Works

Every work of the authors in the library’s orbit, in the reader or not: who wrote it, when, how it survives, where it can be read, and how it connects to other works. 82 so far. Where a field has not been checked against its source, it says so.

Checked on 2026-10-31

Table and records Streams

TraditionAll (82)The Quran (0)Ibn ʿArabī (9)Sufism (7)Philosophy (13)Ismaili thought (0)Greek sources (10)Further afield (43)Arabic grammar (0)Other (0)

GenreAll (82)Scripture and exegesis (0)Ḥadīth and the Prophet's life (0)Law (1)Creed and kalām (0)Metaphysics and cosmology (4)Sciences of letters and names (0)Counsel and governance (61)The path (7)Lives and lineages (2)Prayer and litany (3)Lyric (1)Language and grammar (0)Other, or not yet classed (3)

FormAll (82)Prose (73)Verse (5)Prose with verse (3)Diagrams (1)

LanguageAll (82)Arabic (39)Persian (14)Greek (12)Syriac (0)Ottoman Turkish (3)Chinese (0)Latin (8)Hebrew (1)Other (5)

PeriodAll (82)Archaic and classical Greek (7)Hellenistic (0)Roman imperial (4)Late antique (4)2nd century AH (5)3rd century AH (6)4th century AH (6)5th century AH (8)6th century AH (12)7th century AH (16)8th century AH (4)9th century AH (4)10th century AH (3)11th century AH (2)13th century AH (1)

In the readerAll (82)In the reader (9)Planned (0)Listed only (73)

82 of 82 works.

Works, sortable by column
Title ▲	Author	Genre	Period	Language	Status
Bacon's glossed edition of the SecretumSecretum secretorum cum glossis et notulis	Roger Bacon	Counsel and governance	7th century AH	Latin	Listed only
Courtesies of Kings; Gift for Viziers; Histories of the Persian Kingsآداب الملوك؛ تحفة الوزراء؛ غرر أخبار ملوك الفرس	al-Thaʿālibī	Counsel and governance	5th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
The Exalted Ethicsاخلاق علائی	Kınalızade ʿAlī Çelebi	Counsel and governance	10th century AH	Ottoman Turkish	Listed only
Jalalean Ethics (Practical Philosophy of the Muhammadan People)اخلاق جلالی	Jalāl al-Dīn Dawānī	Counsel and governance	9th century AH	Persian	Listed only
Muhsinean Ethicsاخلاق محسنی	Ḥusayn Vāʿiẓ Kāshifī	Counsel and governance	9th century AH	Persian	Listed only
The Nasirean ethicsاخلاق ناصری	Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī	Counsel and governance	7th century AH	Persian	Listed only
The Great Book of Conduct; The Little Book of Conduct; Epistle on the Caliph's Entourageالأدب الكبير؛ الأدب الصغير؛ رسالة في الصحابة	Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ	Counsel and governance	2nd century AH	Arabic	Listed only
The Ordinances of Governmentالأحكام السلطانية والولايات الدينية	al-Māwardī	Law	5th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Al-Fakhri: on the systems of government and the Muslim dynastiesالفخري في الآداب السلطانية والدول الإسلامية	Ibn al-Ṭiqṭaqā	Counsel and governance	8th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
The Meccan openingsالفتوحات المكية	Ibn ʿArabī	Metaphysics and cosmology	7th century AH	Arabic	In the reader
Metaphysics of the Shifāʾ, book X (prophecy, law and the city)الإلهيات من الشفاء، المقالة العاشرة	Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna)	Metaphysics and cosmology	5th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Introduction to History (Prolegomena)المقدمة	Ibn Khaldūn	Other, or not yet classed	8th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
The prayer of effusionالصلاة الفيضية	Ibn ʿArabī	Prayer and litany	7th century AH	Arabic	In the reader
The Shining Meteors on Useful Policyالشهب اللامعة في السياسة النافعة	Ibn Riḍwān al-Mālaqī	Counsel and governance	8th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
The political regime (also called the Principles of existing things)السياسة المدنية	al-Fārābī	Counsel and governance	4th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Divine governance of the human kingdomالتدبيرات الإلهية في إصلاح المملكة الإنسانية	Ibn ʿArabī	Counsel and governance	6th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Spiritual Physickالطب الروحاني	Abū Bakr al-Rāzī	Counsel and governance	3rd century AH	Arabic	Listed only
The Unique Necklaceالعقد الفريد	Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih	Counsel and governance	4th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Andarz: Middle Persian counsel literatureاندرز (Pahlavi andarz)	Anonymous (Sasanian andarz)	Counsel and governance	Late antique	Other	Listed only
Opinions of the people of the virtuous cityآراء أهل المدينة الفاضلة	al-Fārābī	Counsel and governance	4th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
The weekly litaniesأوراد الأسبوع	Ibn ʿArabī	Prayer and litany	7th century AH	Arabic	In the reader
Wonders of Conduct in the Natures of Kingshipبدائع السلك في طبائع الملك	Ibn al-Azraq	Counsel and governance	9th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Treatise on the Differences between Breast, Heart, Inner Heart and Coreبيان الفرق بين الصدر والقلب والفؤاد واللب	al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī	The path	3rd century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Four Discoursesچهار مقاله	Niẓāmī ʿArūḍī	Counsel and governance	6th century AH	Persian	Listed only
On ClemencyDe clementia	Seneca	Counsel and governance	Roman imperial	Latin	Listed only
On the Rule of PrincesDe regimine principum	Giles of Rome	Counsel and governance	7th century AH	Latin	Listed only
On KingshipDe regno ad regem Cypri	Thomas Aquinas	Counsel and governance	7th century AH	Latin	Listed only
Guide to Practice for the Correction of Defectsدستور العمل لإصلاح الخلل	Kâtib Çelebi (Ḥājjī Khalīfa)	Counsel and governance	11th century AH	Ottoman Turkish	Listed only
Advice to the Emperor / EkthesisἜκθεσις κεφαλαίων παραινετικῶν	Agapetus the Deacon	Counsel and governance	Late antique	Greek	Listed only
The ringstones of wisdomفصوص الحكم	Ibn ʿArabī	Metaphysics and cosmology	7th century AH	Arabic	In the reader
Rose Garden; Orchardگلستان؛ بوستان	Saʿdī of Shiraz	Counsel and governance	7th century AH	Persian	Listed only
The Walled Garden of Truthحدیقة الحقیقة	Sanāʾī	The path	6th century AH	Persian	Listed only
The prayer of the highest circuitحزب الدور الأعلى	Ibn ʿArabī	Prayer and litany	7th century AH	Arabic	In the reader
The PrinceIl Principe	Niccolò Machiavelli	Counsel and governance	10th century AH	Other	Listed only
The book of circlesإنشاء الدوائر	Ibn ʿArabī	Metaphysics and cosmology	7th century AH	Arabic	In the reader
The Education of a Christian PrinceInstitutio principis christiani	Desiderius Erasmus	Counsel and governance	10th century AH	Latin	Listed only
Galen's synopsis of Plato's Republic (Arabic reception)جوامع كتاب أفلاطون في السياسة (Galen's synopsis of the Republic, as reported)	Galen of Pergamon	Counsel and governance	Roman imperial	Greek	Listed only
Commentary on Plato's Republicجوامع سياسة أفلاطون	Ibn Rushd (Averroes)	Counsel and governance	6th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Persian Kalīla and Dimnaکلیله و دمنه (Naṣrallāh Munshī)	Naṣrallāh Munshī	Counsel and governance	6th century AH	Persian	Listed only
Kalīla and Dimna (Fables of Bidpai)كليلة ودمنة	Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ	Counsel and governance	2nd century AH	Arabic	Listed only
The Stations; Reminder to the Intelligent and Admonition to the Heedlessكتاب المواقف؛ ذكرى العاقل وتنبيه الغافل	Emir ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jazāʾirī	The path	13th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Book of the Crown (on the characters of kings)كتاب التاج في أخلاق الملوك	al-Jāḥiẓ (attributed)	Counsel and governance	3rd century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Koçi Bey's Treatiseرساله	Koçi Bey	Counsel and governance	11th century AH	Ottoman Turkish	Listed only
The Wisdom of Royal Gloryقوتادغو بيليگ	Yūsuf Khāṣṣ Ḥājib	Counsel and governance	5th century AH	Other	Listed only
Cyropaedia (Education of Cyrus); HieroΚύρου παιδεία; Ἱέρων	Xenophon	Counsel and governance	Archaic and classical Greek	Greek	Listed only
The Conference of the Birdsمنطق الطیر	Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār	The path	6th century AH	Persian	Listed only
Spiritual Coupletsمثنوی معنوی	Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī	The path	7th century AH	Persian	Listed only
The Path of God's Bondsmen from Origin to Returnمرصاد العباد من المبدأ إلى المعاد	Najm al-Dīn Rāzī Dāya	The path	7th century AH	Persian	Listed only
On MonarchyMonarchia	Dante Alighieri	Counsel and governance	8th century AH	Latin	Listed only
Letter of Tansarنامه تنسر	Tansar (attributed)	Counsel and governance	Late antique	Persian	Listed only
Counsel for Kings (Book of Counsel for Kings)نصیحة الملوک	al-Ghazālī	Counsel and governance	6th century AH	Persian	Listed only
Counsel for Kings; Facilitating Deliberation; Rules of the Vizierate; Conduct of Worldly and Religious Lifeنصيحة الملوك؛ تسهيل النظر وتعجيل الظفر؛ قوانين الوزارة؛ أدب الدنيا والدين	al-Māwardī	Counsel and governance	5th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
LawsΝόμοι	Plato	Counsel and governance	Archaic and classical Greek	Greek	Listed only
Kingship OrationsΠερὶ βασιλείας	Dio Chrysostom	Counsel and governance	Roman imperial	Greek	Listed only
Phaedrus (chariot myth, 246a-254e)Φαῖδρος	Plato	Other, or not yet classed	Archaic and classical Greek	Greek	Listed only
Byzantine mirrors: Photius' Letter to Boris of Bulgaria (c. 864-66); Theophylact of Ohrid, Paideia basilike (1080s [check]); Basil I's Exhortations to Leo (886 [check])Letter to Boris-Michael; Παιδεία βασιλική; Κεφάλαια παραινετικά	Photius of Constantinople	Counsel and governance	3rd century AH	Greek	Listed only
Statesman's BookPolicraticus	John of Salisbury	Counsel and governance	6th century AH	Latin	Listed only
RepublicΠολιτεία	Plato	Counsel and governance	Archaic and classical Greek	Greek	In the reader
Politics; (pseudo-)EconomicsΠολιτικά; Οἰκονομικά (pseudo)	Aristotle	Counsel and governance	Archaic and classical Greek	Greek	Listed only
StatesmanΠολιτικός	Plato	Counsel and governance	Archaic and classical Greek	Greek	Listed only
Vernacular Secretum versionsPoridat de las poridades; Secrees of Old Philisoffres; Secreta secretorum (Old French, German, Russian, Welsh...)	Anonymous and later translators (Castilian, English)	Counsel and governance	9th century AH	Other	Listed only
To an Uneducated Ruler; Sayings of Kings and Commanders (Moralia)Πρὸς ἡγεμόνα ἀπαίδευτον; Βασιλέων ἀποφθέγματα	Plutarch of Chaeronea	Counsel and governance	Roman imperial	Greek	Listed only
To Nicocles; Nicocles (or the Cyprians); EvagorasΠρὸς Νικοκλέα / Νικοκλῆς / Εὐαγόρας	Isocrates	Counsel and governance	Archaic and classical Greek	Greek	Listed only
Mirror for Princes: The Qābūs Nāmaقابوسنامه	Kaykāʾūs b. Iskandar	Counsel and governance	5th century AH	Persian	Listed only
Pseudo-Aristotelian letters to Alexander (Arabic Alexander-romance epistolary corpus)رسائل أرسطو إلى الإسكندر; الرسالة في السياسة للمدن	Pseudo-Aristotle	Counsel and governance	2nd century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Epistles of the Brethren of Purity; The Case of the Animals versus Man before the King of the Jinnرسائل إخوان الصفا؛ نزاع الإنسان والحيوان	Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ	Other, or not yet classed	4th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Letter of Ṭāhir to his son ʿAbd Allāhرسالة طاهر بن الحسين إلى ابنه عبد الله	Ṭāhir b. al-Ḥusayn	Counsel and governance	3rd century AH	Arabic	Listed only
The spirit of holinessروح القدس في محاسبة النفس	Ibn ʿArabī	Lives and lineages	7th century AH	Arabic	In the reader
Secret of Secrets (Latin versions)Secretum secretorum (Latin)	John of Seville and Philip of Tripoli (Latin translators)	Counsel and governance	6th century AH	Latin	Listed only
The Lamp of Kingsسراج الملوك	al-Ṭurṭūshī	Counsel and governance	6th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
The Secret of Secretsسر الأسرار / كتاب السياسة في تدبير الرياسة	Pseudo-Aristotle	Counsel and governance	2nd century AH	Arabic	Listed only
The Book of Government or Rules for Kingsسیاست‌نامه / سیر الملوک	Niẓām al-Mulk	Counsel and governance	5th century AH	Persian	Listed only
Secret of Secrets (Hebrew versions)סוד הסודות	Judah al-Ḥarīzī	Counsel and governance	7th century AH	Hebrew	Listed only
Solace for the Ruler during Hostility of Subjects (Waters of Comfort)سلوان المطاع في عدوان الأتباع	Ibn Ẓafar al-Ṣiqillī	Counsel and governance	6th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Regime (Rule) of the solitaryتدبير المتوحد	Ibn Bājja (Avempace)	Counsel and governance	6th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
The refinement of characterتهذيب الأخلاق	Miskawayh	Counsel and governance	4th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Summary of Plato's Lawsتلخيص نواميس أفلاطون	al-Fārābī	Counsel and governance	4th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
The interpreter of desiresترجمان الأشواق	Ibn ʿArabī	Lyric	7th century AH	Arabic	In the reader
Book of Lords / Lives of the Kings of the Persiansخدای‌نامگ / سیر ملوک العجم	Anonymous (Sasanian andarz)	Lives and lineages	Late antique	Other	Listed only
Testament of Ardashīrعهد أردشير	Ardashīr I (attributed)	Counsel and governance	2nd century AH	Arabic	Listed only
The Wonders of the Heartعجائب القلب (إحياء علوم الدين، الكتاب 21)	al-Ghazālī	The path	5th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Choice Reports (Book 1: al-Sulṭān)عيون الأخبار	Ibn Qutayba	Counsel and governance	3rd century AH	Arabic	Listed only

