Q^SWirttvmi

THE CHRONOLOGYOF

ANCIENT NATIONSAN ENGLISH VERSION OF THE

ARABIC TEXT OF THE ATHIB-UL-BAEITA OF ALBtE^Nt,,

OR5

y

"VESTIGES or THE PAST,"COLLECTED AND REDUCED TO WRITING BY THE AUTHORIN A.H. 3901, A.D. 1000.

TRANSLATED AND EDITED, WITH NOTES AND INDEX, BY

De.

C.

EDWARD SACHAU

PROFESSOE IN THE ROYAL UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN.

LONDONPUBLISHED FOR THE ORIENTAL TRANSLATION FUND OF GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND

By W. H.

ALLEN &

CO., 13

WATERLOO PLACE,

PUBLISHERS TO THE INDIA OFFICE.

1879.

LONDOK PBINTKD BY W. H. AL^N AKD

CO.

,^c'

/^/t?/

n

V

^

/

3^s

DEDICATED TO THE MEMBERSOF THE

COMMITTEE OP THE ORIENTAL TRANSLATION FUND

(1878).

OSMOND

DE

BEAUVOIR PRIAULX.E.R.S.

EDWARD THOMAS,

JAMES EERGUSSON, E.R.S. REINHOLD ROST, LL.D., Seceetaey.AND TO THE MEMORY OF

THEODOR GOLDSTtrCKER,

D.C.L.,

LATE PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON.

PEEFACE.It was Sir attention to

Henry Rawlinson who this work of Albiruni, in

first

directed

public

his celebrated article

on Central Asia

in the " Quarterly E,eview " for 1866, in

which he gave some valuable information derived from his own manuscript copy, now the property of the British

Museum.lation,

In offering the book, both in text and transthe learned world,scarcely ofIfeel

to

bound

to premise

that

it is

a nature to attract the interest ofIt appeals to

the general reader.

minds trained

in the

schools of various sciences.findit

Even competent

scholars willall

no easy matter to follow our author throughof his elaborate scientific calculations.

the

mazesasit

Containing,details

does,

all

the

technical

and

historical

of

the various systems for the computation of time, invented

and used by the Persians, Sogdians, Chorasmians, Jews,Syrians,

Harranians, and Arabs,it

together withall

Greek

traditions,

offers

an equal interest to

those

who study

the antiquity and history of the Zoroastrian and Jewish,Christian and

Muhammadan

religions.*

The worksource.

of Albiruni has the character of a

primary

Oriental philologists are accustomed to see one book

soon superseded by another, Barhebraeus by Ibn-al'athir,Ibn-al'athir*

by Al-Tabari.

Although

it

is

likely

enough

By

Christians, I understand the Melkite

and Nestorian Churches,of the

whilst

author does not seem to have Jacobites than the name.the

known much more

VI

PEEFACE.

that on

many

subjects in this book

we

shall

one day findI

better authenticated

and

more ancientit

information,

venture to say, that, as a whole,.

will scarcely ever

be

superseded.

It is a standard

work

in Oriental literature,itself,

and has been recognised as such by the Eastsenting inits

repre-

peculiar

line the highest

development of

Oriental scholarship.

Perhaps we shall one day find the

literary sources themselves

from which Albiruni derived

his

information, and shall beextracts

enabled to dispense with hischapters,e.g.

from them.

But there are other

those on the calendars of the ancient inhabitants of CentralAsia, regarding which

we

shall, in all likelihood,

never find

any more ancient information, because the author hadlearned the subject from

hearsayof

which was then on the eveeditor and translator of a

among a population dying out. As the firstGenerations of scholars

book

of this kind, I venture to

claim the indulgence of the reader.

have

toiled to

carry the understanding of Herodotus toit is

that point where

now, and how much

is

wantingdo

still

The work

of generations will be required to

full justice

to Albiruni.

