318

authors—Amralkeis, Tharasah, Zoheir, Lebid, Anthara, Amru Ben Kalthun, and Hareth. They are distinguished by deep feeling, high imagination, richness of imagery and sentiment, national pride and liberal spirit, violent breathings of revenge and love.-The brightest period of the Arabian history commenced with Mohammed, and was soon followed by the golden age of their literature. Mohammed announced himself to the people as a prophet sent from God, and laid down rules of faith and life, which were collected by Abubekr, first caliph after his death, corrected and published by Othman, the third caliph, and constitute the Koran. (q. v.) By this, the Arabian language of literature was fixed, the first literary direction given to the people, and their national character determined. The Arabians seem to be favorably situated for commerce, but less so for conquest, particularly as a large part of the population consists of tribes wandering through the desert, and living alternately by keeping cattle and by plunder. But Mohammed succeeded in subduing the whole country, gave it a constitution at once religious and military, and inflamed the native valor of the people by an enthusiastic zeal for religion. When he died, A. D. 632, without a male heir, his adherents chose a caliph (successor) in his room, under whom the spirit of conquest first took possession of the Arabians, and urged them onward like a rapid stream. Only 80 years after the death of Mohammed, their power extended from Egypt to the Indies, from Lisbon to Samarcand. During this period, the nation was only animated with warlike enthusiasm, under the dominion of which the tender blossoms of genius seldom thrive. Time, and intercourse with cultivated nations, by degrees overcame their rudeness. With the government of the caliph of the family of the Abassides, A. D.750, began their progress in the arts and sciences. In the splendid court of Al Mansur, at Bagdad, these first found support; but it was Haroun al Raschid, (786-808) who infused into his people an enduring love for them. He invited learned men, from all countries, to his kingdom, and paid them princely salaries. He caused the works of the most famous Grecian authors to be translated into Arabic, and spread abroad by numerous copies. Al Mamum, who ruled soon after him, offered the Grecian emperor 10,000 pounds of gold and a perpetual peace, if he would send him the philosopher Leo, for a time, to instruct

him. Under his government, excellent schools were established at Bagdad, Bassora, Bochara, Cufa, and large libraries at Alexandria, Bagdad and Cairo. The caliph Motasem, who died A. D. 841, was of the same disposition, and a high degree of literary rivalry existed between the dynasty of the Abassides in Bagdad, and that of the Ommaiades in Spain. What Bagdad was to Asia, the high school at Cordova was to Europe, where, particularly in the 10th century, the Arabians were the chief pillars of literature. At a time when learning found scarcely any where else a place of rest and encouragement, the Arabians employed themselves in collecting and diffusing it in the three great divisions of the world. Soon after the beginning of the 10th century, students travelled from France, and other European countries, to the Arabian schools in Spain, particularly with the view of learning mathematics and medicine. Besides the academy of Cordova, the Arabians had established 14 others in Spain, without mentioning the higher and the elementary schools. They had 5 public libraries, and Casiri mentions 17 Arabians, in Spain, who undertook scientific journeys. Such rapid advances did this nation make (which, scarcely half a century before, was limited to the Koran, poetry and eloquence) when they had formed an acquaintance with the Greeks. In geography, history, philosophy, medicine, physics, mathematics, and especially in arithmetic, geometry and astronomy, their efforts have been crowned with great success, as is proved from the various terms of Arabian origin, still in use; for example, almanac, algebra, alcohol, azimuth, zenith, nadir, and many others. The invention of the common ciphers, also, has been generally ascribed to them; but professor Seyffarth, who has been lately engaged in examining the precious collection of papyri and other Egyptian antiquities in the royal museum of Turin, among other important discoveries, asserts, that the Arabic figures are found among those of the Egyptians, which renders it probable that the Arabians did not invent, but merely borrowed, their ciphers. The Egyptians wrote, as we do, 1, 2, 3, &c. Even their fractions resemble ours, their fractional figures being written above and below a small horizontal line. He has also discovered that they employed the decimal system. Most of the geography in the middle ages is the work of the Arabians. They extended, in Africa and Asia especially, the

