This volume contains a versified treatise on prognostics to be derived from eclipses, halos, shooting starts, rainbows, hail, peculiar appearances of the sky, and other meteorological phenomena, according to their occurrence in the months of the Hijri year, from Teşrin-i evel to Eylül. The author, whose name does not appears in the work, says in the prologue that the original work had been previous translated from Persian into Ottoman Turkish verse by a poet known as Salahuddin. The verses being defective, and the language obscure, the writer, although protesting that the task was beneath him, had been prevailed upon by a friend to re-write the work in a correct and elegant style. The date of composition, 1045 AH (1635-36 CE), is expressed at the end of the prologue in the form of a chronogram. This manuscript is imperfect at the end and breaks off before the conclusion of the chapter relating to Eylül in the section headed 'Nakl-i ahkam-i raad mi-kerdan'. This is evidently the same work referenced by Haj. Khal. as Melheme (ملهمه). He says that it was first put into verse by Salahuddin, and afterwards altered and improved by a poet of his time with the mahlas Cevri, who completed it in 1015 AH (1606-07 CE). The original poem of Salahuddin, entitled Şemsiye, was composed in 811 AH (1408-09 CE). According to Ali, Salahuddin was the father of Şeyh Yazıcıoğlu Mehmet and of Ahmet Bican. Cevri, whose given name was İbrahim Çelebi, was a Mevlevi and one of the most eminent poets of the reign of Murat IV. He died in 1065 AH (1654-55 CE). This manuscript is undated but was likely copied in the 17th century CE.
Kitab-i Melheme - كتاب ملحمه
This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections
- Reference
- GB 59 Or 1170
- Dates of Creation
- 17th century
- Language of Material
- Turkish
- Physical Description
- 1 text 100 ff Material : Paper. Folation : European, 100 ff. Dimensions : 197 mm x 108 mm. Ruling : Ruled margins; 60 mm long; 19 lines. Script : Nestalik.
Scope and Content
Access Information
Not Public Record(s)
Unrestricted
Acquisition Information
Acquired by the British Museum from the collection of Alexandre Jaba.
Other Finding Aids
See Rieu, Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the British Museum, pp. 193-94