yesterday I presented my paper “Queen of the Stars: Buran and the Role of Women in Astrological Knowledge in the Abbasid Caliphate” at @MESA_1966 on one of the first named women astrologers and the role of women in the sciences in the medieval Islamic world
A quick summary-
A quick summary-
The story of Buran is an interesting one. She was the wife of caliph Ma’mun, who goes on to outlive her husband.
She takes to examining the horoscope of her husband’s successor until one day she notices an important astrological configuration portending death from wood
She takes to examining the horoscope of her husband’s successor until one day she notices an important astrological configuration portending death from wood
She warns her father the caliph is in danger and upon the predicted day he watches as the caliph calls for a toothpick and a comb.
Buran’s father intervenes and asks the servant to use the wooden objects first as a test. The servant does so and promptly dies from poisoning
Buran’s father intervenes and asks the servant to use the wooden objects first as a test. The servant does so and promptly dies from poisoning
The caliph rewards Buran and her father for saving his life
The scholar Matar mentions Buran’s use of a length of life technique. By recreating this technique we can get a glimpse of the depth of knowledge attributed to Buran
She would have first erected the horoscope diagram using an astrolabe, zij, and celestial computation which is in of itself impressive.
then following the instructions of her contemporary astrologers, she would have identified the hilaj, the giver of life and calculated via tasyir the rate of motion between a symbolic meeting between the hilaj and the anaeretic point to identify the exact day of danger
All together we are looking at technical mastery of the materials of computation, a mastery of observable astronomy, high levels of literacy, and applied knowledge of mathematic and celestial trigonometry
The paper then examined how elite women like Buran participated and contributed to networks of knowledge; how did she become an astrologer, what texts she would have access to, her potential teachers, discourses etc
From Buran’s life we gain a glimpse of women’s participation in medieval scientific discourses, the estimation of astrology in Abbasid society, and the high level of education and expertise women achieved
i am excited to see how the research further takes shape
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