Manuscripts MAP: Magic, Alchemy and Prophecy in Persian Avicennism

Abstract

This paper will examine the Persian manuscript tradition of three pseudepigraphic works, respectively concerning magic, alchemy and prophecy, originally written in Arabic and attributed to Avicenna. The authenticity of these treatises has been denied by several scholars and, although they are mostly considered spurious or to be authenticated, they nevertheless remain important testimonia for the history of the transmission of the texts. Their translations into Persian are also valuable sources for the reception of Avicenna’s thought and for the perception of it over the centuries.