The Abbasid Activist Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār as the Father of Jābir b. Ḥayyān: An Influential Hypothesis Revisited
In 1927 Holmyard formulated the hypothesis that the Abbasid activist Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār (“Ḥayyān the Perfumer”, fl. 98/717) was the father of the second/eighth century alchemist Jābir b. Ḥayyān. It will be shown here that this hypothesis is contradicted by two sources that have since been published (t...
| Veröffentlicht in: | Journal of Abbasid Studies |
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| 1. VerfasserIn: | |
| Medienart: | Elektronisch Aufsatz |
| Sprache: | Englisch |
| Verfügbarkeit prüfen: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Veröffentlicht: |
Brill
2017
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| In: |
Journal of Abbasid Studies
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| weitere Schlagwörter: | B
Alchemy
Geber
Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār
Jābir b. Ḥayyān
Jābir-problem
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| Online Zugang: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Zusammenfassung: | In 1927 Holmyard formulated the hypothesis that the Abbasid activist Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār (“Ḥayyān the Perfumer”, fl. 98/717) was the father of the second/eighth century alchemist Jābir b. Ḥayyān. It will be shown here that this hypothesis is contradicted by two sources that have since been published (the third book of al-Balādhurī’s Ansāb al-ashrāf and the anonymous Akhbār al-ʿAbbās wa-wuldihi). The implications of this finding for the question of Jābir’s historicity will also be explored. Although the references to Jābir in later sources (including a number of new ones that will be listed here) strongly suggest that he is not a historical figure, his historicity is still often accepted, or at least left open as a possibility. It will be argued that Holmyard’s hypothesis has been a crucial factor in this continued acceptance, and that its rejection probably also entails the rejection of a historical Jābir. |
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| ISSN: | 2214-2371 |
| Enthält: | In: Journal of Abbasid Studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/22142371-12340030 |