Abū Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdānī
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Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ibn Ya‘qūb al-Hamdānī (c. 893-945, Arabic: أبو محمد الحسن بن أحمد بن يعقوب الهمداني) was an Arab Muslim geographer, poet, grammarian, historian, and astronomer, from the tribe of Hamdan, western 'Amran/Yemen. He was one of the best representatives of Islamic culture during the last effective years of the Abbasid caliphate.
The biographic data of al-Hamdani is hardly well-known, despite his extensive scientific work. He was held in repute as a grammarian, wrote much poetry, compiled astronomical tables, devoted most of his life to the study of the ancient history and geography of Arabia, and died in prison in San‘a’, Yemen in 945.
His Geography of the Arabian Peninsula (Sifat Jazirat ul-Arab) is by far the most important work on the subject. After being used in manuscript by A. Sprenger in his Post- und Reiserouten des Orients (Leipzig, 1864) and further in his Alte Geographic Arabiens (Bern, 1875), it was edited by D.H. Müller (Leiden, 1884; cf. Sprenger's criticism in Zeitschrift der der Usehen morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, vol. 45, pp. 361-394).
Much has also been written on this work by E. Glaser in his various publications on ancient Arabia. The other great work of Hamdani is the Iklil (Crown) concerning the genealogies of the Himyarites and the wars of their kings in ten volumes. Of this, part 8, on the citadels and castles of south Arabia, has been edited and annotated by Müller in Die Burgen und Schlösser Sudarabiens (Vienna, 1879-1881).
For other works said to have been written by Hamdani see G Flügel's Die grammatischen Schulen der Araber (Leipzig, 1862), pp. 220-221.
[edit] Works
- Sifat Jazirat ul-Arab
- Alaklel al-Hamdani
- History of Saba
- Language of Himyar and Najran
[edit] References
- {{{last}}} (1970-80). "Hamdānī, Abū Muḥammad al- Ḥasan Ibn Aḥmad Ibn YaʿQūb al-". Dictionary of Scientific Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 0684101149.
- This article incorporates text from the article "Hamdani" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- Britannica