limits of the known world. In the north of Africa, they penetrated as far as the Niger; in the west, to the Senegal; in the east, to cape Corrientes. When they first commenced their conquests, the generals were ordered, by the caliphs, to give a geographical description of the conquered countries. The countries, nations and wealth of Asia were, in a great degree, known to them. They extended the knowledge of Arabia, their own country, of Syria and Persia, and gained some acquaintance, at least, with Great Tartary, the south of Russia, China and Hindostan. Al Marun, Abu Ischak, Scherif Edrisi, Nassir Eddin, Ebn Haukal, who wrote between A. D. 15 and 21, Abulfeda, and Ulugh Begh Abdollatif, distinguished themselves as geographers; and much that the most renowned among them, Abulfeda and Edrisi, have written, is still useful and important in regard to historical geography. The Arabian historians, since the 8th century, have been very numerous, though they have not yet been long enough known to European scholars to enable them to derive much advantage therefrom. The oldest and best known historian is Hesham Ibn Muhamed Ibn Schoaib Alkhekebi, A. D. 818. Praise is due, also, to Abu Abdallah Mohammed Ibn Achmed, Abulpharagius, George Almakin, Abulfeda (who wrote a universal history of the world till A. D. 1315), Macrizi, Arabschah, and others. The later historical works are in a calmer and more simple style. The philosophy of the Arabians was of Greek origin, and derived principally from that of Aristotle, which was studied first by those in Spain, and thence in all the west of Europe, having been translated from Arabic into Latin. Hence the origin of the scholastic philosophy may be traced to the Arabians. To dialectics and metaphysics they paid particular attention. Of their philosophical authors, Alfarabi must be mentioned, who wrote on the principles of nature, 954; Avicenna, who died A. D. 1036, and, besides other philosophical writings, was the author of a treatise on logic, physics and metaphysics, and of a commentary on the works of Aristotle. Ibn Bajah distinguished himself as an original thinker. Algazel wrote a work, attacking all philosophical systems, to which Happalath Hahappalah published an answer. The commentary on Aristotle, by Averroes, was particularly esteemed, and his paraphrase of Plato's Republic, which appears formerly to have been little read, even among his

countrymen, deserves much praise. Many famous philosophers were, at the same time, physicians; for the physical sciences, including medicine, were not then separated from philosophy. Next to geography, the Arabians, without doubt, have contributed most to these sciences. At Dschondisabur, Bagdad, Ispahan, Firuzabad, Bukharia, Cufa, Bassora, Alexandria and Cordova, from the 8th to the 11th century, medical schools were instituted, and, with the devoted study bestowed on this branch of science, the nation could not fail of making important advances in it, though, in reality, they were here also dependent on the Greeks. Anatomy made no progress among them, because the Koran expressly prohibited dissections. Yet they had an extensive knowledge of medicine, zealously studied botany, and might be regarded as the inventors of chemistry; at least, they have made many discoveries in it, and Dscheber is regarded as the inventor of a panacea. In the science of diseases (nosology) they made much progress, and learned how to treat judiciously various kinds of sickness. To their famous writers on medicine belong Aharum (who first described the small-pox), Jahiah Ibn Serapion, Jacob Ibn Ishak Alkendi, John Mesve, Rhazes, Almansor, Ali Ibn Abbas, Avicenna (who published the Canon of Medicine, for a long time the best work of the kind), Ishak Ben Soleiman, Abulcasis, Aben Zohar, Averroes (the author of a compendium of physic). It cannot be denied, that honor is due to the Arabians for having maintained the scientific knowledge of medicine during the middle ages, and revived the study of it in Europe. If physics made less progress among them, the cause lies in the method of study. This science was treated metaphysically, in order to reconcile the principles of Aristotle with the doctrine of fatality taught in the Koran. Mathematics the Arabians enriched, simplified and extended. In arithmetic, they introduced the use of the ciphers which go under their name, and of decimals, into Europe, and, in trigonometry, sines instead of chords. They simplified the trigonometrical operations of the Greeks, and extended the general and useful applications of algebra. Mohammed Ben Musa and Thebit Ben Corrah particularly distinguished themselves in this department. Alhazen wrote on optics. Nassireddin translated the elements of Euclid. Dscheber Ben Afla wrote a commentary on the trigonometry of Ptolemy. As

