic lexica is 'to sting'. According to this view Maslama would have been translated as Picatrix, which is a feminine variant of the Latin picator 'one who stings or pricks', based on the translator's belief that Maslama was a feminine form.
Obviously the explanation of Picatrix as a translation of Maslama would apply just as well to Abu l-Qasim Maslama b. Qasim al-Qurtub as to Abu l-Qasim Maslama b. This article was sourced from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S.
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Author: N.APublisher: Lulu.comISBN: Category: AlchemyPage: 140View: 6020Picatrix, known in Arabic as the Ghayat al-Hikam, the Goal of the Wise, is the most important grimoire of astrological magic. Written in Arabic circa AD 1000 and translated into Latin in 1256, the Picatrix explains both the philosophy and practice involved in the creation of astrological talismans. This clear and coherent English translation of books I & II of the four books of the Pingree critical edition of the Latin Picatrix is a key text for both the practitioner and scholar of medieval and Renaissance magic and includes instructions for hundreds of talismans for love, wealth, health, success and protection.
Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der astrologischen Literatur der JudenAuthor: Reimund LeichtPublisher: Mohr SiebeckISBN: 112Category: HistoryPage: 413View: 7560English summary: In these five studies, Reimund Leicht gives an introduction to central aspects of the history of Hebrew astrological literature in antiquity and the Middle Ages. He also provides the most comprehensive description which has been given up to now of the rich astrological literary tradition of Judaism, which had previously only been available mainly in handwritten manuscripts. He reconstructs the beginnings of Jewish astrological literature during Hellenism and presents a corpus of astrological texts in Hebrew and Aramaic which were previously completely unknown.
The author studies the way this astrological legacy endured and developed in medieval Judaism in Europe and in the Orient and looks into the origins of the Jewish astro-magic of the Sefer Raziel. In conclusion, he discusses the Hebrew astromagical translation literature. German description: Reimund Leicht fuhrt mit funf Untersuchungen in zentrale Aspekte der Geschichte der hebraischen astrologischen Literatur der Antike und des Mittelalters ein. Er bietet zugleich die bislang umfassendste Darstellung der reichen astrologischen Literaturtradition des Judentums, die bisher uberwiegend nur in Handschriften zuganglich und damit auch dem Fachpublikum kaum bekannt war. Am Beginn steht eine Rekonstruktion der Anfange der astrologischen Literatur der Juden in der Epoche des Hellenismus. In einem zweiten Teil stellt er ein bislang vollig unbekanntes Korpus von astrologischen Texten in hebraischer und aramaischer Sprache vor, das ein neues Licht auf die judische Kultur der Spatantike im Wechselspiel von rabbinischer Tradition und hellenistischer und christlicher Umweltkultur wirft. Das Fortleben und die Weiterentwicklung dieses astrologischen Erbes im judischen Mittelalter in Europa und im Orient ist Schwerpunkt des dritten Teils des Buches.
Im vierten Teil untersucht der Autor die Entstehung der judischen Astromagie des Sefer Raziel und ihr Fortwirken im lateinischen Mittelalter. Abschliessend diskutiert er die hebraische astromagische Ubersetzungsliteratur, die vor allem im mittelalterlichen Spanien und in der Provence entstand und dort, ahnlich wie im Christentum, zunachst heftige Auseinandersetzungen uber das Wesen der (Astro-)Magie hervorrief.