Nutaf Min Al-ΗΙYal: a Partial Arabic Version of Pseudo-Aristotle's Problemata Mechanica

Abstract

AbstractThis article investigates the Arabic tradition of the Problemata Mechanica, a Greek text of mechanics ascribed to Aristotle, of which it has often been said that Arabic classical culture had been ignorant of it. Against this prevailed claim, it is shown that the Arabo-Muslim scholars had access to the text at least in the form of an abridged version entitled Nutaf min al-iyal edited by al-Khāzinī (twelfth century) in Kitāb mīzān al-ikma (Book of the Balance of Wisdom). The article includes the critical edition of the Arabic text of the Nutaf on the basis of the two extant manuscripts and its English translation. Finally, the mechanical theory in the Nutaf is characterized briefly.