"If you want to pray to Mercury, wear the garments of a scribe:" kuttāb, udabāʾ, and readers of the Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm in the court of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III. Issue 2 (4th May 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Udaondo Alegre, Juan
• Is Part Of: Journal of medieval Iberian studies. Volume 14:Issue 2(2022)
• Page Start: 201
• Page End: 233
• Publication Date: 2022-05-04
• Subjects: Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm -- picatrix -- adab -- kuttāb -- magic -- Mercury -- Hermes Trismegistus; Iberians -- History -- Periodicals; Civilization; Iberians; Iberian Peninsula -- Civilization -- Periodicals; Spain -- Civilization -- 711-1516 -- Periodicals; Portugal -- Civilization -- To 1500 -- Periodicals; Spain -- Civilization -- Periodicals; Europe -- Iberian Peninsula; Portugal; Spain; History; Periodicals; 946.000902
• DOI: 10.1080/17546559.2022.2075557
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1754-6559

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This work addresses the question of the intended audience of the Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm, the famous Andalusi treatise on magic, better known by its Latin moniker, Picatrix . I propose that a substantial portion of the Ghāya 's readers were scribes, or kuttāb, in the tenth-century caliphate of Cordova. Many of these scribes were considered udabāʾ ; that is, those who possessed adab, an elusive yet ubiquitous term in Islamic culture. The concept of adab, scribal culture, and magic traveled to al-Andalus in similar ways and at similar times, and they reached their apex in two figures: Ibn Rabbih and al-Qurṭubī. I argue that, in the Ghāya 's spells and rituals, these kuttāb and udabāʾ could find not only a shortcut to acquire abilities vital to their work but also more dubious ways to promote themselves in a difficult political environment. Further, I show that sections of the Ghāya potentially allowed these officials to establish contact with the "supreme scribe, " the personified planet Mercury, who is closely related to the mythical sage Hermes Trismegistus.