A Princely Pandect on Astronomy: Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī's Muʿīnīya Epistle and its Appendix (Archimedes, 58, Band 58)

This book presents an English-language translation of Risala-yi Muiniya, or the Muiniya Epistle. Risala-yi Muiniya is one of the earliest known works of Nasir al-Din usi (1201-1274), an intellectual luminary of the 13th century CE. The work is notable for the choice of T u si's native Persian as the language of the text. In addition, T u si organized his volume into a four-part structure, which went on to become a popular template for the Islamic astronomers who succeeded him. This book helped ensure the patronage of T u si's courtly patrons during his decades-long stay with the Ismailis, as w ell as the continuation of his remarkable career under the first Ilkhanid rulers of Persia. This translation helps make this notable treatise accessible to English language readers. It is among a handful of English translations of major astronomical works dealing with hay'a/cosmography in the Islamic world. Subsequently T u si was to pen hisown commentary on the work (the Hall-i Mushkilat-i Muiniya, or A solution to the difficulties of the Muiniya) and he used this occasion to discuss his celebrated mathematical formulation 'the T u si Couple' (a concept that he merely hinted at in the Risala-yi Muiniya).