tronomy they especially cultivated, for which famous schools and observatories were erected at Bagdad and Cordova. As early as A. D. 812, Alhazen and Sergius had translated into Arabic the Almagest of Ptolemy, the first regular treatise on astronomy, of which, in 833, Alfargani, and, still later, Averroes, published editions. Albaten, in the 10th century, observed the motion of the aphelion. Mohammed Ben Dscheber noticed the obliquity of the ecliptic, and completed a theory of the sun. Almansor formed astronomical tables, in which appear some observations on the obliquity of the ecliptic. Alpetragius wrote a theory of the planets. Geography was brought into connexion with mathematics and astronomy, and treated scientifically, particularly by Abulfeda. The division of the earth into 7 climates, various geographical measures and the like, belong to the Arabians. Much as the severer sciences were cultivated, the genius of the people for poetry was not fettered. Abu Temam, in 830, collected the greater Hamasah, an anthology in 10 books, and Bochteri, in 880, the lesser Hamasah, as a supplement to the other. These contain the 7 prize poems of the Moallakath. After this period, the oriental peculiarities of Arabian poetry became more and more strong, the tone grew mystical and extravagant, and the language lost its purity. Motenabbi deserves to be noticed for his tender elegies in a classic style; (see Proben der Arabischen Dichtkunst, Specimens of Arabic Poetry,-by Reiske, Leipsic, 1765; and Motenabbi, translated [into German] completely, for the first time, by Joseph Hammer, Vienna, 1823;) Abu Ismael Tograi, vizier of Bagdad, for his elegies and poems (see New German Mercury, 1800, No. 1. sect. 8); Ithiel Hariri, for his history of a knight errant, entitled Makamat, in 50 chapters (see Rosenműller On an Arabic Romance of Hariri, Leipsic, 1801, translated, 1826, by Rückert); Abu Dschaafar Ibn Tophail, for his interesting philosophical romance, the Natural Man, translated by Eichhorn, Berlin, 1783. Admai's great heroic romance, Antar's Life (see Antar), is still said to produce amusement in the coffee-houses of Aleppo. It is written in 35 parts.The dramatic excepted, there is no sort of poetry which the Arabians have left unattempted. The ballad, a production of the bold and adventurous spirit of the nation, was invented by them. There is no doubt that they had, by this means, a powerful effect on modern European po

etry; for no small share of the romantic poetry of the middle ages belonged to the Arabians. The adventurous, chivalrous spirit, the tales of fairies and sorcerers, and perhaps, also, rhyme, passed from the Arabians to our western poetry. Thus this nation, in the period of the middle ages, contributed, in various ways, to the literature and the refinement of Europe, and left behind many traces of its former superiority. Hence the importance of their language to learned inquirers must appear evident to all. No one can do without it, who would take an accurate view of knowledge and human character. It belongs to the Semitic dialects, so called, among which it is distinguished for its antiquity, richness and softness. By the Koran it was fixed as a written language, and, a short time after Mohammed, and still more since the 10th century, among the Arabian authors, who established the principles of the language, its beauties were explored, and its wealth collected in dictionaries. By the entrance of the Arabians into Sicily and Spain, their dialect became known in Europe. But, notwithstanding it has left many traces in the languages of those countries, the knowledge of it has been mostly lost since the expulsion of the Moors from Europe. Postel again introduced the scientific study of it into France, and Spey into Germany. In the 17th century, it flourished in the Netherlands, and was afterwards zealously pursued in Germany, Holland and England. We have valuable grammars by Erpen, Michaelis, Richardson, Jahn, Rosenmüller, de Sacy; good dictionaries by Erpen, Golius, Giggeji, Castell, Meninski, Wilmet, Scheid; collections of extracts by Reiske, Hirt, Rosenmüller, Jahn, de Sacy, Savary and others. Kirsten, Schultens, Jones, Eichhorn, Tychsen, Schnurrer, Hasse, Kosegarten, Hezel, Wahl, Paulus, Rosenműller, Vater, Augusti and others have done the world important services, by their great cultivation, investigation and illustration of the language. Gruner and Sprengel have shown how important the knowledge of it is to physicians. In fine, the remains of Arabian architecture, in Spain and Africa, deserve the attention of travellers.

