KitÃÂb al-AnwÃÂþ () is a title given to a number of works from eastern and western parts of Arab civilization that concern astronomy, weather and agriculture. There is no proven relation between the different works of this title: the KitÃÂb al-AnwÃÂþ by Abu Hanifa Dinawari of Iran, for example, was written more than a century earlier than the KitÃÂb al-AnwÃÂþ by ÿArëb ibn Saÿëd al-Qurá¹Âà «bë of Córdoba (d. 980 CE). This latter, however, was a particularly influential example of the form and was adapted and translated several times.
ÿArëb ibn Saÿëd was a physician and scholar associated with the Córdoban Umayyad court of ÿAbd al-RaḥmÃÂn III. He based the KitÃÂb al-AnwÃÂþ on eastern-style calendars such as the KitÃÂb al-Azmina by Ibn MÃÂsawayh (d. 857). Ibn Saÿëd finished this work in 973 and is principally attested today in the manuscript Tehran, Malik Millë, MS 2049.
The work contains discourses on meteorological and astronomical topics, including astronomical tables, discussion of bodily health and hygiene, agricultural treatises and calendars. It describes a curious meteorological forecasting system based on the position of the sun and the hiding of certain stars, associating these positions with certain repetitive phenomena experienced at that time.
In the assessment of Miquel Forcada, 'the author also includes materials from everyday life, thus providing an invaluable documentary record of his times.'
ÿArëb ibn Saÿëd's work was adapted, in Córdoba, under the title KitÃÂb fë tafṣël al-zamÃÂn wa-maá¹£ÃÂliḥ al-abdÃÂn, a text that has been known in English as The Calendar of Córdoba since the name was Europeanised by its first modern editor, Reinhart Dozy, in his 1873 edition. This was composed in the tenth century CE, after the completion of ÿArëb ibn Saÿëd's work in 973. The Calendar of Córdoba differs from the KitÃÂb al-AnwÃÂþ in being greatly simplified, while including more information specific to Christian ritual, principally by listing the feasts and Mozarab saints associated with each day of the calendar.
The Calendar survives in the manuscripts Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS Héb. 1082 (Arabic in Hebrew script) and MS Ar. 2521 (Arabic).
The Calendar of Córdoba was twice translated into Latin during the Middle Ages. The earlier of the two is very literal, at times to the point of incomprehensibility, but adds further information relating to the Christian community of Córdoba and its hinterland. This is entitled Liber Anoe (taking its title from the source-text of the Calendar, the KitÃÂb al-AnwÃÂþ It may be by the Christian bishop Rabëÿ b. Zayd, who, like ÿArëb b. Saÿëd, was associated with the Umayyad court at Córdoba, has been posited as the translator. It was once attributed to Gerard of Cremona (d. 1187). This translation survives in the manuscripts Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional de España, MS 6036 and Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, MS Lat. Qu. 198.
The second Latin translation is from the thirteenth century. It survives in the manuscript Barcelona, Museu Episcopal, MS Vic 167.
The KitÃÂb al-AnwÃÂþ was also the source of the anonymous, Andalusian text RisÃÂla fë awqÃÂt al-sana, found in Rabat, al-Ḥasaniyya, MS 6699, and of the as yet unedited Tafṣël al-azmÃÂn wa-maá¹£ÃÂliḥ al-abdÃÂn found in the manuscript Alexandria, al-Baladiyya, MS 2918.