Timbuktu, founded around 1100 as a commercial center for trade across the Sahara Desert, was also an important seat of Islamic learning from the 14th century onward. The libraries of Timbuktu contain many important manuscripts, in different styles of Arabic scripts, which were written and copied by Timbuktu’s scribes and scholars. These works constitute the city’s most famous and long-lasting contribution to Islamic and world civilization. This collection of writings (date unknown) draws upon the Greco-Roman legacy of astronomy, with the addition of discoveries made by Muslim scholars. The text is presented in the form of a Platonic discourse. It includes an explanation of how to determine which star is ascendant and what that portends for the world.
<br>Arabic calligraphy; Arabic manuscripts; Astrology; Astronomy; Islamic manuscripts; Timbuktu manuscripts
between 1200 and 1899 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1500-00-00T00:00:00Z/6,P1319,+1200-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1899-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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