The French architect P. Coste, in 1818, studied this style, particularly in Cairo and Alexandria. Thence arose his work, Architecture Arabe, ou Monuments du Caire, dessinés et mesurés, with 74 engravings, fol., Paris, 1823.

ARABIAN NIGHTS, or the THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS; a celebrated collection

of Eastern tales. The East is the ancient and native country of fabulous histories. The ever-active fancy of the people, their love of adventures, their belief in spirits, and their fondness for lively stories, are attested by numerous travellers. This character appears in the amusements of their coffee-houses and caravansaries. It gave rise (perhaps first in India and Persia) to those thousand fables, which, contrary to Mohammed's express command, found in Arabia a second home, and were spread, with alterations and improvements, first separately, and afterwards in large collections, through all Europe. Many of them found their way thither in the time of the crusades or sooner. They were the inexhaustible fountains which supplied the writers of the French fabliaux, and the story-tellers and fabulists of Germany. In the beginning of the 18th century (1704), the collection which had long existed in the East, under the above title, was introduced to the literary men of Europe, and, in a short time, to the public generally, by means of the translation of Ant. Galland, a distinguished French Orientalist. Its appearance was hailed with universal delight, and it became one of the most popular works in all Europe. The manuscript of Galland, now in the royal library at Paris, was incomplete. The interest inspired by the work led to more careful investigation; and, in the year 1788, appeared at Paris the New Thousand and one Nights, by Chaois and Cazotte, from a manuscript deposited in the royal library by the former, who was a native Arab. The genuineness of the book was, at first, suspected, on account of the freedom which the editors used with the original; but the suspicion was afterwards proved to be without foundation. Much is due, however, to Caussin de Perceval, the successor of Galland in the chair of the Arabic professorship, who made a new version, in 1806, from the original text, and to the improved copy of Galland added the conclusion of the whole. But many defects still remained, and many lost passages were yet to be found. The work, however, was not rendered complete by the improved translation of Jonathan Scott, in 1811, nor by the last edition of Galland's Mille et une Nuits, prepared by Gautiers, aided by Langlés, and published in 1822. It was reserved for the German literati to put a finishing stroke to this rich collection, by the use of manuscripts before unknown. In 1823-4, appeared a German translation, superintended by

Zinserling, of a splendid collection of new tales, which had been found at Rosetti, in Egypt, and a French translation of which had been unaccountably lost. The German translation was ushered into the world by Mr. von Hammer. Still more valuable was a Tunisian manuscript in the possession of professor Habicht, of Breslau, by the assistance of which every defect was corrected, and, with the advice of two other learned men, a German translation was made, far excelling every previous one-Tausend und eine Nacht, vollständig übersetzt, von Max. Habicht, v. der Hagen und K. Schall, (the Thousand and one Nights, translated in full, by Max. Habicht, v. der Hagen and K. Schall), 15 vols. 12mo. Breslau, 1825; also the original Arabic was published by doctor Habicht, with a glossary, in 1 vol., Breslau, 1825. A Danish translation of the Arabic text, printed in Calcutta, in 1814, has been published by Rasmussen, professor of Oriental languages at Copenhagen (1st vol., Copenhagen, 1824). With these exertions to restore to its original beauty and value one of the most remarkable monuments of Eastern manners, inquiries into the origin of the Arabian Nights were also prosecuted with success. It was easy to show that the position maintained by Caussin, that the work was a production of the 16th century, was untenable, and every other hypothesis which considers them as all composed at the same time. Von Hammer certainly took a more correct view of the subject. It was his opinion, that these fables sprung up in the soil of India, were afterwards transplanted to Persia, and finally made Arabian property by a translation into that language, in the time of the caliph Al Mansur, about 30 years before the time of Haroun al Raschid, the contemporary of Charlemagne. After a time, new branches, native and exotic, were grafted upon this original stock, which soon sent forth new shoots, like the parent tree. And no one can doubt the reasonableness of this opinion, who knows that stories of this sort allow of the introduction of every circumstance and every event in any way connected with the subject of the tale; and, in fact, it is plain, that many of these fables have a later origin and another home. According to Jonathan Scott, no two manuscripts in different countries agree; the copies found in every nation are corrupted by the traditions of the people. The story which forms the point of union among the Thousand and one Nights is