A classical philologist can

edit a

Greek text

in

a correct form, even though he

may have noall

complete

understanding of the subject-matter in

possible relations.of the Arabic

Not

so

an Arabic

philologist.I

The ambiguity

writing

])roh dolor

is

the reasonof

why

a manuscript

expresses onlywhilst the editor

three-quartersis

the

author's meaning,

compelled to supply the fourth quarterdiscernment.

from

his

own knowledge and

No number

in

any chronological table can be consideredasit is

correct, as long

not proved by computation to be so, and even in

the simplest historical narrative the editor and translator

may most lamentably gothereis

astray in his interpretation,

if

something wrong with the method of his research.

PREFACE.I have

Vll

boldly attacked

the sometimesif

rather enigmatic

style of the author,

and

I have missed the

mark,

if

the

bewildering variety and multiplicity of the subject-matter

have preventedquestion, I

me

reaching the very bottom of everyless

must do what more or

every

Oriental

author does at the end of his work,reader to pardon

humbly ask the gentleit.

my

errorI.

and

to correct

The Author.is

Theh.^

full

name1.

of the author

Abu-Baihdn Muhammad

Ahmad

Alhirum.29),

He

quotes himself as Abu-Baihdnis

(vide p. 134,literature,

and so he

generally called in Eastern

more rarely ATbirum.

The

latter

name means,

literally,

extraneous,

being a

from the Persian ^^^^ which means the outside In our time the as a noun, and outside as a preposition.derivative

word

is

pronounced Birun (or Beeroon),first

e.g.

in Teheran,

but the vowel of the

syllableit

is

a ydi-majhul, which

means that

in

more ancient times

was pronounced Berun

(or Bayroon).

This statement- rests on the authority of

the Persian lexicographers.in this

That the name was pronounced

way

in Central

Asia about the author's time, we

learn from an indisputable statement regarding our author

from the penhigh repute,

of Alsam'ani, a philologist

and biographer

of

who wrote

only one hundred years after the

author's death (vide Introduction top. xviii.).

my

edition of the text,

He was

a native of Khwarizm, or Chorasmia, the

modern

Khiva; to speak more accurately, a native either of a suburb(Berlin) of the capital of the country,

both of which bore

the same

name Khiudrizm,

or of the country-district (also

called B^rdn) belonging to the capital.

Albiruni was born a.h. 362,

3.

Dhu-alhijja (a.d. 973,

Vlll

PEEFACB.2.

4th September), and died a.h. 440,

Rajab

(a.d.

1048,

11th December), aged seventy-five years.

The

first

part of

his hfe

he seems to have spent inof the

Khwarizm, where he enjoyed the protectionof Ma^mun, the rnlers of the country.of the kings of Central Asia of the

House

Originally vassals

became independent when theto sink,i.e.

star

House of Sdmdn, they of their masters began

between

a.h.

384-390.

They were, however, notof

to play a great part in the history of the East, for so early asa.h.

407

their

power was crushed by the great Mahmudhis empire.

Ghazna, and their dominions annexed toAlbiruni,

Like

other scholars also

of

high standing receivedcourt of

protectionprinces.

and favours

at

the

the

Ma' muni

The authorsea,

is

known

to have lived

some years

also in

Jurjan, or Hyrcania, on the southern shores of the Caspian

under the protection, and perhaps at the court, ofShams-alma'ali,

Kabus ben "Washmgirperiods, a.h.

who

ruled

over

Hyrcania and the adjoining countries at

two

different

366-371 and 388-403.

To

this prince he

has

dedicated the present book, apparently about a.h. 390-391,(a.d. 1000).

During the years

a.h.

400-407 he stayed again

in his

native country at the court offriend and counsellor.

Ma'munmurder

b.

Ma'mim,

as his

He was

a witness of the rebellionof

that broke out a.h. 407, of the

Ma'mun, andto

of

the conquest of the country by

Mahmud

of

Ghazna, who,

on returning, carried

off

him and other scholarsworks,

Afghan-

istan in the spring of a.h. 408.