Records

Bacon's glossed edition of the Secretum

Secretum secretorum cum glossis et notulis

Roger Bacon (1214–1292)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Latin · 7th century AH · Listed only

Bacon edits the Philip-of-Tripoli text with glosses (on hygiene, optics, astrology), using it to argue for scientific reform.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1270s, Oxford/Paris (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Steele fasc. V (1920) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Secret of Secrets (Latin versions) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Courtesies of Kings; Gift for Viziers; Histories of the Persian Kings

آداب الملوك؛ تحفة الوزراء؛ غرر أخبار ملوك الفرس

Ādāb al-mulūk; Tuḥfat al-wuzarāʾ; Ghurar akhbār mulūk al-Furs

al-Thaʿālibī (d. 429/1038)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 5th century AH · Listed only

Courtly adab and Persian king-lore for Khurasani rulers;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

early 11th c., Nishapur / Ghazna (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Jalīl al-ʿAṭiyya (Ādāb al-mulūk, Beirut 1990); Zotenberg (Ghurar, Paris 1900) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Zotenberg (French, Ghurar) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Book of Lords / Lives of the Kings of the Persians The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: The Great Book of Conduct; The Little Book of Conduct; Epistle on the Caliph's Entourage The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The Exalted Ethics

اخلاق علائی

Ahlâk-ı ʿAlâʾî

Kınalızade ʿAlī Çelebi (d. 979/1572)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Ottoman Turkish · 10th century AH · Listed only

Ottoman Turkish reworking of Ṭūsī and Dawānī: ethics, household and politics in the Greek-Persian line.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1564, Istanbul (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Istanbul editions · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Jalalean Ethics (Practical Philosophy of the Muhammadan People) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Jalalean Ethics (Practical Philosophy of the Muhammadan People)

اخلاق جلالی

Akhlāq-i Jalālī

Jalāl al-Dīn Dawānī (d. 908/1502)

Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Persian · 9th century AH · Listed only

Revises Ṭūsī with illuminationist (ishrāqī) touches;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1475-77, Shiraz (for Uzun Hasan) (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Lithographs; Tehran · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

W. F. Thompson, Practical Philosophy of the Muhammadan People (London 1839) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: The Nasirean ethics The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Muhsinean Ethics

اخلاق محسنی

Akhlāq-i Muḥsinī

Ḥusayn Vāʿiẓ Kāshifī (d. 910/1504–05)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Persian · 9th century AH · Listed only

A popular Timurid mirror in Persian with simplified Ṭūsī/Dawānī schemes and stories.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1494-1500, Herat (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Hertford 1850 (lithograph) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Henry Keene, Akhlāq-i Muḥsinī (Hertford 1850) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Jalalean Ethics (Practical Philosophy of the Muhammadan People) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The Nasirean ethics

اخلاق ناصری

Akhlāq-i Nāṣirī

Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (597–672/1201–1274)

Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Persian · 7th century AH · Listed only

Three parts: ethics (Miskawayh), household management (tadbīr-i manzil), and the management of cities (siyāsat-i mudun);

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

633/1235 (draft; unchecked) (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Mojtabā Mīnuvī and ʿAlī-Riḍā Ḥaydarī (Tehran 1356 sh/1977) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

G. M. Wickens, The Nasirean Ethics (London: Allen and Unwin 1964) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Opinions of the people of the virtuous city The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Metaphysics of the Shifāʾ, book X (prophecy, law and the city) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: The refinement of character (recorded as lineage, shown as a resonance until its reference is checked) The Platonic Current's note cites TDV (“Tûsî, Nasîrüddin”) as saying the Akhlāq-i Nāṣirī follows the Tahdhīb al-akhlāq, giving page comparisons. That note was reused; the TDV article was not re-read this session. Confidence: medium. probable

The Great Book of Conduct; The Little Book of Conduct; Epistle on the Caliph's Entourage

الأدب الكبير؛ الأدب الصغير؛ رسالة في الصحابة

al-Adab al-kabīr; al-Adab al-ṣaghīr; Risāla fī l-ṣaḥāba

Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (d. c. 139/756)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 2nd century AH · Listed only

Adab as a code of reason and restraint;

Attribution

authentic: TDV names al-Adab al-kabīr, al-Adab al-ṣaghīr and the Risāla fī l-ṣaḥāba among his works, and calls him an early pioneer of the siyāsatnāma tradition. checked in Hasan Hüseyin Adalıoğlu, “Siyâsetnâme”, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (2009)

Date

c. 750s, Basra, Baghdad (al-Manṣūr's court) (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Muḥammad Kurd ʿAlī, Rasāʾil al-bulaghāʾ (Cairo 1913); Pellat, Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ 'mort en 757' conseilleur du calife (Paris 1976) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Pellat (French); partial English in Lambton and Marlow · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Andarz: Middle Persian counsel literature The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Testament of Ardashīr The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The Ordinances of Government

الأحكام السلطانية والولايات الدينية

al-Aḥkām al-sulṭāniyya wa-l-wilāyāt al-dīniyya

al-Māwardī (d. 450/1058)

Further afield · Law · Arabic · 5th century AH · Listed only

The caliphate and offices defined by law: the imam's contract, appointment of ministers, judges, war, taxes.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1045-58, Baghdad (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Muḥammad Fahmī al-Sarjānī (Cairo 1909); Aḥmad Mubārak al-Baghdādī (Kuwait 1989) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Asadullah Yate (London: Ta-Ha 1996); Wafaa Wahba (Garnet 1996) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Counsel for Kings; Facilitating Deliberation; Rules of the Vizierate; Conduct of Worldly and Religious Life The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Al-Fakhri: on the systems of government and the Muslim dynasties

الفخري في الآداب السلطانية والدول الإسلامية

al-Fakhrī fī l-ādāb al-sulṭāniyya wa-l-duwal al-islāmiyya

Ibn al-Ṭiqṭaqā (fl. 701/1302)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 8th century AH · Listed only

A mirror in the first half, then a short history of caliphs and viziers as exemplars.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

1302, Mosul (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Ahlwardt (Gotha 1860); Cairo ed. · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

C. E. J. Whitting, Al-Fakhri on the Systems of Government (London 1947) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Counsel for Kings; Facilitating Deliberation; Rules of the Vizierate; Conduct of Worldly and Religious Life The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The Meccan openings

الفتوحات المكية

al-Futūḥāt al-makkiyya

Ibn ʿArabī (560–638/1165–1240)

Ibn ʿArabī · Metaphysics and cosmology · Arabic · 7th century AH · In the reader

Reader: the introduction and chapter 1 only.

Attribution: authentic: The reader catalogue lists it as his work; Yahia 1964 not yet in hand. probable
Date: not yet checked (author d. 638/1240) (basis: the author's death date) not yet checked

Read it hereReader: the introduction and chapter 1 only.

Metaphysics of the Shifāʾ, book X (prophecy, law and the city)

الإلهيات من الشفاء، المقالة العاشرة

al-Ilāhiyyāt min al-Shifāʾ, maqāla 10

Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) (c. 370–428/980–1037)

Philosophy · Metaphysics and cosmology · Arabic · 5th century AH · Listed only

The closing book of the Metaphysics of the Shifāʾ: prophecy, the law-giver and the ordering of the city; his short Risāla fī l-siyāsa is a separate work.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1020s, Hamadhan, Isfahan (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Cairo ed. (Mūsā, Dunyā, Zāyid 1960) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Michael Marmura, The Metaphysics of the Healing (BYU 2005) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Introduction to History (Prolegomena)

المقدمة

al-Muqaddima

Ibn Khaldūn (d. 808/1406)

Further afield · Other, or not yet classed · Arabic · 8th century AH · Listed only

Dynasties rise by ʿasabiyya and fall in about three generations;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

1377, Tunis, Qalʿat Ibn Salāma, Cairo (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Quatremère (Paris 1858); Dār Ṣādir ed. · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Franz Rosenthal (Princeton, Bollingen 1958; rev. 1967) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: The Great Book of Conduct; The Little Book of Conduct; Epistle on the Caliph's Entourage The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Letter of Ṭāhir to his son ʿAbd Allāh The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Opinions of the people of the virtuous city The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The prayer of effusion

الصلاة الفيضية

al-Ṣalāt al-fayḍiyya

Ibn ʿArabī (560–638/1165–1240)

Ibn ʿArabī · Prayer and litany · Arabic · 7th century AH · In the reader

Reader: complete; attributed to Ibn ʿArabī.

Attribution: disputed: The reader labels it 'Ibn ʿArabī (attributed)'; the basis for the attribution has not been checked. not yet checked
Date: not yet checked (author d. 638/1240) (basis: the author's death date) not yet checked

Read it hereReader: complete; attributed to Ibn ʿArabī.

The Shining Meteors on Useful Policy

الشهب اللامعة في السياسة النافعة

al-Shuhub al-lāmiʿa fī l-siyāsa al-nāfiʿa

Ibn Riḍwān al-Mālaqī (d. 783/1381)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 8th century AH · Listed only

A Maghribi mirror building on Ṭurṭūshī and the philosophers, written for Marinid/Nasrid courts.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

late 14th c., Málaga, Fez (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

ʿAlī Sāmī al-Nashshār (Casablanca 1984) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: The Lamp of Kings The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Counsel for Kings; Facilitating Deliberation; Rules of the Vizierate; Conduct of Worldly and Religious Life The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The political regime (also called the Principles of existing things)

السياسة المدنية

al-Siyāsa al-madaniyya

al-Fārābī (c. 870–950)

Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 4th century AH · Listed only

The ruler, the virtuous city and its opposites, built from a doctrine of first principles.

Attribution: authentic: TDV names al-Siyāsa al-madaniyya (Mabādiʾ al-mawjūdāt), less systematic than the Madīna and complementing it. checked in Hasan Hüseyin Adalıoğlu, “Siyâsetnâme”, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (2009)
Date: c. 940s (draft; unchecked), Baghdad, Aleppo/Damascus (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Divine governance of the human kingdom

التدبيرات الإلهية في إصلاح المملكة الإنسانية

al-Tadbīrāt al-ilāhiyya fī iṣlāḥ al-mamlaka al-insāniyya

Ibn ʿArabī (560–638/1165–1240)

Ibn ʿArabī · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 6th century AH · Listed only

Counsel on governing the human being as a kingdom under the intellect. Its preface sets it against the Sirr al-asrār's governance of the worldly kingdom, and addresses both the servant of kings and the traveller on the path.