322

as follows:-The sultan Schahriar, exasperated by the faithlessness of his bride, made a law, that every one of his future wives should be put to death the morning after marriage. At length one of them, named Sheherazade, the generous daughter of the grand vizier, succeeded in abolishing the cruel custom. By the charm of her stories, the fair narrator induced the sultan to defer her execution every day till the dawn of another, by breaking, off in the middle of an interesting tale which she had begun to relate. Thus passed a thousand and one nights,-two years and nine months,-and, in the course of this period, Sheherazade became the mother of three children. These she led before the throne of her husband. The stern monarch was melted by her tears; he clasped his wife and children to his bosom, gave Sheherazade her life, and required of her no return, but the frequent relation of some of those tales, which had often kept him fascinated with delight at her side. Only a part of this story was known to the first French translator of the work; the conclusion was unknown till von Hammer discovered the circumstances just related, and laid them before the world. The delight felt by Schahriar has been felt by thousands more of his own faith, and still continues in the greatest part of Asia, in Egypt, and along the southern shores of the Mediterranean. It has been spread by the translations through the countries of Christian Europe, and will continue as long as men delight in the phenomena of a mysterious world, summoned up by the magic of an innocent and playful imagination. Most of the Arabian tales aim merely to delight the fancy, yet many of them contain much knowledge of mankind, and sometimes acute delineations of the hidden passions and vices of man's heart, and much practical wisdom. They are doubly interesting to the European reader, because they place before us, in a far more striking light than travellers can do it, all the peculiarities of the Eastern nations. The fearless courage of the Arab knight, his propensity to bold adventures, his dexterity and skill, his love and his revenge, the cunning of the women, the hypocrisy of the priests, the venality of the judges, all stand before us in full relief. Golden palaces, beautiful women, splendid gardens and rich banquets captivate our senses, and fetter us to a soil in which we delight to view the shadowy forms of a foreign world of fancy. Besides this, the poetical language of many

passages, and the great naïveté of the whole, cannot but interest the reader. If we were to give an idea of the Arabian Nights by pointing out its very antipode in literature, we would mention Dante's Divina Commedia. Both are creations of the boldest fancy; but the latter is grave, sometimes harsh, reflective, and speaks design throughout; the former, playful, naïf, sometimes childish, exhibiting the natural flow of a lively imagination. There are, however, some truly and deeply tragical tales among them; we only mention that of Ali Ebn Becar and Schemselnihar.-The pleasure inspired by the Arabian Nights soon gave rise to numerous imitations and changes. We ought to mention, among the first, the Thousand and one Days; an imitation, in Persian, of the Thousand and one Nights. It is less artless than the pattern, and executed with more apparent design. It attempts to remove the prejudices of a king's daughter against men, by recounting numerous examples of honor and faithfulness in that sex. Of the ancient French and German paraphrases, we have already spoken incidentally. Among modern paraphrases, we will mention only Oehlenschläger's Aladdin, which is founded on one of the Arabian tales.

ARABIAN SEA; a part of the Eastern ocean, on the southern coast of Arabia.

ARABICI; a sect of Christian teachers who arose in Arabia, in the first half of the 3d century. Their distinguishing doctrine was, that the human soul dies, decays, and rises again, at the same time with the body. Origen refuted and converted them, A. D. 246. Their error took its rise from the opinion, at that time prevalent, of the materiality of the soul.

ARAC, or ARRAC. (See Arack.)

ARACATSCHA; a plant; a native of the chain of the Andes, and first discovered in Santa Fé de Bogota (New Grenada, in Spanish South America). It is more nourishing and prolific than the potatoe (solanum tuberosum), which grows wild in this country, in the woods of Santa Fé de Bogota, in Peru and Chile. In taste and solidity, the aracatscha resembles the Spanish walnut. The soil requires no greater degree of warmth or moisture than is afforded by Europe. In Germany, it was first cultivated successfully in Bamberg or Würzburg. In the 19th page of the Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts (Oct. 1820), Mr. Lambert gives an account of the aracatscha (heracleum tuberosum Molina), and