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Or 5305
- Record Id:
- 032-003719807
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-003719807
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100110632004.0x000001
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100128063881.0x000002
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Or 5305
- Title:
-
[Kitāb al-masālik wa-al-mamālik كتاب مسالك الممالك]
[Iṣṭakhrī, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad إصطخري، إبراهيم بن محمد]
- Scope & Content:
-
A descriptive geography of the Islamic world by Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad al-Fārisī al-Karkhī al-Iṣṭakhrī (أبو إسحاق إبراهيم بن محمد الفارسي الكرخي الإصطخري, d. 957/98).
The present volume's colophon attributes it to the scribe Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad Faq[ī]h al-Sīnābī (إبراهيم بن أحمد فقه السينابي, see f. 79r, lines 23-24), and is dated 878/1473-74. This date appears too early considering the manuscript's paper and condition. A 2021 study describes the present manuscript, including its colophon, as an 18th-century copy of Istanbul, Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi, Ayasofya 3349, itself a copy of Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi, Ayasofya 2613 [see Danilenko, Nadja, Picturing the Islamicate World: The Story of al-Iṣṭakhrī's Book of Routes and Realms (Leiden: Brill, 2021), pp. 227, 228 and 242].
The text describes the natural features, societies, and main cities and towns and the distances and routes between them, for regions from North Africa to Sind, with most space being given to the descriptions of Iran and its surroundings. The text is accompanied by labelled maps drawn in gold ink, comprising a world map and 20 maps of the regions (ff. 3r [world map], 6r, 12r, 14r, 15r, 18r, 20v, 21v, 23r, 25v, 28r, 40r, 42v, 45r, 47v, 49v, 52r, 54v, 57v, 60v and 67v).
Margins of some folios have been damaged and repaired, possibly indicating the removal of ownership stamps (ff. 2, 18-19, 46 and 78).
Begins (f. 1v, lines 1-6):
...والحمد لله رب العالمين
وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد النبي وعلى آل محمد وسلم وسئل الله التوفيق وخاتمة السعادة
الحمد لله مبدئ النعم وولي الحمد وصلى الله على محمد وعلى آل محمد أما بعد فإني
ذكرت في كتابي هذا أقاليم الأرض على الممالك وقصدت منها بلاد الإسلام بتفصيل
مدنها وتقسيم ما يعود بالأعمال المجموعة إليها ولم أقصد الأقاليم السبعة التي عليها قسمة
الأرض بل جعلت كل قطعة اٯرزٮها (!) مفردة مصورة...
Ends (f. 79r, lines 16-22):
ومن سوج إلى أوال على طريق أوحيه
نحو عشرة فراسخ ومن قبا إلى
نقاد نحو المشرق نحو سبعة
فراسخ وحدودهما
متصلة ومن أوبين إلى مدوا فرسخان ومن ويكت إلى خيلام
ثلاثة فراسخ ومن خيلام إلى سلات سبعة فراسخ وسلات
وبيسكند ليس بها منبر ولكنهما ثغران فلذلك ذكرناهما تمت
Colophon (f. 79r, lines 23-24):
الحمد لله على التمام وعلى رسوله أفضل السلام خزن الفقير المذنب المحتاج إلى رحمة الله تعالى إبراهيم بن
أحمد فقه السينابي غفر الله لهم ولوالديهم ولجميع المؤمنين والمؤمنات والمسلمين والمسلمات تاريخ سنة ٨٧٨
- Collection Area:
- Oriental Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Qatar Foundation Partnership Programme
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-003719807", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Or 5305: [Kitāb al-masālik wa-al-mamālik كتاب مسالك الممالك][Iṣṭakhrī, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad إصطخري، إبراهيم…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-003719807
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-003719807
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
Codex; ff. i+79+i
- Digitised Content:
- https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100110632004.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Arabic
- Scripts:
- Arabic
- Start Date:
- 1700
- End Date:
- 1799
- Date Range:
- 18th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Physical characteristics:
Material: Western laid paper
Dimensions: 320 x 213mm leaf [223 x 136mm written]
Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil
Ruling: Misṭarah; 25 lines per page; vertical spacing 11 lines per 10 cm
Script: Naskh
Ink: Black ink, with occasional rubricated keywords; gold ink used for maps
Decoration: Opening illuminated in gold, blue, red and mauve; gold-ruled frame on every page containing text
Binding: Orange buckram quarter binding; shadow of former envelope flap visible on f. 1r
Condition: Margin damaged and repaired on ff. 2, 18-19, 46 and 78; some staining and water-damage causing transfer of ink (e.g. f. 14r)
Marginalia: None
Seals: British Museum stamp: ff. 1r, 27v, 54v and 79v
- Source of Acquisition:
-
Purchased from Kirkor Minassian (1874-1944), 16 November 1897
- Publications:
-
Editions:
- Iṣṭakhrī, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad, Viae Regnorum descriptio ditionis Moslemicae auctore Abu Ishāk al-Fārisi al-Istakhrī, edited by De Goeje, M. J., Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum, vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 1873)
- Iṣṭakhrī, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad, al-Masālik wa-al-mamālik, edited by Muḥammad Jābir ʿAbd al-ʿĀl al-Ḥīnī and Muḥammad Shafīq Ghurbāl (al-Qāhirah: al-Idārah al-ʿĀmmah lil-Thaqāfah, 1961)
Edition of Persian Translation:
- Iṣṭakhrī, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad , Mamālik va masālik, edited by Muḥammad ibn Asʿad ibn ʿAbd Allāh Tustarī (Tehran: Īrāj Afshār, 1994)
English Translation:
- Iṣṭakhrī, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad [misattributed to Ibn Ḥawqal], The Oriental Geography of Ebn Haukal, an Arabian Traveller of the Tenth Century, ed. and trans. by William Ouseley (London: Wilson & Co.,1800)
Study:
Danilenko, Nadja, Picturing the Islamicate World: The Story of al-Iṣṭakhrī's Book of Routes and Realms (Leiden: Brill, 2021)
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)