Amongcordedall

his

numerous

we

find

mentioned a

" Chronicle of Khwarizm," in which he probably had rethe traditions relating to the antiquity of his native

country, and more especially the history of those events of

PKEPACE.

IX

which he had himself been a witness.belost.

This work seems to

However, an extract of

it

has come

down

to us

as the last part of the great chronicle of the royal house

Mahmud, composed by Albaihaki, the edition of which we owe to the industry and learning of the late W. H.of

Morley (" Bibhotheca Indica," Calcutta, 1862, pp. 834, &c.). With A.H. 408 begins a new period in the author's life,

when he enlargedmatics, astronomy,sciences

the circle of his researches on mathe-

geography, chronology, and

natural

by

his study of India, its

geography and history,of

of the language

and

literature,

manners and customs,all

the Hindus.

It

was the period when he gathered

thosein

materials which he deposited towards the end of hishis

life

famous " Memoir on India."

After Albiruni had settled in Grhazna, he paid at least

one more

visit to his native

country.

He

died, probably, at

Ghazna.besides

"Whether he travelledIndia, I have no

much

in other countries

means

of proving.

From

the

present book

we can only

infer that, besides his nativee.g.

country and Hyrcania, he also knew parts of Media,

Rai (EhagEe).II.

Eis Work.^an-il-Kilrun

AlbiruniAlhhdliya,

calls hisi.e.

work Aldthdr Alhdhiya

monuments

or vestiges of generations of the

past that have been preserved up to the author's time,

meaning by monuments orof

vestiges the religious institutes

various

nations and

sects,

founded in more ancient

times, and,

more or

less, still

practised and adhered to by

the Oriental world about a.d. 1000.

With admirable industrythem with eachother,

the author gathers whatever

traditions he can find on every single fact, he confronts

and inquires with

critical

acumen

X

PREFACE.

into the special merits or demerits of each single tradition.

Mathematical accuracy

is

his last gauge,

and wherever theis

nature of a tradition admits of such a gauge, heverifyit

sure to

by the help

of careful mathematical calculation.is

To speakheis

in general, therecritical

much

of the

modern

spirit

and

method ofand

research in our author, and in this respect

a phenomenon in the history of Eastern learning

literature.

Authors of the

first

centuries of the Hijra

sometimes betray a great deal of

common

sense and good

method, sometimes also unmistakable traces of a markedindividuality, whilst the later centuries are characterised

by

the very opposite.

behind his book

;

Then the author entirely disappears all literary work sinks down to the levelfrom good and bad sourcesand;

of imbecile compilation

the

understanding of the

life

literature of the preceding

centuries becomes rare and distorted.

Common

sense has

gone never to return, and very seldom do we meet with atrace ofscientific

method or

of the individuality of the

author.

The fourth centuryfaith about

is

the turning-point in the history of

the spirit of Islam, and the establishment of the orthodox

500 sealed the fatefor Alash'ari

of independent research for

ever.

But

and Alghazzalt the Arabs mightKeplers, and Newtons.

have been a nation of

Gralileos,

Originally I intended to give a complete expose of the

sources whence Albiruni hastion,

drawneast

his

manifold informa-

but the material hitherto available for researches ontheplan.isstill

the literary history of

so scanty that I

had

to desist

from

my

This applies in particular to

the east ofparatively

the Khalifate, towell

Khurasan.the

We

are comof

informed

regarding

literature

Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, and the farther west of Islam,whilst

we have very

little

information regarding the scien-

PEEFACE.tific

XIasit

and

literary life east offirst tliree

Bagdad

developed

itself

during the

centuries of Abbaside rule, under the

protection of the imperial governors and the later inde-

pendent princes,It is to be

e.g.

the

House

of

Saman.

hoped that Central Asia and Afghanistan,

when onceusrich

in the grasp of

European

influence, will yield

collections

of

valuable

literary

monuments.

