AL-SHARIF AL-IDRISI The The world world in the the …al-idrisi.eu/docs/kick_off_meeting/presentations/AL...Vida de al-Idrisi I Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd
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AL AL - - SHARIF AL SHARIF AL - - IDRISI IDRISI The The world world in in the the twelfth twelfth century century M M ª ª Dolores Rodr Dolores Rodr í í guez guez - - G G ó ó mez mez University University of of Granada Granada
Le monde d’al-Idrisi est centré sur la Méditerranée, carrefour de trois civilisations : l'Empire byzantin, le monde islamique, l'Occident chrétien. Chacune a construit son identité autour de la référence à Dieu. La plus ancienne, Byzance, revendique l'héritage de l'Antiquité gréco-latine. Elle est fondée sur le christianisme orthodoxe et dominée par l'empereur. Le monde musulman a une unité religieuse - l'islam - et linguistique - l'arabe. Il est divisé en royaumes et califats rivaux qui concourent à l'émergence de brillants foyers culturels. L'Occident chrétien se caractérise par son dynamisme après l'an mil: croissance économique et démographique, expansion et conquêtes. Si le christianisme catholique est un facteur d'unité, le pouvoir est éclaté en différents royaumes et duchés. Al-Idrîsî dresse un état du monde au XIIe siècle, au moment où les relations entre chrétiens d'Occident, chrétiens d'Orient et musulmans se modifient. Si la Sicile, Cordoue et Tolède apparaissent alors comme les carrefours pacifiques des trois civilisations, la Reconquista et les croisades vont ériger un monde contre un autre et dessiner un nouvel ordre mondial. Composée autour de 1160, la Géographie se situe entre la deuxième et la troisième croisade, quand quatre États latins sont déjà fondés en Orient : Antioche, Édesse, Tripoli et Jérusalem. Al-Idrîsî n'en parle que d'un point de vue strictement géographique, évacuant toutes références historique et politique, sinon pour signaler qu'à Tolède et Jérusalem les chrétiens ont simplement succédé aux musulmans. The world of al-Idrisi is centered on the Mediterranean, the crossroads of three civilizations: the Byzantine Empire, the Islamic world, the Christian West. Each has built its identity around the reference to God. The oldest, Byzantium, claiming the heritage of Greco-Roman antiquity. It is based on orthodox Christianity and dominated by the emperor. The Muslim world has a religious unity - Islam - and language - Arabic. It is divided into kingdoms and rival caliphate that contribute to the emergence of brilliant cultural centers. The Christian West is characterized by its dynamism after the millennium: economic and population growth, expansion and conquest. If Catholic Christianity is a unifying factor, power is split into different kingdoms and duchies. �Al-Idrîsî describes the state of the world in the twelfth century, when relations between Western Christians, Eastern Christians and Muslims are changing. If Sicily, Cordoba and Toledo appear as peaceful crossroads of three civilizations, the Reconquista and the Crusades will build a world against another and draw a new world order. Composed around 1160, the geography is between the second and third crusades, when four Latin states are already based in the East: Antioch, Edessa, Tripoli and Jerusalem. Al-Idrîsî does not mention that a strictly geographical point of view, removing all historical and political references, except to point out that Toledo and Jerusalem Christians have simply succeeded to the Muslims �
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Vida de al-Idrisi I Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Idrīs al-ʿĀlī bi-amr Allāh, called also al-S̲h̲arīf al-Idrīsī because of his exalted lineage. His family was descended from Muhammad by his daughter Fatima and his cousin Ali. For this reason, he was a “sharif”, “nobel”.�
Vida de al-Idrisi II His ancestors, Idrisids, formed one the first Muslim dynasty that ruled Morocco, and founded the city of Fez.�
KINGDOMS OF TAIFAS (1009KINGDOMS OF TAIFAS (1009--1091)1091)
