• Collection No:
• 1186

• Former Collection No:
• Nücum 1

• Title of Book:
• Zîc-i Uluğ Bey - زيج الوغ بك

• Author:
• Uluğ Bey, Muhammed Turgay b. Şahruh b. Timur el-Azerbeycânî er-Riyâzî, (853/1449) الوغ بك، محمد تورغاي بن شاهرخ بن تيمور الآزربيجاني الرياضي

• Copyright Date:
• 1437-1440

• Language:
• Persian

• Subject:
• Astronomy

• Date of Copying
• : -

• Scriber
• : -

• Bibliography about the author:
• https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ulug-bey

• Bibliography about the work:
• https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/zic-i-ulug-bey
  Salim Aydüz, “Uluğ Bey Zici’nin Osmanlı Astronomi Çalışmalarındaki Yeri ve Önemi”, Bilig, sy. 25, Ankara 2003, s. 139-170.

• Publications of the Work
• : Uluğ Bey’in Astronomi Cetvelleri: Zic-i Uluğ Bey (trs. Atilla Bir – Mustafa Kaçar), Ankara 2012, I-II.
  Ulugh Beg’s Catalogue of Stars (ed. E. Ball Knobel), Washington 1917.

• Copies:
• There are more than twenty copies of the work in libraries in Turkey.

• Content:
• The work was prepared based on the results of observations and research conducted at the Samarkand Observatory in the 15th century. The work is also known as Zīj-i Gürgânî, Zīj-i Ḫāḳānî, and Zīj-i Cedîd-i Sulṭânî. The work was first written in Persian (allegedly in Tajik) and later translated into Arabic and Turkish. It consists of four books and includes tables on trigonometry, astronomy, geography and astrology. The first part is devoted to chronology and different types of calendars. The second part is about astronomy, the third part about planets and stars, and the last part about astrology.
  The zīj, which is very close to today's calculations in terms of both trigonometry and the annual movements and positions of the planets, was considered the most perfect of the astronomical catalogs prepared until the seventeenth century and was used as the basic book of positional astronomy until this time. Flamsteed, the founder of the Greenwich Observatory, also made use of Ulug Bey's zîc while preparing his catalog of fixed stars (Historia Coelestis Britanica, London 1725). This zīj, which was officially used in the Ottoman Empire between the XV-XVIII centuries, has been the subject of many commentaries, reforms, corrections, summaries and translations. The work has been translated into Latin, Russian, French and published in parts or in its entirety.

• Physical Description
•  

• Leaf:
• 183

• Dimensions:
• 343x235-260x168mm

• Calligraphy:
• Ta‘liq

• Binding:
• Burgundy oak binding. Covered in red leather with a marbled cover.
  Titles and tables in red ink. Paper watermarked, with moisture stains and ink burns.

• Kuyûdât / Records
•  

• Ia / /Description of the work:
• Kitâb-ı Zîc Uluğ Beg bin Şâhruh bin Temur el-Gürgânî

• Ia / Ownership Record of Emrullah bin Ahmed, the muwaqqit of Edirne New Mosque:
• min kütübi’l-fakîr ila’llâhi’l-hamîdü’l-mecîd Emrullâh bin Ahmed bin Mahmûd bin el-hâcc Mürîd el-Edirnevî el-muvakkit el-câmi’ü’l-cedîd bi-Edirne-i mahrûse ‘ufiye ‘anhüm el-mülkü’l-vahîd

• Ia / Ownership Record of Süleyman Dürrî, the muwaqqit of Fatih Mosque:
• temellekehu el-fakir el-hakîr Süleymân Dürrî el-muvakkit bi-câmi’ Ebu'l feth Sultân Mehmed Han ‘aleyhi’r-rahme fî sene gkmh [1148 (1735/1736)] hicriyye

• Ia / Ownership Record of Seyyid İbrahim:
• Allahu hasbî sümme şerrefe bi-temlikihi el-’abdü’l-fakîr ilâ ‘inâyeti rabbihi’l-ganî [...] es-seyyid İbrâhîm kâne fî sene ‘aft
  has a seal under the record İbrâhîm bin Hacı Sinân tilmîzü Emrullâh bin Ahmed ve Emrullâh bin Ahmed kâne tilmîzü Mehmed el-Masrî ve Mehmed el-Masrî kâne tilmîzü Muhammed bin Muhammed es-sevfî ve Muhammed es-sevfî kâne tilmîzü Şeyh Şehâbeddîn Ahmed bin el-Mecîdî gufira’llâhu lehu ve li-vâlideyyi li-cemî’i’l-müslimîn amin

• Ia / A note from Nimetullah on the value and importance of the works of zīj
• : Zîc güften ve bir âlet-i cengdir ki ceng gününde ederler ve bir ‘alemdir ki rasd ‘alemine mekkârın ve zerre ve bennâ iyi ve bir kitâbdır nakalehu min Ni’metullâh

• Ib / Note that the work was written for Ulugh Beg's library:
• bi-resmi-hizâneti’s-sultâni’l-a’zami’l-a’lem … rikâb-i e’âzımu’s-selâtîn fi’l-’âlem Muhammed … el-evvelîn nâşirü’l-’adl fî ıktâi’l-arzeyn muğyetü’s-saltantuhu ve’d-dünyâ … Uluğ Beg Gürgânî halledallahu mülkehu ve saltanatuhu

• 1a / Crossed out and erased ownership record
•  

• 1a / Two identical seals of Monla Muhammad in octagonal form, one of which is erased
• 

• 1a / Ownership Record of Muhammed Said:
• sümme teşerrefe ve temellekehu hazihi’n-nüsha-i şerîfe el fakîr Muhammed Sa’îd el-ma’rûf yazıcı-zâde mine’l-medreseyn ‘ufiye ‘anhümâ fî sene-i grb [1202(1787/1788)] hicrî

• 1a / Seal belonging to the Hafız Ahmed Ağa Foundation:
• Sâbıkan rikâbdâr-ı hazret-i şehriyârî Rodosî Hafız Ahmed Ağa’nın cezîre-i mezbûrda bina eylediği kitâbhanesinin kütüb-i mevkûfesidir 1207

• 1a / Personal Seal in the name of Yakub:
• sekizgen formda tam okunamayan, Yakub

• 191a/ Fevâid about the Coptic calendar
•  

• 191a/ Favâid showing ebced calculations about the differences between calendars:
• 

• 191a/ Fevâid about the Apocalypse
•  

• Some notes on the manuscript:
• The ownership records of the manuscript provide a clear example of the use and circulation of zījs in society. Two of the four ownership records belong to the muwaqqits who were in charge of determining the prayer times. Therefore, it is possible to assume that they made use of the calendars in the zījs to determine the prayer times. The other two records do not indicate the occupation of the owners. However, the use of abjad to indicate the date in most of the notes in the work indicates that the maliks were knowledgeable in this field.
  Although the copy is not dated, the ownership records show that the work was in circulation in the 18th century and came into the possession of Hafız Ahmed Aga in the last decade of the century; it was endowed in Rhodes after its journey from Edirne to Istanbul.