Attribution

authentic: The text opens in his own name, 'Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-ʿArabī al-Ḥātimī al-Ṭāʾī' (Nyberg, first text page, unnumbered), and speaks in the first person of its composition (pp. 120–121). Yahia 1964, the specialist reference, is not yet in hand. checked in H. S. Nyberg (ed.), Kleinere Schriften des Ibn al-ʿArabī (Leiden: Brill, 1919); the Tadbīrāt is printed in the Arabic section, text pp. 103–240 (see LEDGER)

Date

Composed at Mawrūr (Morón) 'in under four days' (dūn al-arbaʿa al-ayyām, Nyberg p. 121); the year is not yet established (draft: before 598/1202), Mawrūr (Morón), al-Andalus (basis: date of composition) probable

Editions

H. S. Nyberg (ed.), Kleinere Schriften des Ibn al-ʿArabī (Leiden: Brill, 1919), Arabic text of the Tadbīrāt pp. 103–240 (title page unnumbered; p. 240 ends 'tamma al-kitāb'), with sigla B1, B2, B3, U · public domain checked in H. S. Nyberg (ed.), Kleinere Schriften des Ibn al-ʿArabī (Leiden: Brill, 1919); the Tadbīrāt is printed in the Arabic section, text pp. 103–240 (see LEDGER)
Critical Arabic edition with Urdu, Abrar Ahmed Shahi (Ibn al-Arabi Foundation, 2020, 3rd ed.) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi, Divine Governance of the Human Kingdom (Fons Vitae, 1997), reported by the draft as made from Ottoman Turkish; unchecked · en · cite only not yet checked

Read it at H. S. Nyberg (ed.), Kleinere Schriften des Ibn al-ʿArabī (Leiden: Brill, 1919), Arabic text of the Tadbīrāt pp. 103–240 (title page unnumbered; p. 240 ends 'tamma al-kitāb'), with sigla B1, B2, B3, U

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Opinions of the people of the virtuous city The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Epistles of the Brethren of Purity; The Case of the Animals versus Man before the King of the Jinn The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: The refinement of character The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Lineage: The Secret of Secrets The preface names it (Nyberg pp. 120–121, read from the page images). At Mawrūr, with Abū Muḥammad al-Mawrūrī, Ibn ʿArabī found the 'Kitāb Sirr al-asrār', which 'the sage' (al-ḥakīm) composed for Dhū l-Qarnayn; he was asked to set against it the governance of the human kingdom, 'in which is our happiness'. He says he put into his book more on governing a kingdom than the sage did and made clear what the sage left out, and that the sage's book is a quarter or a third of its size. He names the author only as 'the sage' and the king as Dhū l-Qarnayn; the title identifies the book. Confidence: high. checked in H. S. Nyberg (ed.), Kleinere Schriften des Ibn al-ʿArabī (Leiden: Brill, 1919); the Tadbīrāt is printed in the Arabic section, text pp. 103–240 (see LEDGER)
Resonance, not influence: Republic Both treat the ruled soul as a polity under reason. No source seen documents a route from the Republic to the Tadbīrāt; the Tadbīrāt's preface names the Sirr al-asrār, not the Republic or al-Fārābī. Confidence: low. probable

Spiritual Physick

الطب الروحاني

al-Ṭibb al-rūḥānī

Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (d. c. 313/925)

Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 3rd century AH · Listed only

Reason as king of the soul against passion;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 900-925, Rayy (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Paul Kraus, Rasāʾil falsafiyya (Cairo 1939) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

A. J. Arberry, The Spiritual Physick of Rhazes (London 1950) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Republic The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Phaedrus (chariot myth, 246a-254e) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The Unique Necklace

العقد الفريد

al-ʿIqd al-farīd

Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih (d. 328/940)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 4th century AH · Listed only

Book 1 al-Luʾluʾa (The Pearl) on the sultan, one of the first Andalusi mirrors in anthology form.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

early 10th c., Cordoba (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Amīn, Zayn, Abyārī (Cairo 1940-53) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

partial · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Choice Reports (Book 1: al-Sulṭān) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Andarz: Middle Persian counsel literature

اندرز (Pahlavi andarz)

Andarz

Anonymous (Sasanian andarz) (Sasanian period)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Other · Late antique · Listed only

Short sayings and instruction from sage to king or son;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

Sasanian, preserved in 9th-10th c. Pahlavi, Iran (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Zaehner, The Teachings of the Magi (1956); Shaki and others · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Zaehner (1956); Jamasp-Asana and West (Pahlavi Texts) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Opinions of the people of the virtuous city

آراء أهل المدينة الفاضلة

Ārāʾ ahl al-madīna al-fāḍila

al-Fārābī (c. 870–950)

Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 4th century AH · Listed only

The virtuous city is ruled by a philosopher-prophet whose emanation from the Active Intellect orders the city like the cosmos from the First Cause;

Attribution

authentic: TDV: al-Madīna al-fāḍila was written with a thought like the ideal city of Plato's Republic. checked in Hasan Hüseyin Adalıoğlu, “Siyâsetnâme”, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (2009)

Date

c. 940s, Baghdad, Aleppo/Damascus (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Dunlop (Fuṣūl 1961); Walzer (Ārāʾ, Oxford 1985); Mahdi (Taḥṣīl) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Walzer, Al-Farabi on the Perfect State (Oxford 1985); Mahdi tr. in Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle (1962); Najjar in Lerner and Mahdi, Medieval Political Philosophy (1963) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Laws The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Republic (recorded as lineage, shown as a resonance until its reference is checked) SEP: al-Fārābī takes 'some inspiration' from the Republic and Laws, though his access to them may have been limited since a full Arabic translation is doubted; TDV likens his Madīna to the ideal city of Plato's Republic. No quotation or named borrowing has been checked. Confidence: medium. probable

The weekly litanies

أوراد الأسبوع

Awrād al-usbūʿ

Ibn ʿArabī (560–638/1165–1240)

Ibn ʿArabī · Prayer and litany · Arabic · 7th century AH · In the reader

Reader: the opening prayer and Sunday's prayers only.

Attribution: authentic: The reader catalogue lists it as his work; Yahia 1964 not yet in hand. probable
Date: not yet checked (author d. 638/1240) (basis: the author's death date) not yet checked

Read it hereReader: the opening prayer and Sunday's prayers only.

Wonders of Conduct in the Natures of Kingship

بدائع السلك في طبائع الملك

Badāʾiʿ al-silk fī ṭabāʾiʿ al-mulk

Ibn al-Azraq (d. 896/1491)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 9th century AH · Listed only

Follows Ibn Khaldūn's civilisation theory with Andalusi examples;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1480s, Granada, then Tlemcen/Málaga (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

ʿAlī Sāmī al-Nashshār (Baghdad 1977) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Introduction to History (Prolegomena) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Counsel for Kings; Facilitating Deliberation; Rules of the Vizierate; Conduct of Worldly and Religious Life The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Treatise on the Differences between Breast, Heart, Inner Heart and Core

بيان الفرق بين الصدر والقلب والفؤاد واللب

Bayān al-farq bayn al-ṣadr wa-l-qalb wa-l-fuʾād wa-l-lubb

al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī (d. c. 295–320/910–930)

Sufism · The path · Arabic · 3rd century AH · Listed only

The soul as an inner city;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

late 9th-early 10th c., Tirmidh (Transoxiana) (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Bernd Radtke · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Four Discourses

چهار مقاله

Chahār maqāla

Niẓāmī ʿArūḍī (fl. c. 551/1156)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Persian · 6th century AH · Listed only

Discusses the secretary, poet, astrologer and physician: those needed by the king.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1156, Samarkand/Herat (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

E. G. Browne (London 1910, text) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

E. G. Browne (1899; rev. 1921) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Mirror for Princes: The Qābūs Nāma The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

On Clemency

De clementia

Seneca (c. 4 BCE–65 CE)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Latin · Roman imperial · Listed only

Clemency makes power secure;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

55-56 CE, Rome (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Prechac (Budé) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Cooper and Procopé (CUP, Seneca: Moral and Political Essays 1995) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

On the Rule of Princes

De regimine principum

Giles of Rome (d. 1316)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Latin · 7th century AH · Listed only

Three books on self-governance (ethics), the household (economics), and the kingdom (politics): the Platonic-Aristotelian triad as in Ṭūsī.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1280, Paris (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Rome 1556 · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Briggs (Giles of Rome's De regimine principum: Reading and Writing Politics at Court and University, Stanford/Brill 1999) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Politics; (pseudo-)Economics The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: The Secret of Secrets The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

On Kingship

De regno ad regem Cypri

De regno

Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Latin · 7th century AH · Listed only

Monarchy best;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1267, Rome/Orvieto (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Leonine ed. (vol. 42) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Gerald Phelan and I. Eschmann, On Kingship (Toronto 1949); Dyson (CUP 2002) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Politics; (pseudo-)Economics The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Guide to Practice for the Correction of Defects

دستور العمل لإصلاح الخلل

Düstūrü'l-ʿamel li-iṣlāḥi'l-ḥalel

Kâtib Çelebi (Ḥājjī Khalīfa) (d. 1067/1657)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Ottoman Turkish · 11th century AH · Listed only

A reform tract applying Ibn Khaldūn's organic cycles to Ottoman decline;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

1653, Istanbul (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Ankara 1982 · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Lewis, 'Ottoman Observers of Ottoman Decline'; Lewis tr. (1979 TDV?) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Introduction to History (Prolegomena) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Advice to the Emperor / Ekthesis

Ἔκθεσις κεφαλαίων παραινετικῶν

Ekthesis kephalaiōn parainetikōn

Agapetus the Deacon (fl. 6th c. CE)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Greek · Late antique · Listed only

72 short chapters, acrostic on Justinian's name: the emperor is equal to all in nature, to God alone in power;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 527-30, Constantinople (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Riedinger (1995); PG 86 · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Peter Bell, Three Political Voices from the Age of Justinian (Liverpool 2009) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: To Nicocles; Nicocles (or the Cyprians); Evagoras The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The ringstones of wisdom

فصوص الحكم

Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam

Ibn ʿArabī (560–638/1165–1240)

Ibn ʿArabī · Metaphysics and cosmology · Arabic · 7th century AH · In the reader

Reader: chapters 1–6 and 15 (Adam, Seth, Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jesus); not the whole book.

