Paraliterary text: T-S Ar.29.21

Description

Astrological prognostication based on the heliacal rising of Sirius (al-Shiʿrā). The forecast for the year depends on the zodiac sign of the moon when Sirius rises on 25 Abīb (= 19 July, the traditional date of the star's rising in Egypt). Each sign gets its own section that first lists the lands and cities that fall under the sign, then the formula qāla al-ḥakīm: idhā ṭalaʿat al-Shiʿrā wa-l-qamar bi-burj fulān ("the Sage said: when Sirius and the Moon rise in the sign of X"), followed by the forecast. Recto has been conserved as verso and vice-versa. Verso preserves the end of the section on Cancer. It predicts: - epidemics: fever, cough, smallpox, measles, pleurisy, ophthalmia, and death; - betrayal, and many places ruined; - no sea travel or shipping, and many shipwrecks; - deaths among pigs, cattle and sheep; locusts, mice and snakes multiplying; honey and pulses spoiling; - one king coming against another; - illness for anyone whose name begins with the letters wāw or ṣād. The section ends: "most of that will be in the clime of Cancer and the lands next to it." The section on Leo then begins (v 15–17), continuing onto recto: Leo is ruled by the Sun, it is masculine and fiery, and its triplicity includes Aries and Sagittarius. Among the lands falling under Leo are those of the Turks and, probably, Sogdia (al-Ṣughd) and Nīshāpūr. It also lists cities that fall under Leo because of how the planets stood when they were founded: Iṣfahān, Raʾs al-ʿAyn (r4–5), al-Ruhā (Edessa), Latakia, Fusṭāṭ, Sidon (r5), and al-Dīnawar. Then the forecast begins: - a wind (qabūl, glossed "that is, the south") reaching "as far as the heart"; - a deep red sky, and red stars; - the Nile rising in a blessed flood, blood-red at first, and staying on the land for many days; - wheat and barley becoming expensive; - wine and fruit in Syria, with a mention of the Holy Places; The recto ends with a catchword, ויכצב ("and it will be fertile"), indicating that the text continued onto at least one more leaf. MR