Dataset
Medieval Islamic Views of the Cosmos. The Books of Curiosities
- Alternative title:
- Teaching materials
- Documentation:
- In June 2002, the Bodleian Library acquired an illustrated manuscript of a hitherto unknown Arabic cosmographical treatise, the Kitāb Gharāʾib al-funūn wa-mulaḥ al-ʿuyūn, known as the Book of Curiosities. The manuscript is a copy, probably made in Egypt in the late 12th or early 13th century, of an anonymous work compiled in the first half of the 11th century in Egypt. The treatise is extraordinarily important for the history of science, especially for astronomy and cartography, and contains an unparalleled series of diagrams of the heavens and maps of the earth. The acquisition of the Book of Curiosities was made possible by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and generous donations from the National Arts Collections Fund, the Friends of the Bodleian, Saudi Aramco, several Oxford colleges, and private individuals. These grants and donations, along with the Arts & Humanities Research Council, have also funded the project to prepare a full study of the treatise, including an edition of the Arabic text and English translation, and to disseminate the results as widely as possible through the internet, exhibitions, and an outreach programme. This dataset contains a teachers’ pack that explores the themes of the Book of Curiosities which are to do with the Earth and the Heavens from the perspective of an 11th-century writer. It can be used at Key Stage 3 of the UK National Curriculum (aimed at 11-14 year olds) in the study of History, Geography, English, Science.
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Access Document
- Files:
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(Version of record, zip, 38.6MB, Terms of use)
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Authors/Creators
- Publisher:
- University of Oxford
- Publication date:
- 2020
- Subjects:
- Pubs id:
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1480537
- UUID:
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uuid:4fd2669c-f96a-4039-86a0-af65d57b3b8c
- Local pid:
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pubs:1480537
- Deposit date:
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2020-02-17
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright date:
- 2006
- Rights statement:
- Original research by Emilie Savage-Smith and Yossef RapoportWritten by Anne Fletcher, [email protected], Fletcher Teckman Consulting Ltd, AylesburyDesigned by Melanie GradtkeText © Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, 2006Images © Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, 2006 and other named copyright holders
- Licence:
- Other
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