Attribution: authentic: The reader catalogue lists it as his work; Yahia 1964 not yet in hand. probable
Date: not yet checked (author d. 638/1240) (basis: the author's death date) not yet checked

Read it hereReader: chapters 1–6 and 15 (Adam, Seth, Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jesus); not the whole book.

Rose Garden; Orchard

گلستان؛ بوستان

Gulistān; Būstān

Saʿdī of Shiraz (d. c. 691/1292)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Persian · 7th century AH · Listed only

Gulistān book 1 is 'On the conduct of kings': tales of kings, viziers and dervishes;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

1257-58, Shiraz (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Yūsufī (Tehran 1368 sh) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Eastwick (1852, free); Wickens (1974) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Mirror for Princes: The Qābūs Nāma The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The Walled Garden of Truth

حدیقة الحقیقة

Ḥadīqat al-ḥaqīqa

Sanāʾī (d. c. 525/1131)

Sufism · The path · Persian · 6th century AH · Listed only

Mathnawī with sections on kings and justice, mixed with mystic teaching.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1131, Ghazna (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Modarres Razavi (Tehran 1329 sh) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

David Pendlebury (The Walled Garden of Truth, London 1974) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Mirror for Princes: The Qābūs Nāma The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The prayer of the highest circuit

حزب الدور الأعلى

Ḥizb al-dawr al-aʿlā

Ibn ʿArabī (560–638/1165–1240)

Ibn ʿArabī · Prayer and litany · Arabic · 7th century AH · In the reader

Reader: complete; attributed to Ibn ʿArabī.

Attribution: disputed: The reader labels it 'Ibn ʿArabī (attributed)'; the basis for the attribution has not been checked. not yet checked
Date: not yet checked (author d. 638/1240) (basis: the author's death date) not yet checked

Read it hereReader: complete; attributed to Ibn ʿArabī.

The Prince

Il Principe

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Other · 10th century AH · Listed only

Breaks with the mirror tradition: 'the effectual truth' rather than imagined republics;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

written 1513; printed 1532, Florence (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Inglese (Einaudi 1995) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Gutenberg; Mansfield; Skinner · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Cyropaedia (Education of Cyrus); Hiero The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: On the Rule of Princes The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The book of circles

إنشاء الدوائر

Inshāʾ al-dawāʾir

Ibn ʿArabī (560–638/1165–1240)

Ibn ʿArabī · Metaphysics and cosmology · Arabic · 7th century AH · In the reader

Reader: complete, from Nyberg 1919.

Attribution

authentic: The reader catalogue lists it as his work; Yahia 1964 not yet in hand. probable

Date

not yet checked (author d. 638/1240) (basis: the author's death date) not yet checked

Editions

H. S. Nyberg (ed.), Kleinere Schriften des Ibn al-ʿArabī (Leiden, 1919) · public domain probable

Read it hereReader: complete, from Nyberg 1919.

The Education of a Christian Prince

Institutio principis christiani

Desiderius Erasmus (d. 1536)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Latin · 10th century AH · Listed only

Education of the prince in virtue;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

1516, Basel/Louvain (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Opera omnia IV-1 (Amsterdam 1974) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Lisa Jardine (CUP 1997); Born (1936) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: To Nicocles; Nicocles (or the Cyprians); Evagoras The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: To an Uneducated Ruler; Sayings of Kings and Commanders (Moralia) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: On Clemency The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Galen's synopsis of Plato's Republic (Arabic reception)

جوامع كتاب أفلاطون في السياسة (Galen's synopsis of the Republic, as reported)

Jawāmiʿ kitāb Aflāṭūn fī l-siyāsa (? title not verified)

Galen of Pergamon (129–c. 216 CE)

Greek sources · Counsel and governance · Greek · Roman imperial · Listed only

A synopsis of the Republic attributed to Galen. Galen's synopses of Plato survive in Arabic in part: the Timaeus synopsis and fragments of others are edited by Kraus and Walzer (Plato Arabus I, 1951); whether a Republic synopsis is among them is not yet checked.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

unknown; not verified (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Kraus and Walzer 1951 (contents to be checked for a Republic synopsis) · © cite only probable

Not in the reader yet

Commentary on Plato's Republic

جوامع سياسة أفلاطون

Jawāmiʿ siyāsat Aflāṭūn

Ibn Rushd (Averroes) (1126–1198)

Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 6th century AH · Listed only

Ibn Rushd's commentary on Plato's Republic, kept in Hebrew; it takes the Republic as the political philosophy he lacked in Aristotle's Politics.

Attribution

authentic: SEP: he wrote a commentary on Plato's Republic and begins it by saying he will abstract the demonstrative arguments and remove the dialectical ones. checked in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Ibn Rushd [Averroes]”

Date

c. 1194 (draft; unchecked) (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

E. I. J. Rosenthal (ed. and tr.), Averroes' Commentary on Plato's Republic (Cambridge UP, 1956): the Hebrew text with English translation; the Arabic original is lost · cite only probable

Translations

Ralph Lerner, Averroes on Plato's Republic (Cornell UP, 1974) · en · cite only probable
Rosenthal 1956 (with the Hebrew text) · en · cite only probable

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Opinions of the people of the virtuous city The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Lineage: Republic It is a commentary on the Republic (SEP, which also notes that its brevity does not show deep knowledge of the whole text). Confidence: high. checked in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Ibn Rushd [Averroes]”; Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “al-Farabi”

Persian Kalīla and Dimna

کلیله و دمنه (Naṣrallāh Munshī)

Kalīla va Dimna

Naṣrallāh Munshī (fl. c. 538/1144)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Persian · 6th century AH · Listed only

Persian rendering of Kalīla with embellishments;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1144, Ghazna (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Mojtabā Mīnuvī (Tehran 1343 sh) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Kalīla and Dimna (Fables of Bidpai) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Kalīla and Dimna (Fables of Bidpai)

كليلة ودمنة

Kalīla wa-Dimna

Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (d. c. 139/756)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 2nd century AH · Listed only

Animal fables as indirect counsel to the king;

Attribution

authentic: TDV: the Pahlavi Pañcatantra was put into Arabic by Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ as Kalīla wa-Dimna. checked in İskender Pala, “Nasihatnâme”, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (2006); Hasan Hüseyin Adalıoğlu, “Siyâsetnâme”, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (2009)

Date

c. 750; Persian 1144, Baghdad (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Louis Cheikho (Beirut 1905); ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ʿAzzām (Cairo 1941) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Thomas Irving (Kalilah and Dimnah, 1980); Wyndham Knatchbull (1819, free) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Andarz: Middle Persian counsel literature The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The Stations; Reminder to the Intelligent and Admonition to the Heedless

كتاب المواقف؛ ذكرى العاقل وتنبيه الغافل

Kitāb al-Mawāqif; Dhikrā l-ʿāqil wa-tanbīh al-ghāfil

Emir ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jazāʾirī (d. 1300/1883)

Sufism · The path · Arabic · 13th century AH · Listed only

A statesman-Sufi's meditations on the heart, reason and love;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

1850s-1860s; Dhikrā 1855, Bursa, Damascus (after exile) (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Damascus ed. · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Michel Chodkiewicz (ed.), The Spiritual Writings of Amir ʿAbd al-Kader (SUNY 1995) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Divine governance of the human kingdom The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: The Wonders of the Heart The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Book of the Crown (on the characters of kings)

كتاب التاج في أخلاق الملوك

Kitāb al-Tāj fī akhlāq al-mulūk

al-Jāḥiẓ (attributed) (d. 255/868)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 3rd century AH · Listed only

Describes the ceremonial, conversation and etiquette of the Sasanian-style king, an exemplar for caliphal court.