Hitherto manuscripts

coming from those countries arelibraries of

seldom met with in the great

Europe.

As

for the ivritten material which the author

had

at his

disposal,

he quotes many a

book

of

which I elsewheree.g.

can scarcely find a trace.

All the books,traditions,

on Persianin early

and Zoroastrian history andtimes,

composedalso

not

only by

Zoroastrians but

by Muslims,

converts from the Zoroastrian creed, are altogether un-

knownkind of

in

Europe

;

and

it

seems very probable that thelittle

bigoted people of later times have spared veryliterature,

of this

which

to

them had the

intolerable

smell of filthy idolatry.

As

regards Persian history, Albiruni had an excellent

predecessor in Alisfahani,

whom he

follows frequently, and

whomall

he was not able to surpass inoral information Albiruni

many

points.

From

seems to have learnedof

he knows

of

the

chronology and calendar

the

Zoroastrian populations of Persia, of his native country,

and of Sogdiana

(or Bukhara).still still

In his time the majority

of the country-people

adhered to Ahuramazda, and in

most towns there mustnities,

have been Zoroastrian commu-

so that Albiruni did not lack the opportunity for

studying the manners and institutes of the then existingfollowersof

Zoroaster.its clerical

Unfortunately, the Zoroastrian

creed had losttion.

and

political unity

and constitu-

The people

practised their customs as they had seen

Xll

PEEFAOE.

their parents do, but they

had no longer a correct underCertainly a

standing of their origin and meaning.

Mobe-

dan-MobedZoroastrian

of the time of Ardashir

Babekan would have

been able to give a more accurate and complete account oflife

and religion; but

still

we must be thankfulwhentheir

to Albiruni for his having preserved to posterity the festal

calendars as used by Zoroastrians of his timereligion

was on the eve

of dying out.

To

oral information I ascribe also the author's admirable

knowledge of the Jewish calendar.

Jewish scholars will

be able to say whether his informants were Ananites(Karaites) or Rabbanites.

My

criticsis

do not seem to havethefirst

noticed that Albiruni, a Muslim,scholars

of

all

the

we know who has composed a scientific system of the Jewish chronology. He is much anterior to Moses Maimonides, also to Abraham bar Chiyya, being a contemporary of R. Sherira and Hat Gaon, who seem to play aprominent part in the history of Jewish chronology.

With Nestoriancountry.

Christians he

must have been acquainted,

as he speaks of the Nestorian communities of his native

His report of the Melkite

feasts, &c.,

may have

been communicated to him by Nestorian priests from Syriacsources.

Albiruni wrote both in Arabic and Persian, as he hasedited his " Kitab-altaf him " in both languages.

There

is

a possibility of his having had a smattering of

Hebrew and

Syriac {vide pp. 18, 19 j, but of Greek he seems to have

been ignorant, and whatever he relates on the authority of

Greek

authors

Ptolemy,

Galen,

Eusebius,

&c.

mustfalls

have been communicated to him by the ordinary channelof Syriac- Arabic translation.into the latter half of hislife.

His study of Sanskrit

From

occasional notes in the book a description of the

PREFACE.author's character

XIU

may be

gleaned.all

He seems

to

have

been a truth-loving man, attackingbitter sarcasms.

kinds of shams with

He was

not without a humoristic vein,

and

his occasional ironical

remarks

offer a curious contrast

to the pervading earnestness of the tenor of his speech.

As

a

Muslim he inclined towards the

Shi'a, but he

was not

a bigoted Muslim.

Hethat

betrays a strong aversion to the

Arabs, the destroyers of Sasanian glory, and a markedpredilection forallis

of Persian or Eranian nationality. as to

Muslim orthodoxy had not yet become so powerfulimperil thelife

of a

man, be he Muslim or

not,

who would

study other religions and publicly declare in favour of them.Dakiki, a poet not long anterior to Albiruni, a

favourite of the

Muslim house

of

Saman, was allowed to1

sing"

Of

all that is good and bad in the world, Dakiki has chosen four things to himself

A woman's

lips as

red as rubies, the melody of the lute.the religion of Zoroaster."

