2017/06/15 by Thijs Delva · 3 citations
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Islamic Studies and History #Archaeology and Historical Studies #Medieval and Classical Philosophy #Historicity (philosophy) #Philosophy #Epistemology #Literature #Art #Law #Political science
paper · doi:10.1163/22142371-12340030
openalex publication_date 2017/06/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
In 1927 Holmyard formulated the hypothesis that the Abbasid activist Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār (“Ḥayyān the Perfumer”, fl. 98/717) was the father of the second/eighth century alchemist Jābir b. Ḥayyān. It will be shown here that this hypothesis is contradicted by two sources that have since been published (the third book of al-Balādhurī’s Ansāb al-ashrāf and the anonymous Akhbār al-ʿAbbās wa-wuldihi ). The implications of this finding for the question of Jābir’s historicity will also be explored. Although the references to Jābir in later sources (including a number of new ones that will be listed here) strongly suggest that he is not a historical figure, his historicity is still often accepted, or at least left open as a possibility. It will be argued that Holmyard’s hypothesis has been a crucial factor in this continued acceptance, and that its rejection probably also entails the rejection of a historical Jābir.