ISMI Islamic Scientific Manuscripts Initiative

PERSON

Qusṭā ibn Lūqā al-Baʿalbakī

Name (arabic)

قسطا بن لوقا البعلبكي
Name (translit)

Qusṭā ibn Lūqā al-Baʿalbakī
Alias

Qusṭā ibn Lūqā
قسطا بن لوقا
Costa ben Luca
Flourished

Died

286H/900J
Born in

Baalbek
Lived in

Baghdad
Baalbek
Number in MAMS

118
Biography URL

http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Qusta_ibn_Luqa_al-Balabakki_BEA.htm
ismi_id

95976

Authored Works

20 works:

Algebra

Kitāb fī ḥisāb al-talāqī ʿalá jihat al-jabr wa-al-muqābalah , كتاب في حساب التلاقي على جهة الجبر والمقابلة

Astronomical Instruments

Kitāb al-ʿamal bi-al-asṭurlāb al-kurī , كتاب العمل بالأسطرلاب الكري
Risālah fī al-kurah al-falakiyyah , رسالة في الكرة الفلكيّة

Astronomy: General

Al-Madkhal ilá ʿilm al-nujūm , المدخل إلى علم النجوم

Astronomy: Practical

Kitāb al-ṭulūʿ wa-al-ghurūb li-Awṭūlūqus , كتاب الطلوع والغروب لأوطولوقس

Astronomy: Theoretical/hayʾaẗ al-ʿālam

Hayʾat al-aflāk , هيئة الأفلاك
Kitāb fī al-hayʾah , كتاب في الهيئة

Geometry: General

Kitāb shukūk kitāb Uqlīdis , كتاب شكوك كتاب أقليدس
Madkhal ilá al-handasah , مدخل إلى الهندسة
Risālah fī istikhrāj al-masāʾil al-ʿadadiyyah min al-maqālah al-thālithah min Uqlīdis , رسالة في إستخراج المسائل العدديّة من المقالة الثالثة من أقليدس

Mathematics: General

Fī shakl fī al-kurah wa-al-usṭuwānah , في شكل في الكرة والأسطوانة
Kitāb al-burhān ʿalá ʿamal ḥisāb al-khaṭaʾayn , كتاب البرهان على عمل حساب الخطأين
Tafsīrāt li-thalāth maqālāt wa-niṣf min kitāb Diyūfanṭus fī al-masāʾil al-ʿadadiyyah , تفسيرات لثلاث مقالات ونصف من كتاب ديوفنطس في المسائل العدديّة

Meteorology

Kitāb fī al-mirwaḥah wa-asbāb al-rīḥ , كتاب في المروحة وأسباب الريح

Natural Philosophy/ṭabīʿiyyāt

[Commentary on Aristotleʾs “Physics”]

OPTICS

Kitāb al-marāyā al-muḥriqah , كتاب المرايا المحرقة

Spherics

Kitāb al-ukar (Qusṭā ibn Lūqā) , كتاب الأكر

TECHNOLOGY

Fīrafʿ al-ashyāʾ al-thaqīlah , فيرفع الأشياء الثقيلة
Kitāb fī al-awzān wa-al-makāʾīl al-yūnāniyyah , كتاب في الأوزان والمكائيل اليونانيّة
Kitāb fī al-qarasṭūn , كتاب في القرسطون

References

Niazi, Kaveh. 2014. Qutb Al-Din Shirazi and the Configuration of the Heavens : A Comparison of Texts and Models.

Vol. 1, pp. 271-90.

Niazi, Kaveh. 2014. Qutb Al-Din Shirazi and the Configuration of the Heavens : A Comparison of Texts and Models.

Vol. 1, p. 389; vol. 3, pp. 95, 98, 399, 616; vol. 5, pp. 132, 151-52.