The blood-coloured wine, and

Not long afterwards,of Grhazna, these verses

at the court of the great

Mahmudfatal

would probably have provedand

to their author.

Rabent sua fata

libelU,its

I

may

add, the fate of thistill

book, from the time of

composition

the time

when

I

began to study

it,

has not been a fortunate one.it,

Only a

few were able to understandhavingit

few had an

interest in

copied.it is

In the form in which I offer the book to the readernot com^^lete.

Many moste.g.

essential parts, both large

and

small, are missing,

the chapter on Zoroaster, a most

deplorable

loss,

arising

probably from Muslimit

bigotry.

However,

I should think

does not require an apologyin this mutilated

from me to have edited the book

form

in

XIV

PREFACE.it

which I have found

in the manuscripts.

Should the

favour of time bring to light one day a complete copy, Ishall be

happy

if

circumstances will allow

me

at once to

edit the hitherto missing parts in text

and

translation.

The

basis of

my

edition consists of

two manuscripts

of

the seventeenth and one of the nineteenth century,of faults,

all full

and

what

is

worseIn

!

agreeing with each otherfact, all three copies repre-

almost in every particular.sent one and thegical

samethis

original.

Fortunately a chronolo-

work

offers

advantage, that in

manytables.

cases

mathematical examination enables the editor to correct theblunders of the tradition,e.g.

in the

numerous

My noteslations

are in the

first

place intended to give the calcurest.

on which the tables

Besides, they contain

contributions to the explications of certain difficult passages,short information on points of literary history, and, lastly,

a few remarks on the text and corrections.

For

all

other introductory questions I refer the reader to

the Grerman preface to

my

edition of the text.

In offeringto thankSt.

my

translation to the English reader, I desire

my

friend, the Rev.

Robert Gwynne, Yicar ofonly corrected the

Mary's, Soho, London,

who not

whole manuscript, but also read the proof-sheets of theentire book.

EDWARD SACHAU.Berlin, 24? i^f* T^Moses hen 'Imrdn regarding Muof Messiah regarding 'Ahmad"), you would getJ

C

-

the same sum,ji*u.>j and pronounce and These are the names special name, as is the custom with the Persians.

Some people add a Jim;

(g) at the

they add a

Nun and a Jim (g>) g.*^^ and ^^fy They

of the thirty days11. 12. 13. 14.

>!^

21. ^:r\

e^

22. o\,28. c:-^

J^Ji-t^jji^-ai^

24. (^.J 25. 26.c-J)^i\-i-.\

15. :

16. 17.

u5y

27. c>*-

40

18. 0--)9.

28.29. 30.

'^s-i*^)

u-^\

19.

J^

10. e>v^

20. yklt;

^

ON THE NATUEE OF MONTHS.Some people give the day j>.f^ the name Epagomense are the following:

67of the five

^.IV.

The names(y JUj

I.

ctwiij^U-

II.

(jOiiy

III. i^yi^^

V.

(,./-A*|

III.

OjJ^

IV. Jje;^last

V.

fiJJ;^

These

five

days they add

at

the

end of the

month

^y^^.

The Sughdian system

of intercalation agreed with the practice of the

10 Persians, as also did their neglecting intercalation.

The reason why

there arose a difference between the beginnings of the Sughdian and the

Persian years I shall describe hereafter.

Months of the Chorasmians. The Khwarizmians, although a branch of the great tree of the Persian nation, imitated the Sughdians as to the beginning of the year and the place where they add the Epagomense. These are the names of their monthsI.

(.5^^^

^ f^i)

^11- iJ>f^

S\i.^

^\io\ Jji^ y.*A\

Others abbreviate these names and use them in this formI.

o^;S^

VII. ^yi\

30

The

thirty days they call1. 2.^^*ij

by the following names11. 12.