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Vida de al-Idrisi III One branch of this family settled in al-Andalus, and came to rule the Taifa (a little state) of Málaga. Al-Idrisi was a grandson of Idris II, king of this Taifa. Biographical notices on him are rather rare, [and according to F. Pons Boigues this is to be explained by the fact that the Arab biographers considered al-Idrīsī to be a renegade, since he had lived at the court of a Christian king and written in praise of him in his work]. His family left Malaga to drop it in the hands of the Taifa of Granada, in 1057. �
Vida de al-Idrisi IV Some western writers state that he was born at Ceuta in 493/1100, when the West was governed by the Almoravid dynasty, originated from a religious and political movement founded by some Berber tribes of the southern Sahara around 1039. He studied at Cordova (hence the by-name al-Ḳurtubī). He states in his book that he travelled a great deal in al-Andalus (that describes in detail in his works) and in North Africa. The circumstances with led him to settle in Sicily at the court of Roger II are not known. �
Urban. Mosaic depicting Roger II crowned by Jesus. Martorana
Al-Idrisi became famous as a geographer. For this reason, the Norman king of Sicily, Roger II, called him to work in his court. Roger II, like his contemporaries, was interested in a court surrounded by scholars and intellectuals to give prestige to his crown. When andalusi andalusi traveller Ibn Ḏj̲ubayr visited Palermo, few years after the death of al-Idrisi, he was impressed most of all, when he discovers the paradox of an Islamo-Christian community, living in harmony under the auspices of a régime of quite extraordinary tolerance. This spirit, which seems to permeate the relationships of social life, to such an extent that the foreign traveller perceives it in the amicable attitude of those who greet him, emanates from the court. Al-Idrisi was filled with all kinds of hospitality and gifts by the king, in order to settle permanently in court. This, in keeping with his new protector, built a silver celestial sphere, wonder of all who saw it.�
األرض مدّورة آتدبير الكرةاألرض مدّورة آتدبير الكرة ““TheThe earthearth isisroundround, as a , as a spheresphere””
•• ""The earth is round The earth is round like a sphere, and the like a sphere, and the water stick to it and water stick to it and maintained it through maintained it through natural balance, that natural balance, that remain unchangedremain unchanged““, , saidsaid alal--IdrisiIdrisi..
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Indeed, al-Idrisi, like other geographers since Vth century, believed the earth was round �
We don’t know the details of the last days of his life and of his death, which some state to have occurred in 560/1165, when al-Andalus and the Maghreb were governed by other important imaghrebian dinasty: Almohads.�
TheirTheir worksworks
آتاب نزهة المشتاق في إختراق اآلفاق آتاب نزهة المشتاق في إختراق اآلفاق •• ((EnjoyEnjoy who who longs to travel the worldlongs to travel the world), ), alsoalso knownknown asasآتاب رّجار آتاب رّجار ((Book of Roger).Book of Roger).
•• Poetry.Poetry.آتاب أنس المهج ورْوض الفرج آتاب أنس المهج ورْوض الفرج •• ((Recreation of Recreation of
souls and garden of entertainments).souls and garden of entertainments).آتاب الجامع ألشتات النبات آتاب الجامع ألشتات النبات •• ((Compendium of the Compendium of the
properties of various plantsproperties of various plants))..
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Nuzhat al-mushtaq fî ikhtirâq al-âfâq. Poetry. Just few verses of this author are preserved. كتاب أنس المهج وروض الفرج (Recreation of souls and garden of entertainments), small book in which he describes the routes and roads of the world then known, and the distance between populations. كتاب الجامع لأشتات النبات (Compendium of the properties of various plants), in which he give synonyms for each drug in a great number of languages, sometimes as many as twelve.�
•• Claudio Ptolomeo.Claudio Ptolomeo.•• Paulo Paulo OrosioOrosio..•• ArabArab geographersgeographers..•• HisHis ownown experienceexperience..•• TravellersTravellers andand merchantsmerchants arrivedarrived atat thethe
portsports ofof SicillySicilly..•• An important group of observers and An important group of observers and
illustrators.illustrators.
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Sources of the Book of Roger Tels Avicenne ou Averroès, al-Idrîsî fait partie des savants arabes qui intègrent le savoir grec à leur culture. Au-delà de leur ouvre, ils sont les acteurs de la transmission du savoir grec et de sa redécouverte en Occident à partir du XIIIe siècle. Traduits en latin, leurs textes vont bouleverser la vision du monde. Un tel syncrétisme culturel est une tradition de la culture arabe médiévale. Dès le VIIe siècle, l'islam assimile tous les savoirs rencontrés lors de son expansion. Philosophie, science et religion se conjuguent dans l'Orient médiéval alors que l'Occident professe une théorie chrétienne de la connaissance. Like Avicenna or Averroes, al-Idrîsî is one of the Arab scholars who joined the Greek knowledge to his culture. They were players in the transmission of Greek knowledge and its rediscovery in the West in the thirteenth century. Translated into Latin, their texts will upset the world view. This kind of cultural syncretism is a tradition of medieval Arab culture. From the seventh century, Islam treats all knowledge encountered during its expansion. Philosophy, science and religion come together in the medieval East while the West professes a Christian theory of knowledge. Claudius Ptolemy, the greatest of classical geographers, whose Geography, written in the second century, had been completely lost for Europe, but was preserved in the Muslim world in an Arabic translation.�Paulo Orosius, a Spanish whose popular history, written in the V century, included a volume of descriptive geography. Arab geographers. His own experience. The sailor’s accounts that arrived at the ports of Palermo, Mesina, Catania or Siracusa. During 15 years, a group of observers and illustrators was sent to other places of the world unknow. �
According to information found at the end of the six complete manuscripts which have survived, the book was completed in 548/1154, and this is the only certain date known in the life of al-Idrīsī. Arab-Muslim geographic literature had been concentrated since the tenth century on the description of the dâr al-islâm (“the Islamic world”). Idrîsî opened it up once more to further horizons, by following the Ptolemaic division of the world into climates or latitudes. He divided each of the seven climates (aqalim) into ten cross-sectional parts (ayza’) and thus split the known world into seventy compartments to which the same interest is devoted in theory, even if the knowledge is not equal for all the regions. Each compartment has its own map. The majority have been published by K. Miller in his Mappae arabicae. In this book, the author provides distances between major cities and describes the customs, people, products and climate of the known world. Each locality has its own “text” which are all relatively homogenous: location, natural resources, facilities (market, baths, etc.), production, and any curiosities that existed, reduced to a minimum. The work lists more than 5000 place names, which is colossal. �
He created a new symbol system: the seas are blue with white undulating nets; rivers and most of the lakes are green; towns and cities are symbolised by golden rosettes, while mountains are either represented by mounts or chains in various colours. The names of the regions are shown in red and the localities in black. �
Tabula rogerianaaccording to composition by Konrad Miller (d. 1933)
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The book had a planisphere in the introductory chapter: the Tabula rogeriana. This appears to be a copy of the collage created by Konrad Miller (d. 1933), which may be based on the 1486 Oxford manuscript (MS. Pococke 375). Do you recognize the world? . �
Tabula rogeriana upside down
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And now? It is not known why the author designed his map to the north down, south up. Although the book contained defects and errors, due to the limited technical knowledge at the time, seen as a whole is a monument that served as geographical essential guide to the work of later geographers. It is said that the indications on the Atlantic Ocean served as a guide for sailors who sailed to the New World. This is the world of al-Idrisi, considered the greatest geographer of the Middle Ages, a world of North-south, East-West relationships, searching of knowledge and venturing into the unknown: the world of culture.�
Western Fragment of Al Idrisi Rogeriana Tábula,according to composition by Konrad Miller (d. 1933)
Eastern Fragment of Al Idrisi Rogeriana Tábula,according to composition by Konrad Miller (d. 1933)
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Although the book contained defects and errors, due to the limited technical knowledge at the time, seen as a whole is a monument that served as geographical essential guide to the work of the later geographers. It is said that the indications on the Atlantic Ocean served as a guide for sailors who sailed to the New World.�
