Al-Jazari

Al - Dschazarī (actually Badī ' az- Zaman Abū l-' Izz ibn Ismā'īl ibn ar - Razzaz al - Dschazarī, Arabic بديع الزمان أبو العز بن إسماعيل الرزاز الجزري, DMG Badī ʿ az- Zaman Abū l - ʿ Izz b. Ismā ʿ īl ar - Razzaz al - Ǧazarī, Turkish Eb -ul - İz el Cezerî, Kurdish Ebûlîz Cizîrî ), was an Arab engineer and author of the 12th century. The name al - Dschazarī he wore after his birthplace, Cizre, in the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern-day Turkey. He stood, as well as before his father, since 1181 in the service of Ortoqiden, a Turkmen dynasty in Diyarbakır on the Tigris.

Work

This richly illustrated six -part work includes structural and functional descriptions of watches, different vessels for drinking sessions and bloodletting, wells, pumping stations and other mechanisms such as doors and door locks, but also measuring equipment.

Reception

The plant experienced a wide spread in the Arab world, as well as translations into Turkish and Persian. Over the long handing down of the Treatise, the representations were adjusted to the respective tastes.

The Kitāb fī ma ʿ rifat al - Hiyal al - handasīya is considered the most important source on the advanced state of Arab art in the Middle Ages, which was well ahead of contemporary European art.

Many of the apparatuses described have been reconstructed experimentally in recent times and proved to be functional.

See also: Elefantenuhr of al - Dschazarī