Kheirandish, Elaheh. 2007. “Qusṭā Ibn Lūqā al‐Baʿlabakkī”. In The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, ed. Thomas Hockey, 2:948-49. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Rozenfeld, Boris, and Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu. 2003. Mathematicians, Astronomers and Other Scholars of Islamic Civilisation and Their Works (7th-19th c.). Istanbul: Research Centre for Islamic History, Art, and Culture.

Pp. 59-60 (no. 118).

Saliba, George. 2001. “The Social Context of Islamic Astronomy”. Proceedings of the Conference: Islam and Science. Amman: Royal Institute for Inter‐Faith Studies.

Contains a discussion of Qusṭā's Hayʾat al‐aflāk [composition date given as 860].

Kheirandish, Elaheh. 1999. The Arabic Version of Euclid’s "Optics" [Kitāb Uqlīdis Fī Ikhtilāf al‐Manāẓir]. 2 vol. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Contains discussions of Qusṭā's optical work, with reference to relevant sources and discussions [“Intermediate Books”, mixed mathematical sciences, etc.].

Gutas, Dimitri. 1998. Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early ʿAbbāsid Society (2nd-4th 8th-10th Centuries). London; New York: Routledge.

Contains a section on the problematic question of Qusṭā's early patrons.

Rashed, Roshdi, and Jean Jolivet. 1997. Oeuvres Philosophiques Et Scientifiques d’Al‐Kindī. Islamic Philosophy, Theology, and Science. 2 vol. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

Vol. 1: L'optique et la catoptrique. Contains the Arabic text and French translation of Qusṭā's Kitāb fī ʿilal mā yaʿridu fī al‐marāyā min ikhtilāf al‐manāẓir.

Brockelmann, Carl. 1996. Geschichte Der Arabischen Litteratur (GAL). 5 vol. Leiden; New York: E. J. Brill.

Vol. 1, pp. 222-24; supplement, vol. 1, pp. 365-366. Contains lists of manuscripts for Qustā's works including five astronomical titles. Entries i, k, g, and f in Section I correspond to nos. 1, 2, 5, and 6 in the BEA Index page.

Sezgin, Fuat. 1996. Geschichte Der Arabischen Schrifttums (GAS), Vol. 3, Medizin-Pharmazie, Zoologie-Tierheilkunde Bis Ca. 430 H. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

Pp. 270-74, 298-300, 378.

Sezgin, Fuat. 1996. Geschichte Der Arabischen Schrifttums (GAS), Vol. 4, Alchimie-Chemie, Botanik-Agrikultur Bis Ca. 430 H. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

PP. 288-89, 344-45.

Ragep, F. Jamil. 1993. Nasīr al‐Dīn al‐Ṭūsī’s Memoir on Astronomy (al‐Tadhkira Fī ʿilm al‐hayʾa). 2 vol. New York: Springer‐Verlag.

Contains as part of its exhaustive treatment of Ṭūsī and his important astronomical work, al‐Tadhkira, discussions on several aspects of ʿilm al‐hayʾa [“cosmography, configuration”].

Wilcox, Judith. 1987. “Our Continuing Discovery of the Greek Science of the Arabs: The Example of Qusṭā Ibn Lūqā”. Annals of Scholarship 4 (3): 57-74.

Contains a more recent account of Qusṭā's scientific and philosophical works and relevant sources.

Hill, Donald. 1986. “Ḳusṭā B. Lūkā al‐Baʿlabakkī”. In Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, 2ndnd ed., 5:529-30. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

Contains references to some of Qusṭā's works, including two on astronomy [with English titles, apparently nos. 1 and 3 in the BEA Index page], and a short bibliography.

King, David. 1986. A Survey of the Scientific Manuscripts in the Egyptian National Library. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns; The American Research Center in Egypt.

P. 38.

Wilcox, Judith. 1985. “The Transmission and Influence of Qusta Ibn Luqa’s ‘On the Difference Between Spirit and the Soul’”. City University of New York.
Matvievskaya, Galina, and Boris Rozenfeld. 1983. Matematiki I Astronomy Musulmanskogo Srednevekovya I Ikh Trudi, VIII-XVII Vv [Mathematicians and Astronomers of the Muslim Middle Ages and Their Works, VIII-XVII Centuries]. 3 vol. Moscow: Nauka.

Vol. 2, pp. 108-10 (no. 77).

Rahman, Abdur, M Alvi, Shabbir Ghori, and Samba Murthy. 1982. Science and Technology in Medieval India : A Bibliography of Source Materials in Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian. New Delhi: Indian National Science Academy.

Pp. 73, 346-347.

Sezgin, Fuat. 1978. Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums (GAS), Vol. 6, Astronomie Bis Ca. 430 H. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

Pp. 180-82.

Youschkevitch, Adolf, M. Cazenave, and K. Jaouiche. 1976. Les mathématiques Arabes (VIIIe-XVe siècles). Paris: J. Vrin.

Pp. 43-46.

Gillispie, Charles, and Ruth Harvey. 1975. “Qusṭā Ibn Lūqā al‐Baʿlabakkī”. In Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 11:244-46. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Contains a list of Qusṭā's works including four of the astronomical titles listed above [nos. 1, 2, 3, and 5 in the BEA Index page] with reference to relevant manuscripts, reference works, and secondary sources up to 1975, with the exception of the important article of Wiedemann in the first edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam.

Gillispie, Charles, and Ruth Harvey. 1975. “Qusṭā Ibn Lūqā al‐Baʿlabakkī”. In Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 11:244-46. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Pp. 841-42.

Sezgin, Fuat. 1974. Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums (GAS), Vol. 5, Mathematik Bis Ca. 430 H. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

Pp. 285-86.

al-Nadīm Ibn. 1970. The Fihrist of Muḥammad Ibn Isḥāq Ibn Al-Nadīm: A Tenth-Century Survey of Muslim Culture. Ed. Bayard Dodge. 2 vol. New York: Columbia University Press.

Vol. 1, p. 295; Vol. 2, pp. 694-695. Contains a list of over 30 of Qusṭā's compositions including 2 astronomical titles [nos. 1 and 3 in the BEA Index page].

Ṭūqān Qadrī. 1963. Turāth Al-ʿArab Al-ʿilmī Fī Al-riyāḍīyāt Wa-Al-Falak. Cairo: Dār al-Qalam.

P. 209. Reprinted in: 1367 H. (1948); 1382 H. (1963).

Ṣafā, Ḏabīḥullāh. 1952. Jašn-nāmah-Yi Ibn Sīnā. Vol. 1: Sarguzašt va Taʾlīfāt va Ašʿār va Ārā-yi Ibn Sīnā. 4 vol.

Vol. 1, pp. 71-73, 345-47.

Worrell, W. 1944. “Qusta Ibn Luqa on the Use of the Celestial Globe”. Isis 35: 285-93.

Contains, in addition to relevant references, a useful list of six variant Arabic titles often assumed as representing different works [including nos. 1 and 6 in the BEA Index page], an English summary and discussion based on the manuscript copy in Michigan.

Kapp, A. 1935. “Arabische Übersetzer Und Kommentatoren Euklids, Sowie Deren Math.-Naturwiss. Werke Auf Grund Des Ta’rīkh Al-Ḥukamā’ Des Ibn Al-Qifṭī: III”. Isis 24 (1): 37-79.

Vol. 3, pp. 38-41.

Wiedemann, Eilhard. 1927. “Ḳosṭa B. Luḳa”. In Encyclopaedia Of Islam, First Edition (1913-1936), 2:1081-82. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Wiedemann, Eilhard. 1913. “Ḳosṭā B. Lūḳā, al‐Baʿalbakkī”. In Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1stst ed., 4:1081-83. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

Reference needs to be rechecked. Contains, in addition to a biography, references to his works including four astronomical titles [nos. 1, 3, 5, and 6 in the BEA Index page, listed as separate works], with reference to the problems involved, including the attribution of no. 6 to Qusṭā [pp. 1082-1083], with a short bibliography.