Attribution

disputed: TDV says 'attributed to al-Jāḥiẓ' (Câhiz'e nisbet edilen). checked in İskender Pala, “Nasihatnâme”, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (2006)

Date

9th–10th c.; TDV (Siyâsetname) calls it one of the first works with the siyāsatnāma genre's marks, dedicated to the vizier al-Fatḥ b. Khāqān, in a preface and four parts (basis: date of composition) probable

Editions

Aḥmad Zakī Pasha (Cairo 1914) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Charles Pellat, Le Livre de la Couronne (Paris 1954) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Testament of Ardashīr The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Andarz: Middle Persian counsel literature The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Koçi Bey's Treatise

رساله

Koçi Bey Risalesi

Koçi Bey (d. c. 1650)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Ottoman Turkish · 11th century AH · Listed only

Practical advice on restoring order to a declining state;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1631 and 1640, Istanbul (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Zuhuri Danışman (Istanbul 1972) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Guide to Practice for the Correction of Defects The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The Wisdom of Royal Glory

قوتادغو بيليگ

Kutadgu Bilig

Yūsuf Khāṣṣ Ḥājib (fl. 462/1069)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Other · 5th century AH · Listed only

Four allegorical figures (Justice/king, Fortune/vizier, Intellect/sage, End/ascetic) debate kingship and the afterlife in a Turkic mathnawī.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

462/1069–70, presented to the Karakhanid ruler Tavgach Ulugh Bughra Khan (TDV) (basis: date of composition) checked in Hasan Hüseyin Adalıoğlu, “Siyâsetnâme”, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (2009)

Editions

R. R. Arat (Istanbul 1947) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Robert Dankoff, Wisdom of Royal Glory (Chicago 1983) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Mirror for Princes: The Qābūs Nāma The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: The Great Book of Conduct; The Little Book of Conduct; Epistle on the Caliph's Entourage The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Cyropaedia (Education of Cyrus); Hiero

Κύρου παιδεία; Ἱέρων

Kyrou paideia; Hierōn

Xenophon (c. 430–354 BCE)

Greek sources · Counsel and governance · Greek · Archaic and classical Greek · Listed only

Cyrus as ideal ruler produced by education and by command through willing obedience (the household as a model of the empire);

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 360-350 BCE, Athens/Scillus (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Marchant (OCT, 1910-20) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Henry Dakyns (free); Wayne Ambler (Cornell); Loeb (Miller; Marchant and Todd) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: To Nicocles; Nicocles (or the Cyprians); Evagoras The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The Conference of the Birds

منطق الطیر

Manṭiq al-ṭayr

Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār (d. c. 618/1221)

Sufism · The path · Persian · 6th century AH · Listed only

Birds seek the Simurgh, their king;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1177, Nishapur (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Gowharin (Tehran 1342 sh) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Darbandi and Davis (Penguin 1984) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Spiritual Couplets The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Spiritual Couplets

مثنوی معنوی

Masnavī-yi maʿnavī

Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (d. 672/1273)

Sufism · The path · Persian · 7th century AH · Listed only

Royal parables: the king and the handmaiden (the soul and the divine physician), Sultan Maḥmūd and Ayāz, the king's hawk;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

1258-73, Konya (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

R. A. Nicholson (Gibb Memorial 1925-40) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Nicholson (1925-40, free on archive.org); Jawid Mojaddedi (Oxford World's Classics) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: The Walled Garden of Truth The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: The Conference of the Birds The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: The Wonders of the Heart The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The Path of God's Bondsmen from Origin to Return

مرصاد العباد من المبدأ إلى المعاد

Mirṣād al-ʿibād min al-mabdaʾ ilā l-maʿād

Najm al-Dīn Rāzī Dāya (d. 654/1256)

Sufism · The path · Persian · 7th century AH · Listed only

A Sufi path with a long chapter addressed to kings and rulers;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

620/1223, Sivas (dedicated to Kayqubād I of Rum) (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

M. A. Riyāḥī (Tehran 1352 sh/1973) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Hamid Algar (Caravan 1982) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: The Wonders of the Heart The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

On Monarchy

Monarchia

Dante Alighieri (1265–1321)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Latin · 8th century AH · Listed only

Universal monarchy as necessary for realising the human intellect;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1313-18, Verona/Ravenna (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Prue Shaw (Cambridge 1995) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Prue Shaw (CUP 1995) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Commentary on Plato's Republic The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Politics; (pseudo-)Economics The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Letter of Tansar

نامه تنسر

Nāma-yi Tansar

Tansar (attributed) (Sasanian setting)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Persian · Late antique · Listed only

Defends Ardashīr's centralising reform;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

Sasanian setting; Persian recension via Ibn Isfandiyār (c. 1210), Iran (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Minovi (Tehran 1932); Darmesteter (JA 1894) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Mary Boyce, The Letter of Tansar (Rome 1968) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Andarz: Middle Persian counsel literature The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Counsel for Kings (Book of Counsel for Kings)

نصیحة الملوک

Naṣīḥat al-mulūk

al-Ghazālī (450–505/1058–1111)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Persian · 6th century AH · Listed only

Faith as foundation of kingship;

Attribution

disputed: The draft says the first half may be his and the second part from another hand. TDV treats it as al-Ghazālī's, written in Baghdad under the Seljuks. The scope doc names Patricia Crone, 'Did al-Ghazālī write a mirror for princes?', JSAI 10 (1987): title and year 1987 seen in OpenAlex; the argument has not been read. probable

Date

c. 1105-09, Tus / Baghdad (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Jalāl al-Dīn Humāʾī (Tehran 1315 sh/1937) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

F. R. C. Bagley, Ghazali's Book of Counsel for Kings (OUP 1964) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Testament of Ardashīr The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Andarz: Middle Persian counsel literature The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Counsel for Kings; Facilitating Deliberation; Rules of the Vizierate; Conduct of Worldly and Religious Life

نصيحة الملوك؛ تسهيل النظر وتعجيل الظفر؛ قوانين الوزارة؛ أدب الدنيا والدين

Naṣīḥat al-mulūk; Tashīl al-naẓar wa-taʿjīl al-ẓafar; Qawānīn al-wizāra; Adab al-dunyā wa-l-dīn

al-Māwardī (d. 450/1058)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 5th century AH · Listed only

Counsel to rulers grounded in sharia ethics and Greek moral philosophy: the ruler's knowledge, justice, consultation, and the ordering of the realm's elements.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1030-1058 (Naṣīḥa authorship in doubt), Baghdad (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Naṣīḥat al-mulūk: Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Munʿim (Alexandria 1988); Tashīl al-naẓar: Riḍwān al-Sayyid (Beirut 1981); Adab al-dunyā: Muṣṭafā al-Saqqā (Cairo 1955) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Partial in Marlow (2023) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: The Great Book of Conduct; The Little Book of Conduct; Epistle on the Caliph's Entourage The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: The refinement of character The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Laws

Νόμοι

Nomoi

Plato (c. 428–348 BCE)

Greek sources · Counsel and governance · Greek · Archaic and classical Greek · Listed only

Plato's last and longest dialogue: the laws of a second-best city, with a preamble to each law.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 350 BCE, unfinished at his death (draft), Athens (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

J. Burnet (ed.), Platonis Opera, Oxford Classical Texts · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Kingship Orations

Περὶ βασιλείας

Peri basileias (Orations 1-4)

Dio Chrysostom (c. 40–after 110 CE)

Greek sources · Counsel and governance · Greek · Roman imperial · Listed only

The good king imitates Zeus, the father;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 100-105 CE, Prusa, Rome (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Teubner (von Arnim) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Loeb (Cohoon and Crosby); Perseus · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Republic The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Cyropaedia (Education of Cyrus); Hiero The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Phaedrus (chariot myth, 246a-254e)

Φαῖδρος

Phaidros

Plato (c. 428–348 BCE)

Greek sources · Other, or not yet classed · Greek · Archaic and classical Greek · Listed only

The soul as a winged charioteer driving two horses, one noble and one unruly: self-rule as the control of the divided soul, with eros as the wing.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 370 BCE, Athens (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

OCT (Burnet 1901) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Jowett (free); Nehamas and Woodruff (Hackett 1995) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Republic The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Byzantine mirrors: Photius' Letter to Boris of Bulgaria (c. 864-66); Theophylact of Ohrid, Paideia basilike (1080s [check]); Basil I's Exhortations to Leo (886 [check])

Letter to Boris-Michael; Παιδεία βασιλική; Κεφάλαια παραινετικά

Photius to Boris; Paideia basilikē (Theophylact); Basil I, Kephalaia

Photius of Constantinople (c. 810–after 893 CE)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Greek · 3rd century AH · Listed only

Christian ruler as imitator of Christ;

Attribution: authentic not yet checked
Date: 9th-11th c., Constantinople; Ohrid (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Advice to the Emperor / Ekthesis The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Statesman's Book

Policraticus

John of Salisbury (d. 1180)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Latin · 6th century AH · Listed only

The commonwealth as body: prince as head, priests as soul, army as hands;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

1159, Canterbury/Chartres (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Webb (Oxford 1909); Nederman CUP tr. (1990) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Cary Nederman (CUP 1990); Pike (1938) 'Frivolities of Courtiers' · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: On Clemency The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: To an Uneducated Ruler; Sayings of Kings and Commanders (Moralia) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Republic

Πολιτεία

Politeia

Plato (c. 428–348 BCE)

Greek sources · Counsel and governance · Greek · Archaic and classical Greek · In the reader

The city as the soul written large, and the philosopher fit to rule because reason governs. No full Arabic translation is attested; SEP records one translated passage (VI 506d–509b).

