retrograd.io
 
Islamic · 13th century CE (al-ʿUrḍī d. 1266)

Treatise on planetary retrograde motion

Attributed to Muʾayyad al-Dīn al-ʿUrḍī

A short treatise devoted to retrogression, attributed to al-ʿUrḍī of the Maragha observatory. It notes that retrograde loops vary in shape and size across the sky, that a concentric epicycle-and-deferent model gives uniform loops that do not match observation, so an eccentric model is needed, and, instead of testing each planet's parameters separately as Almagest XII does, offers a general rule for the phenomenon based on Apollonius' theorem.

Author
Muʾayyad al-Dīn al-ʿUrḍī (attributed)
Date
13th century CE (al-ʿUrḍī d. 1266)
Original language
Arabic
Kind
Theory / model
Planets
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
On the shelf · Asia, Islam and medieval Europe · 11−1800 → 2026
−1800−1500−1000−5001500100015002026
Span · 13th century CE (al-ʿUrḍī d. 1266)Same shelfThis source’s span

Editions

One edition.

YearEdition©
2020Zamani, Maryam. 'Planetary Retrograde Motion in a Treatise Attributed to Muʾayyad al-Dīn al-ʿUrḍī.' Tārīkh-i ʿIlm (Journal for the History of Science, Univ. of Tehran) 18.2 (2020), issue 29: 41–82. DOI 10.22059/jihs.2021.315968.371608.?
? unclear

Read it

One digitised copy.

  • Zamani 2020, a modern article about the treatise (not the treatise itself)Journal for the History of Science, University of TehranCC BYOpen ↗

Copies stay with their holders; every link opens their site. Licence: PD public domain · CC BY · CC BY-SA · © rights reserved · ? not stated.

References

Also on the Asia, Islam and medieval Europe shelf

DateSourcePlanetsKind
c. 6th century CEBṛhat Saṃhitā, ch. 6: the course of MarsVarāhamihiraMaAstrological
c. 900 CE (observations 877–918)al-Zīj al-Ṣābiʾal-BattānīMe Ve Ma Ju SaMath. astronomy
c. 1025–1028 CEDoubts concerning PtolemyIbn al-HaythamGeneralTheory / model
1261–1264 CETheorica planetarumCampanus of NovaraMe Ve Ma Ju SaTheory / model
14th century CE (author d. 1375/6)Nihāyat al-sūlIbn al-ShāṭirMe Ve Ma Ju SaTheory / model
c. 1391 CEA Treatise on the AstrolabeGeoffrey ChaucerGeneralObservation