The commentator's craft: building a mathematical commentary from quotations (Q2001448)

This is a presentation of an anonymous commentary on Euclid's \textit{Elements}, preserved in two manuscripts in Hyderabad. After mentioning some general characteristics of commentaries, singled out by \textit{R. Netz} [Rev. Hist. Math. 4, No. 2, 261--288 (1998; Zbl 0967.01003)], there follows a typology of commentaries, a presentation of the manuscripts, both incomplete at either end, with the name of the author unknown, as well as with unknown date of composition, and their stylistic analysis. Their contents consist ``almost entirely [of] quotations drawn from earlier commentators.'' Al-Anṭākī is most frequently cited. Also used are Ibn al-Haytham, al-Nayrīzī, and Ibn Hūd.