Euclid's Elements, Courtly Patronage and Princely Education

摘要

The Persian tradition of Euclid''s Elements is closely connected with the Arabic transmission of the work in Iran, Central Asia and India. This tradition has multiple starting points. Na īr al-Dīn sī''s Arabic edition had a profound impact, but it was one of several Arabic versions that served as the basis for Persian translations. At the institutional level both the Arabic and the Persian traditions flourished in different spaces—at the courts, in the madrasa, and in the sphere of collectors. Emphasizing the continued importance of court patronage, this paper explores the specifics of spatial and temporal coordinates in the transmission and transformation of Euclid''s Elements in Islamic Iran.