Cambridge University Press and Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.

http://www.jstor.org

Review Author(s): Peter E. Pormann Review by: Peter E. Pormann Source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Apr., 2005), pp. 100-

102Published by: on behalf of the Cambridge University Press Royal Asiatic Society of Great

Britain and IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25188511Accessed: 28-06-2015 17:07 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

This content downloaded from 45.217.234.41 on Sun, 28 Jun 2015 17:07:28 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

ioo Reviews of Books

Twelfth, J. M. F. van Reeth (pp. 283-292) studies the Arabic work on alchemy, Tabula Smaragdina, of twelfth-century date at latest, but claiming to derive from Balinas, i.e. Apollonius of Tyana

(1st century); it may have gone through Greek and Syriac intermediate versions. Its sage's image draws upon that of the statuary of the Egyptian Imhotep, while the ritual chamber may be inspired by

West-Phoenician structures.

Thirteenth, D. De Smet (pp. 51-60) writes on the role of late-Aramaic (Nabatean and Palmyrene) and Sabaean/Himyaritic alphabets reused as codes in Isma'ilian writings mainly attested for modern

times but possibly going back to a seventeenth-century origin, in incantations against enemies.

Finally and fourteenth, we end with the first writer in this volume, F. Aubaile-Sallenave (pp. 11-35) who paints an immense canvas of the bizarre "man in the green robe", or simply 'the green man'

in Islamic tradition from the eighth century (on Qur'anic roots) down to the present, and across half the world, from Africa to the Far Orient. One may add here the shrine to him on Failaka Island

(cf. G. Bibby, Looking for Dilmun, London, Stacey International, 1996, pp. 184-189), and the link between the term Bahrain (ancient overlord of Failaka) and the "two seas" of relevant Qur'anic passages.

The entire volume is ably prefaced with a summary overview by its editor (R. Gyselen, pp. 7-10); it

presents an astonishingly varied world of magic, from Old-Babylonian Hammurabi to the present day. K. A. Kitchen

University of Liverpool

The Arabic Plotinus: A Philosophical Study of the Theology of Aristotle. By Peter Adamson,

pp. x, 240: London, Duckworth, 2002

DOI: 10.1017/S135618630526491X

The present book is a revised version of Adamson's Ph.D. thesis, prepared under the supervision of

David Burrell and Stephen Gersh at the University of Notre Dame. As the title indicates, it is "a

philosophical study of the Theology of Aristotle' and other Arabic Plotinian texts, in which Adamson

investigates how the philosophical positions displayed in the Arabic Plotinus differ from those adopted

by Plotinus himself, and how they were shaped by the religious and intellectual environment in which

these texts were produced. In the first chapter, Adamson discusses his source text, the Arabic Plotinus, or AP, consisting of the

Theology of Aristotle (ThA), the Letter on Divine Science (DS), and the Sayings of the Greek Sage (GS), all three edited by A. Badawi1, as well as some other related texts. With F. W Zimmermann2 and others,

he assumes that AP is based on a common source (called *AP), possibly comprising the whole of Enneads IV-VI. Because of the vicissitudes of textual transmission, ThA reflects *AP in a corrupted manner: the original order is disturbed, while lacunae and text breaks were smoothed over by an

editor. Adamson (again with Zimmermann) assumes that AP was compiled or arranged by Ibn Nacima

al-Himsi, a well-known translator belonging to the Kindi-circle.

In the next chapter, Adamson addresses the problematic nature of the prologue in ThA (pp. 3-7

Badawi), which, he argues, did not form part of the original AP, but was rather an addition by al-Kindi. Adamson then deals with the so-called

"headings" (ru*us) appearing after the prologue but before the main body of text of ThA (pp. 8?18 Badawi), in which previous scholars thought to have

1 Aflutincinda l-cArab (Cairo, 1955): ThA is found on pp. 1-164; DS on pp. 165-183; and GS on pp. 184-194.

Adamson accidentally omits this edition, which he clearly used, from his bibliography. "The Origins of the So-Called Theology of Aristotle", in J. Kraye et al. (eds.), Warburg Institute Surveys and Texts

XI: Pseudo-Aristotle in the Middle Ages (London, 1986).

This content downloaded from 45.217.234.41 on Sun, 28 Jun 2015 17:07:28 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Reviews of Books 101

discovered Porphyry's otherwise lost K (/)aXaia, a collection of subject-headings for the Enneads of which Porphyry talks at the end of his Life of Plotinus (VP 26, pp. 32-37). That these nfus were not

just put together from AP can be seen from the fact that they sometimes reflect the text of the Greek

original (i.e. the Enneads) better than AP. Adamson rejects Zimmermann's hypothesis that these ru*us constitute a "skeleton translation"; they are rather a list of matters under discussion (ruyus al-masd^il, "headings of questions", to cite the full title) to be addressed in ThA.

The next three chapters (3-5) constitute the core of Adamson's arguments, where he compares the

philosophical positions present in AP with those of Plotinus. First, he deals with "Psychology and

Ethics" (Ch. 3), then with "Language and Epistemology" (Ch. 4), and finally with "Theology and

Metaphysics" (Ch. 5). Adamson notes in subchapter 3.1, published previously in a slightly different

form3, that AP displays certain Aristotelian leanings, with which its source, Plotinus, would not have

been comfortable. To quote just one example (Adamson, pp. 59-60): Plotinus (Enn IV 7.14, 9) mentions the tripartite soul (y^uyj\xpt^i pr]c), clearly thinking of the Platonic division (e.g. Resp. 44068-441 a2) into reason, desire and spirit (XoyicriKov, emOufjLrjziKov, OufioeiSec); yet, ThA (p. 20, 12 Badawi) spells out these parts as "vegetative, animal, and rational (nabatiya wa-hayawaniya wa-nutqiya)", that is to say uses the Aristotelian division. Adamson notes in the next subchapter (3.2) that AP is, in general,

more moralising than its source, and that this tendency has philosophical implications. For instance,

AP ascribes virtues not only to the soul, as Plotinus does, but also to the intellect, something which is

in stark contrast to the Enneads (I 2.3, 31). In Chapter four, Adamson discusses predication (4.1) and the notion of "learned ignorance" (4.2). In the case of the latter, he elucidates how AP sometimes

develops new philosophical concepts through a combination of Aristotelian and Plotinian ideas with

material from other sources. Adamson's analysis of the philosophical differences between AP and the

Enneads culminates in his discussion of metaphysics (Ch. 5). It is in this area that AP is most at odds with its source, and that the influence of the milieu in which AP was produced is most evident.

Adamson argues that discussions among Muslim theologians (mutakallimun), and especially those in which the Muctazila were involved, had a great impact on AP when dealing with topics such as sifat

([divine] attributes) or the Oneness of God. Furthermore, in /IP's parlance, the First Principle, the One, becomes the creator (barf, hdliq, mubdic), who, with or without an intermediary (tawassut), makes all things. Such language, of course, has religious overtones which a Muslim or Christian audience

would not have failed to appreciate. In the conclusion, Adamson uses the philosophical analysis of Chapters 3?5 to confirm his

identification of the "Adaptor", the author of AP, as al-Himsi; al-Kindi's role as editor is limited

to a superficial "revision (is/a/z)" of AP (to use the expression from the prologue of ThA). An appendix

follows where Adamson, summarising some of his earlier findings4 and discussing new evidence, illustrates to what extent al-Kindi is indebted to AP in many of his philosophical positions.

Generally speaking, Adamson's arguments are well-balanced and well-founded, and he is to be

congratulated for bringing the philosophical aspects of AP into clearer focus. In spite of the manifest

quality of his work, I would like to mention one minor point where I would have chosen a different

approach. Adamson always gives his own translation of ThA, instead of merely following that by

Geoffrey Lewis as it appears in P. Henry's and H.-R. Schwyzer's edition of Plotinus's works5. I suspect that he is motivated by a desire to provide a more literal rendering and to bring out the etymological sense of specific terms. To be sure, translators always face difficult choices: too free a translation may

"Aristotelianism and the Soul in the Arabic Plotinus", Journal of the History of Ideas 62 (2001), pp. 211-232. 4 "Two Early Arabic Doxographies on the Soul: al-Kindi and the 'Theology of Aristotle'", Modern Schoolman

77 (2000), pp. 105-122; "Before Existence and Essence: Al-Kindi's Conception of Being", Journal of the History of Philosophy 40 (2002), pp. 297-312.

Plotini Opera, t. ii: Enneades IV?VI (Paris and Brussels, 1959).

This content downloaded from 45.217.234.41 on Sun, 28 Jun 2015 17:07:28 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

102 Reviews of Books

not render all the nuances of the argument, while one following the original very closely risks being a poor representation of the source's stylistic qualities. Adamson mostly follows the latter approach: he is at times excessively literal, thereby not always doing justice to the rather idiomatic style of the

original.6 This small reservation should not detract from the great value of Adamson's contribution. Unlike

some philologists who are merely interested in textual transmission and filiation, Adamson actively

engages with the object of his study and sets out some surprisingly novel insights. He does not treat AP mainly as a source for our knowledge of Greek literature, but as an invaluable document which

illustrates the debates and concerns of Islamic intellectuals in this crucial and decisive period. AP, one could argue, is at the beginning of Arabic philosophy, and Adamson, by elucidating its specific

contribution, takes us to the centre stage of the formation of medieval Islamic thought. Peter E. Pormann

Warburg Institute

Queen of Sheba: Treasures from Ancient Yemen. Edited by St. John Simpson, pp. 224, 260 colour, 50 black and white illus. London, the British Museum Press, 2002.

DOI: 10.1017/S1356186305274916

This exhibition catalogue charts the story of the Queen of Sheba in art and myth as a gateway to

presenting archaeological and epigraphic findings about the cultural history of Yemen. Edited by St. John Simpson, it contains twelve major chapters, each written by a leading international scholar,

with a total of 27 specialists in the field of ancient Yemeni studies contributing to the catalogue entries

appended to each chapter. In addition to western artworks on the theme of the Queen of Sheba, c. 300 archaeological finds are described, including several South Arabian inscriptions that have been

described and translated. All of these are used to illustrate the importance of the cultural history and

magnificence of the South Arabian kingdoms. The catalogue was prepared as a guide for the exhibition of the same name in the British Museum

from 9 June to 13 October 2002. The artefacts in the exhibition came from the collections of several

museums in Yemen and abroad, primarily the National Museum, the British Museum, and the

American Foundation for the Study of Man (Falls Church, Virginia, USA), while important pieces from other Yemeni and European collections are also featured.

Yemen's Minister of Culture at the time of publication, A. al-Rowhani, wrote the foreword, which

appears in English and Arabic (pp. 8-9), and the Introduction, "Yemen, the Land of the Queen of Saba3" (p. 11), was written by Yusuf M. Abdullah, Chairman of the General Organisation of

Antiquities, Museums and Manuscripts, Yemen.

Chapter 1, "The Queen of Sheba in Western Popular Culture 1850-2002" by L. Llewellyn-Jones (pp. 12-30), and Chapter 2, "Legends of the Queen of Sheba" by F. A. Pennachietti (pp. 31-50), deal

primarily with the figure of the Queen of Sheba in Western art and legend. Chapter 3, "Saba3 and the Sabaeans" by C Robin (pp. 51-58), is a generally solid presentation of the discovery of and evidence for the most powerful state in ancient Yemen, namely the kingdom of Saba5. An extensive political

history of pre-Islamic Yemen is to be found in Chapter 4, "Kings, Kingdoms and Chronology" by R. Hoyland (pp. 67?72). Recent archaeological discoveries in Yemen from the Neolithic through the Bronze Age to the end of the second millennium BCE are summarised in Chapter 5, "Before Sheba"

by C. Edens (pp. 80-85). The splendour of the kingdoms of Southern Arabia that flourished through a profitable trade in incense and other precious merchandise to the Near East and later on to the

6 See, for instance, his translation of ThA VIII 56 [p. 100, 9 Badawi] on p. 97.

This content downloaded from 45.217.234.41 on Sun, 28 Jun 2015 17:07:28 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Article Contentsp. 100p. 101p. 102

Issue Table of ContentsJournal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Apr., 2005), pp. i-ii, 1-130Front MatterTowards a Palestinian Arabic Emotive Lexicon: An Invitation for Discussion [pp. 1-13]Situating Sufism and Yoga [pp. 15-43]The Assassination of King Hetum II: The Conversion of the Ilkhans and the Armenians [pp. 45-61]The Decipherable "Rigveda" : 'tirahnyam' as an Example [pp. 63-70]Male Anxieties: Nerve Force, Nation, and the Power of Sexual Knowledge [pp. 71-88]Reviews of BooksReview: untitled [pp. 89-93]Review: untitled [pp. 93-95]Review: untitled [pp. 95-96]Review: untitled [pp. 96-98]Review: untitled [pp. 99-100]Review: untitled [pp. 100-102]Review: untitled [pp. 102-104]Review: untitled [pp. 104-107]Review: untitled [pp. 107-110]Review: untitled [pp. 110-112]Review: untitled [pp. 112-114]Review: untitled [pp. 114-115]Review: untitled [pp. 115-116]Review: untitled [pp. 116-118]Review: untitled [pp. 119-121]Review: untitled [pp. 121-123]Review: untitled [pp. 123-125]Review: untitled [pp. 125-127]

Select List of Accessions to the Library [p. 129-129]Addendum: An Oriental Samuel Pepys? Abu'l-Fal Bayhaq's Memoirs of Court Life in Eastern Iran and Afghanistan, 1030-1041 [p. 130-130]Back Matter