Attribution

authentic checked in This site: app/src/lib/catalogue.ts (texts in the reader)

Date

c. 375 BCE (draft; unchecked), Athens (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

B. Jowett, The Republic (1892), as shown alongside the Greek in the reader · public domain checked in This site: app/src/lib/catalogue.ts (texts in the reader)
J. Burnet, Oxford Classical Texts (1902); S. R. Slings OCT (2003) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Jowett (1892) · en · public domain checked in This site: app/src/lib/catalogue.ts (texts in the reader)

Read it herePartial: the reader holds Books VI–VII (the Sun, the Line and the Cave) only.

Politics; (pseudo-)Economics

Πολιτικά; Οἰκονομικά (pseudo)

Politika; Oikonomika

Aristotle (384–322 BCE)

Greek sources · Counsel and governance · Greek · Archaic and classical Greek · Listed only

Man is a political animal;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

Politics c. 330s BCE, Athens (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Ross (OCT 1957) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Reeve (Hackett); Barker (Oxford); Jowett (free) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Republic The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Statesman

Πολιτικός

Politikos

Plato (c. 428–348 BCE)

Greek sources · Counsel and governance · Greek · Archaic and classical Greek · Listed only

A dialogue on the statesman's art of ruling, comparing the ruler to a weaver of the city.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 360 BCE (draft), Athens (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

J. Burnet (ed.), Platonis Opera, Oxford Classical Texts · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Vernacular Secretum versions

Poridat de las poridades; Secrees of Old Philisoffres; Secreta secretorum (Old French, German, Russian, Welsh...)

Poridat de las poridades; Secrees

Anonymous and later translators (Castilian, English) (13th–15th c. CE)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Other · 9th century AH · Listed only

Wide vernacular diffusion made the Secretum a mirror for princes in dozens of languages.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

13th-15th c., Spain, England, France, German lands, Russia (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Kasten, Poridat de las poridades (Madrid 1957); Steele, EETS e.s. 66 (1894); Manzalaoui, Secretum secretorum: Nine English Versions (EETS 276, Oxford 1977) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Secret of Secrets (Latin versions) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

To an Uneducated Ruler; Sayings of Kings and Commanders (Moralia)

Πρὸς ἡγεμόνα ἀπαίδευτον; Βασιλέων ἀποφθέγματα

Pros hēgemona apaideuton; Basileōn apophthegmata

Plutarch of Chaeronea (c. 46–after 119 CE)

Greek sources · Counsel and governance · Greek · Roman imperial · Listed only

A ruler must first be ruled by reason ('law is the king of all');

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 100 CE, Chaeronea/Delphi (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Teubner Moralia; Loeb Babbitt/Fowler · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Loeb (Babbitt, Moralia vol. X) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Republic The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

To Nicocles; Nicocles (or the Cyprians); Evagoras

Πρὸς Νικοκλέα / Νικοκλῆς / Εὐαγόρας

Pros Nikoklea; Nikokles; Euagoras

Isocrates (436–338 BCE)

Greek sources · Counsel and governance · Greek · Archaic and classical Greek · Listed only

A young king should govern himself first, hold power as a trust, and choose advisers who speak freely;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 374-365 BCE, Athens, for Cyprian Salamis (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Mandilaras (Teubner 1980); Mathieu-Brémond (Budé) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

G. Norlin (Loeb 1928) and La Rue Van Hook (Loeb); David Mirhady and Yun Lee Too (Univ. Texas Press 2000) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Mirror for Princes: The Qābūs Nāma

قابوسنامه

Qābūsnāma

Kaykāʾūs b. Iskandar (fl. 475/1082)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Persian · 5th century AH · Listed only

44 chapters of counsel from father to son: conduct with friends, kings, physicians, farmers, artisans;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

475/1082-83, Gurgān (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

G.-H. Yūsufī (Tehran 1345 sh/1966); R. Levy (Gibb Memorial NS 18, London 1951) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Reuben Levy, A Mirror for Princes (London: Cresset 1951) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Andarz: Middle Persian counsel literature The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: The Great Book of Conduct; The Little Book of Conduct; Epistle on the Caliph's Entourage The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Pseudo-Aristotelian letters to Alexander (Arabic Alexander-romance epistolary corpus)

رسائل أرسطو إلى الإسكندر; الرسالة في السياسة للمدن

Rasāʾil Arisṭū ilā l-Iskandar; Risāla fī l-siyāsa li-l-mudun (Letter on the policy of cities)

Pseudo-Aristotle ((name borne by anonymous or later authors))

Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 2nd century AH · Listed only

Aristotle, tutor of Alexander, counsels policy toward conquered cities and the control of the self;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

8th-9th c. Arabic, Umayyad/early Abbasid chancery (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

S. M. Stern, Aristotle on the World State (Oxford: Cassirer 1970); Maróth, The Correspondence between Aristotle and Alexander the Great (Piliscsaba 2006) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Maróth (partial English) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: The Great Book of Conduct; The Little Book of Conduct; Epistle on the Caliph's Entourage The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Epistles of the Brethren of Purity; The Case of the Animals versus Man before the King of the Jinn

رسائل إخوان الصفا؛ نزاع الإنسان والحيوان

Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ; Tadāʿī al-ḥayawān ʿalā l-insān

Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ (10th c. CE (anonymous group))

Philosophy · Other, or not yet classed · Arabic · 4th century AH · Listed only

Epistle 22 is a debate before a jinn-king;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

10th c., Basra (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Cairo/Beirut editions; Butrus al-Bustani (Beirut 1957) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Lenn Goodman and Richard McGregor (OUP/IIS 2009) for the Animals; Epistles partial (IIS) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Republic The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Kalīla and Dimna (Fables of Bidpai) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Letter of Ṭāhir to his son ʿAbd Allāh

رسالة طاهر بن الحسين إلى ابنه عبد الله

Risālat Ṭāhir b. al-Ḥusayn ilā ibnihi ʿAbd Allāh

Ṭāhir b. al-Ḥusayn (fl. 206/821)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 3rd century AH · Listed only

Instruction to a new governor: fear God, justice, no personal indulgence;

Attribution

authentic checked in Hasan Hüseyin Adalıoğlu, “Siyâsetnâme”, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (2009)

Date

206/821, to his son ʿAbd Allāh b. Ṭāhir on his appointment; al-Maʾmūn had it copied and sent to governors (TDV, citing al-Ṭabarī VIII, 582–591) (basis: date of composition) checked in Hasan Hüseyin Adalıoğlu, “Siyâsetnâme”, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (2009)

Editions

Ṭabarī, vol. 3 (de Goeje series) text · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Bosworth, JNES 29 (1970) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: The Great Book of Conduct; The Little Book of Conduct; Epistle on the Caliph's Entourage The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Andarz: Middle Persian counsel literature Both give a ruler's governor counsel; the draft's claim of influence is unchecked. not yet checked

The spirit of holiness

روح القدس في محاسبة النفس

Rūḥ al-quds

Ibn ʿArabī (560–638/1165–1240)

Ibn ʿArabī · Lives and lineages · Arabic · 7th century AH · In the reader

Reader: the portraits of his teachers.

Attribution: authentic: The reader catalogue lists it as his work; Yahia 1964 not yet in hand. probable
Date: not yet checked (author d. 638/1240) (basis: the author's death date) not yet checked

Read it hereReader: the portraits of his teachers.

Secret of Secrets (Latin versions)

Secretum secretorum (Latin)

Secretum secretorum

John of Seville and Philip of Tripoli (Latin translators) (12th–13th c. CE)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Latin · 6th century AH · Listed only

Two Latin translations carried the work to Europe, where it became one of the most copied 'Aristotelian' texts (hundreds of manuscripts).

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

12th-13th c., Toledo/Spain; Tripoli/Antioch (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

R. Steele, Opera hactenus inedita Rogeri Baconi, fasc. V (Oxford 1920) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Steven J. Williams, The Secret of Secrets (Ann Arbor 2003) discusses translations · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: The Secret of Secrets The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The Lamp of Kings

سراج الملوك

Sirāj al-mulūk

al-Ṭurṭūshī (d. 520/1126)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 6th century AH · Listed only

A learned jurist's mirror: kingship as divine trust, with long stories of Persian kings and Prophetic ḥadīth;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1122, Alexandria (Fatimid vizier al-Maʾmūn al-Baṭāʾiḥī) (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Būlāq 1872; Jaʿfar al-Bayātī (London 1990) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Maurice Alarcón, Lámpara de los príncipes (Madrid 1930-31) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: The Great Book of Conduct; The Little Book of Conduct; Epistle on the Caliph's Entourage The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Kalīla and Dimna (Fables of Bidpai) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The Secret of Secrets

سر الأسرار / كتاب السياسة في تدبير الرياسة

Sirr al-asrār / Kitāb al-Siyāsa fī tadbīr al-riyāsa

Pseudo-Aristotle ((name borne by anonymous or later authors))

Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 2nd century AH · Listed only

Aristotle teaches Alexander the 'secret' of kingship: justice, ministers, treasury, armies, health regimen, physiognomy, and the king's body as a kingdom ruled by reason.

