SEQUEL TO THE EPOCH OF HIPPARCHUS. 177 



bic literature which bears upon the progress of astronomy ; but as the 

 little that there is must be considered as a sequel to the Greek science, 

 I shall notice one or two points before I treat of the stationary period 

 in general. 



When the sceptre of western Asia had passed into the hands of the 

 Abasside caliphs, 40 Bagdad, " the city of peace," rose to splendor and 

 refinement, and became the metropolis of science under the successors 

 of Almansor the Victorious, as Alexandria had been under the success- 

 ors of Alexander the Great. Astronomy attracted peculiarly the fa- 

 vor of the powerful as well as the learned ; and almost all the culture 

 which was bestowed upon the science, appears to have had its source 

 in the patronage, often also in the personal studies, of Saracen princes. 

 Under such encouragement, much was done, in those scientific labors 

 which money and rank can command. Translations of Greek works 

 were made, large instruments were erected, observers were maintained ; 

 and accordingly as observation showed the defects and imperfection of 

 the extant tables of the celestial motions, new ones were constructed. 

 Thus under Almansor, the Grecian works of science were collected 

 from all quarters, and many of them translated into Arabic." The 

 translation of the " Megiste Syntaxis" of Ptolemy, which thus became the 

 Almagest, is ascribed to Isaac ben Homain in this reign. 



The greatest of the Arabian Astronomers comes half a century later. 

 This is Albategnius, as he is commonly called ; or more exactly, Mu- 

 luimmed ben Geber Albatani, the last appellation indicating that h- 

 was born at Batan, a city of Mesopotamia. 42 He was a Syrian prince, 

 whose residence was at Aracte or Kacha in Mesopotamia : a part of 

 his observations were made at Antioch. His work still remains to us 

 in Latin. " After having read," he says, " the Syntaxis of Ptolemy, and 

 learnt the methods of calculation employed by the Greeks, his obser- 

 vations led him to conceive that some improvements might be made in 

 their results. He found it necqssary to add to Ptolemy's observations 

 as Ptolemy had added to those of Abrachis" (Hipparchus). He then 

 published Tables of the motions of the sun, moon, and planets, which 

 long maintained a high reputation. 



These, however, did not prevent the publication of others. Under 

 the Caliph Hakcm (about A. D. 1000), Ebon lounis published Tables 

 of the Sun, Moon, and Planets, which were hence called the Hakemitc 

 Tables. Not long after, Arzachel of Toledo published the Tolctan Ta- 



Gibbon, x. SI. Id. x. 36. <- Del. Astronomie dit Moyen Age, 4. 



VOL. I. 12 