:

^\2U

21.

f,\j

o:yj\ 3. ct^^O;\4.5.^^Jj>,J.^^^^_3.^-j\.x;-

22. 3\j 23. ^^J

13. 4j)^ 14. 15.

c>A^

24. ^yi>i25. (^fi-j\ 26. 27.'iU4.\(:)i*^\

yj

6.7.

^UjjJb

16. Qui17. ^jy-\ 18. 19.

^\o^jJoj)j^

p. 48.

8.9-

i^jc:>=^jy

28. >^\) 29.

Ju^y

40I have

10.

e^u^

20. e>;^

30. gyj\

found that they begin the Epagomense, which are appended at

58

albIeuni.

the end of the montli Ispandarmaji, with the same

name by which they

fifth day Ispandarmaji. Then they return and commence anew with the first day ^y*ij, the 1st of the month Nawasarji. They do not use or even know special names for the Epagomense, but I believe that this fact simply arises from the same confusion, regarding these names, which prevails among the Persians and Sughdians. For after Kutaiba ben Muslim Albahili had killed their learned men and priests, and had burned their books and writings, they became entirely illiterate (forgot writing and reading), and relied in 10 every knowledge or science which they required solely uj)on memory. In the long course of time they forgot that on which there had been a divergence of oj)inion, and kept by memory only that which had been generally agreed uj)on. But Allah knows best As to the three identical names of days (the 8th, 15th, and 23rd, .Dai in Persian, Dast in Sughdian, DadJm in Khwarizmian),the Persians refer them to the following, and compound them with these, saying Dai-ha-Adar, and Dai-ha-Mihr, and Dai-ha-Din. Of the Sughdians and Khwarizmians some do the same, and others connect the words in their

begin the days of the month Ardawasht, and so on till the

;

the second day they call Azmin, the third

language for "the

first,

the second, the third," with each of them.

20

In the early times of their empire the Persians did not use the week. For, first, it was in use among the nations of the west, and more particularly among the people of Syria and the neighbouring countries, because there the j)rophets appeared and made people acquainted with the first week, and that in it the world had been created, in conformity with the beginning of the Thora. From these the use of the week spread to the other nations. The pure Arabians adopted the week in consequence ofp. 49.

the vicinity of their country to that of the Syrians.

Wethem

have not heard that anybody has imitated the example of the

Persians, Sughdians,

giving specialinto

namesas

to the thirty days of the

and Khwarizmians, and has adopted their usage (of 30 month, instead of dividingi.e.

weeks),

except the Copts,

the ancient inhabitants of

we have mentioned, used the names of the thirty days till the time when Augustus, the son of Gajus, ruled over them. He wanted to induce them to intercalate the years, that they might always agree with the Greeks and the people of Alexandria. Into this subject, however, it would be necessary to inquire more closely. At thatEgypt.

For they,

time preciselyelapsed,

five

years were wanting

till

the end of the great interfive

years of his rule had and then he ordered people to intercalate one day in the months 40 Thereupon in every fourth year, in the same way as the Greeks do. they dropped the use of the names of the single days, because, as people say, those who used and knew them would have required to invent a name for the intercalary day. They (the names of the days of the month) have not been handed down to posterity.calation period.

Therefore, he waited

till

ON THE NATURE OF MONTHS.

59tlie

Monthsmonths:

of the Egyptians.- -The following are

names

of their

I.

Thot 30 days. Paophi 30 Athyr 30 Choiak 30 Tybi 30 Mechir 30

VII. Phamenoth 30 days.

Pharmuthi 30 Pachon 30PayniEpiphi\a^\

30

30 30

These are the ancient names of the months. In the following we give 10 the names which were modernized by one of their princes, after intercalation

had been adoptedI.

:

i>y

VII.

\fcXfr

Some people call the months ^i^, y^\^j>, jj---^, and