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soon superseded by another, Barhebraeus by Ibn-al'athir,Ibn-al'athir*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superseded.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