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The ultimate ambition in the arts of erudition a compendium of knowledge from the classical Islamic world

An astonishing record of the knowledge of a civilization, The Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition catalogs everything known to exist from the perspective of a fourteenth-century Egyptian scholar and litterateur. More than 9,000 pages and thirty volumes-here abridged to one volume, and transla...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nuwayrī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Wahhāb 1279-1333 (Author)
Other Authors: Muhanna, Elias (Editor, Translator)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: New York, New York Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC [2016]
Series:Penguin classics
Subjects:
Encyclopedias and dictionaries, Arabic > Translations into English
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Table of Contents:
  • The first book: on the heavens and the earth
  • The heavens
  • Meteorological phenomena
  • The nights and days
  • The earth, mountains, seas, islands, rivers, and springs
  • The natures of different nations and the inherent dispositions of their inhabitants
  • The second book: on the human being
  • The life stages and nature of the human being
  • Proverbs and parables
  • Praise, invective, entertaining anecdotes, wine, and music
  • On the ruler, his subjects, and advisers; and on the craft of secretaryship
  • The third book: on the mute beasts
  • Carnivorous animals
  • Other wild beasts
  • Livestock
  • Venomous creatures
  • Birds and fish
  • The fourth book: on plants
  • Vegetables and foodstuffs
  • Trees and fruit
  • Aromatic plants
  • Gum resins, mannas, and saps
  • Aromatics, sexual medicines, and the magical properties of nature
  • The fifth book: on history
  • Adam and Eve
  • On the history of the Mamluk State

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