Attribution

spurious: Presented as Aristotle's letter to Alexander; the Arabic version is credited to Yaḥyā (Yuḥannā) b. al-Biṭrīq, whom the TDV article names as its author or translator for the Ottoman reception. The Arabic origin and date are not yet checked. not yet checked

Date

Core 8th c.; two recensions (short, long) by 10th c., Umayyad/Abbasid chancery; Syria/Iraq (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Badawī, al-Uṣūl al-yūnāniyya li-l-naẓariyyāt al-siyāsiyya fī l-Islām (Cairo 1954); Ismāʿīl/Manzalaoui; critical edition still a desideratum (Forster 2006) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

English from Arabic: A. S. Fulton in Steele (1920); no standard modern English from the Arabic · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Pseudo-Aristotelian letters to Alexander (Arabic Alexander-romance epistolary corpus) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Testament of Ardashīr The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Andarz: Middle Persian counsel literature The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The Book of Government or Rules for Kings

سیاست‌نامه / سیر الملوک

Siyāsatnāma / Siyar al-mulūk

Niẓām al-Mulk (d. 485/1092)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Persian · 5th century AH · Listed only

50 chapters on administration: spies, judges, tax, army, religion;

Attribution

authentic checked in Hasan Hüseyin Adalıoğlu, “Siyâsetnâme”, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (2009)

Date

late 5th/11th c., written at Malikshāh's request (TDV: fifty-one chapters; draft: c. 1091–92) (basis: date of composition) probable

Editions

Hubert Darke (Tehran 1347 sh; 2nd rev. 1962); Schefer (Paris 1891) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Darke (London 1960; 2nd ed. 1978); Schefer French (1891-93) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Andarz: Middle Persian counsel literature The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Testament of Ardashīr The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Secret of Secrets (Hebrew versions)

סוד הסודות

Sod ha-sodot

Judah al-Ḥarīzī (c. 1170–1235 (draft says c. 1190–1225; unchecked))

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Hebrew · 7th century AH · Listed only

Medieval Jewish readers took the Secretum into Hebrew;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

13th c., Spain / Provence (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

M. Gaster, 'The Hebrew Version of the Secretum Secretorum', JRAS 1907-08 · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: The Secret of Secrets The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Solace for the Ruler during Hostility of Subjects (Waters of Comfort)

سلوان المطاع في عدوان الأتباع

Sulwān al-muṭāʿ fī ʿudwān al-atbāʿ

Ibn Ẓafar al-Ṣiqillī (d. c. 565/1170)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 6th century AH · Listed only

Stories and parables on how rulers and subjects weather misfortune, with consolation from Providence;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1159-60, Sicily, then Hama (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Beirut 1995; Tunis 1279/1862; Istanbul 1285/1868 · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Michele Amari, Italian (Florence 1851) and Solwan; or Waters of Comfort (London 1852) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Kalīla and Dimna (Fables of Bidpai) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: The Great Book of Conduct; The Little Book of Conduct; Epistle on the Caliph's Entourage The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Regime (Rule) of the solitary

تدبير المتوحد

Tadbīr al-mutawaḥḥid

Ibn Bājja (Avempace) (c. 1085–1139)

Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 6th century AH · Listed only

In an imperfect city the philosopher must govern himself alone and perfect his intellect by himself: the political question turns inward.

Attribution

authentic: SEP gives it as his Tadbīr al-mutawaḥḥid, with Asín Palacios's edition and Spanish translation and Dunlop's 1945 article. checked in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Ibn Bajja [Avempace]”

Date

early 12th c., Saragossa, Fez (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

M. Asín Palacios (ed. and Spanish tr.), El régimen del solitario (Madrid, 1946), as cited in the SEP bibliography · cite only checked in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Ibn Bajja [Avempace]”

Translations

Lawrence Berman in Lerner and Mahdi (1963) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Opinions of the people of the virtuous city The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Lineage: Republic SEP: Avempace reads and quotes Plato, and turns the analogy the other way: the Republic takes the soul as the model of the city, he starts from the ideal city and carries its order into the solitary soul. A documented reading, with the direction reversed. Confidence: high. checked in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Ibn Bajja [Avempace]”

The refinement of character

تهذيب الأخلاق

Tahdhīb al-akhlāq

Miskawayh (c. 932–1030)

Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 4th century AH · Listed only

Character is formed by balancing the three soul-faculties (Platonic tripartition: rational, irascible, appetitive);

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1000, Rayy/Baghdad (Buyid) (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Cairo ed. · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Constantine Zurayk, The Refinement of Character (Beirut: AUB 1968) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Republic The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Phaedrus (chariot myth, 246a-254e) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Summary of Plato's Laws

تلخيص نواميس أفلاطون

Talkhīṣ Nawāmīs Aflāṭūn

al-Fārābī (c. 870–950)

Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 4th century AH · Listed only

Al-Fārābī's short summary of Plato's Laws, surviving in Arabic.

Attribution

authentic: SEP: 'we certainly have al-Fārābī's Summary of Plato's Laws'. checked in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “al-Farabi”

Date

c. 940s (draft; unchecked), Baghdad, Aleppo/Damascus (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Th.-A. Druart (ed., 1998), as cited in the SEP entry on al-Fārābī · cite only probable

Translations

Butterworth, in al-Fārābī, The Political Writings II (2015), as cited in the SEP entry · en · cite only probable

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Lineage: Laws A summary of the Laws by al-Fārābī; SEP says the Arabic text survives. Confidence: high. checked in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “al-Farabi”

The interpreter of desires

ترجمان الأشواق

Tarjumān al-ashwāq

Ibn ʿArabī (560–638/1165–1240)

Ibn ʿArabī · Lyric · Arabic · 7th century AH · In the reader

Reader: poems I–X with Nicholson's translation and the poet's commentary.

Attribution

authentic: The reader catalogue lists it as his work; Yahia 1964 not yet in hand. probable

Date

not yet checked (author d. 638/1240) (basis: the author's death date) not yet checked

Translations

R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London, 1911), Arabic and English · en · public domain probable

Read it hereReader: poems I–X with Nicholson's translation and the poet's commentary.

Book of Lords / Lives of the Kings of the Persians

خدای‌نامگ / سیر ملوک العجم

Xwadāy-nāmag / Siyar mulūk al-ʿajam

Anonymous (Sasanian andarz) (Sasanian period)

Further afield · Lives and lineages · Other · Late antique · Listed only

The history of kings as moral exemplar;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

6th-7th c. Pahlavi; Arabic 8th c., Iran/Baghdad (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Lost; fragments only · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Andarz: Middle Persian counsel literature The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Testament of Ardashīr

عهد أردشير

ʿAhd Ardashīr

Ardashīr I (attributed) (r. 224–242 CE)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 2nd century AH · Listed only

'Religion and kingship are twins: neither can stand without the other';

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

Sasanian (3rd c.) tradition; Arabic text 8th c., Iran, then Baghdad (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Iḥsān ʿAbbās, ʿAhd Ardashīr (Beirut 1967) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Mario Grignaschi, 'Quelques spécimens de la littérature sassanide conservés dans les bibliothèques d'Istanbul', JA 254 (1966) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: Andarz: Middle Persian counsel literature The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

The Wonders of the Heart

عجائب القلب (إحياء علوم الدين، الكتاب 21)

ʿAjāʾib al-qalb (Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn, book 21)

al-Ghazālī (450–505/1058–1111)

Sufism · The path · Arabic · 5th century AH · Listed only

The body is a city, the heart is king, faculties are his army (anger), spies (senses) and treasurer;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 1095-1105, Baghdad/Damascus/Tus (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Cairo/Beirut eds.; Būlāq · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Walter James Skellie, The Marvels of the Heart (Fons Vitae 2010); Timothy Winter, On Disciplining the Soul and On Breaking the Two Desires (ITS 1995, books 22-23) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: The refinement of character The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
Resonance, not influence: Republic The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Choice Reports (Book 1: al-Sulṭān)

عيون الأخبار

ʿUyūn al-akhbār

Ibn Qutayba (d. 276/889)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 3rd century AH · Listed only

Book 1 gathers sayings on rulers, the first systematic Arabic ethic of power.

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

c. 880, Baghdad (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Dār al-Kutub (Cairo 1925-30); later ed. · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

partial · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Resonance, not influence: The Great Book of Conduct; The Little Book of Conduct; Epistle on the Caliph's Entourage The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked