Two hitherto unknown Arabic Euclid manuscripts (Q2346652): Difference between revisions

Among the numerous manuscripts that Iranian libraries have made available in digital form in recent times are two manuscripts of Euclid's \textit{Elements} from the Majlis Library in Tehran (call numbers 15480 and 2060) of which modern scholarship had not been previously aware. The author describes both manuscripts and carries out a preliminary investigation in order to place them within the Arabic manuscript tradition of the \textit{Elements}. He finds that MS 15480/1 belongs to the so-called Group A and could possibly be a copy of the Chester Beatty manuscript Arabic 3035 from this group. MS 2060/1, once in the possession of the 17th-century Scottish orientalist George Strachan and catalogued as a commentary on the \textit{Elements}, appears to fall neatly into what is called the primary transmission and may fill up some gaps that the incomplete manuscripts Copenhagen LXXXI and Fatih 3439/1 have left. In an appendix, the author describes some characteristics of the commentary on the \textit{Elements} likewise contained in Majlis 2060 and finds that it was most probably based on a manuscript from Group A.