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The Kitab ad Durun Nafis, the world's first encyclopedia written in Arabic, is one of the most ancient and extensive collections of knowledge ever compiled. This timeless work has been acclaimed as a historical masterpiece by scholars from all eras. In this article, we explore some of its fascinating contents and learn about its many contributions to world civilization. In the first century BC, the Persian philosopher Aristotle wrote a treatise on rhetoric entitled "On Rhetoric." In it he mentions an ancient Greek encyclopedia that he claims should still be extant at that time because it was not only written in Greek but also illustrated with pictures depicting various animals and plants. This is most likely the famous Alexandrian encyclopedia, also known as the "Encyclopedia of the Ptolemaic Dynasty" which was written in Greek by Egyptian scholars under Ptolemaic rule. The main purpose of this work, according to its prologue, was to collect all human knowledge into one place. It is said that it contained more than 40 volumes and that it was illustrated with over 800 pictures. None of this work has survived. Nearly 500 years later, in the 9th Century AD, we come across another encyclopedia called "Al-Mukhtasar fi Al- Adwiya Al-Qurun" also known as "The Concise Book on the Medicine of Ibn Sina." It was written in Arabic by Persian physician and philosopher Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abd Allah ibn Sina (Avicenna) and it contained 8 volumes. Even though it was a great achievement for its time it contained only a small fraction of the articles contained in the Kitab ad Durun Nafis. Besides, this encyclopedia was limited to one specific topic, medicine. The first question that many people ask about the Kitab ad Durun Nafis is: When was it written? The first thing we must do is acknowledge that there are different versions of the Kitab ad Durun Nafis spread throughout the world which differ in terms of age, content and condition. Some of these versions were probably written at different times while others were copied over time from older manuscripts. However, according to current research, the oldest version comes from 1134 AD during the time of Abbasid Caliph al-Muqtadir. This version contains 37 volumes and is located at the National Library in Istanbul, Turkey. The oldest version is the one most commonly known as the "Fayyum Version" named after an area in Egypt where it was discovered. The Fayyum version is written using a pre-Islamic, Arabic script called "Hijazi" and is divided into 35 volumes which contain approximately 350 articles. This version uses ancient terms and phrases employed by ancient astronomers, mathematicians, philosophers, physicists, geographers and other scholars whose works were compiled by al-Khwarizmi during the Abassid dynasty (750-1258). eccc085e13
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