Dr. Dorn's Description of an Arabic Celestial Globe. 375 



Arabs to Ptolemy's o-tlvrali; /iEriVru) was several times rendered into their lan- 

 guage, and commentaries written upon it descriptive of the names and figures 

 of the constellations. The only alteration the Arabs allowed themselves to 

 make in the names, was to translate them into their own language, or ta 

 substitute for such as they could not understand, other denominations, that 

 conveyed an idea to tlieir minds applicable to the constellations before their 

 eyes ; thus they called Andromeda, " the chained lady ;" Cassiopea, " the 

 lady in her chair ;" Orion, " the giant," &c. In some cases, however, they 

 retained the names which had been handed down to them from their 

 ancestors. 



These names alone afford sufl5cient proof, that Christian Europe derived 

 its knowledge of astronomy from the Mohammedans ; and a glance at a list 

 of the stars will incontrovertibly shew, that many of their names are de- 

 rived from the Arabic language, although they are often so much mangled 

 and disfigured as to render it a matter of difficulty to trace them to their 

 origin. 



But the monarch who most distinguished himself in the promotion of lite- 

 rature and science, was the Khalif Almamun, who reigned from 812 to 833. 

 An ardent encourager of letters, and particularly of astronomy, with 

 which he was so conversant, that he made astronomical observations him- 

 self, and determined the obliquity of the ecliptic to be ^3° 35', he evinced 

 his zeal by inviting a great number of distinguished men to Bagdad, for 

 the purpose of improving astronomical instruments, and thus enabling 

 observers to acquire an accurate knowledge of the motions of the heavenly 

 bodies. Such works of Greek literature, also, as had not been at all trans- 

 lated, or at least not satisfactorily, but appeared to be worth rendering into 

 Arabic, were confided by him to the most able scholars for translation. 



Many princes imitated Almamun's illustrious example, and we read of 

 several who made astronomical observations themselves. Naser ben Mo- 

 hamed Abul Gioush, king of Castile, was much devoted to astronomy; 

 in which he acquired such proficiency as enabled him to construct some use- 

 ful astronomical instruments. The Mongol, Hulagu Khan, about A. D. 

 12G4, erected an observatory in his capital, Maragha, near Tabriz, under 

 the superintendance of Nasir ud Din Tusi, and was so strongly attached to 

 the astronomers whom he had brought to Maragha, that he even expressed 

 a wis]] to die amongst them. With equal, or perhaps greater ardour, was 

 astronomy encouraged by Ulugh Beg, grandson of the conqueror Tiniour, 



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