al Mandala

I found this interesting piece of evidence of the word mandala, in Arabic. David Pingree was such a great scholar. I wrote to him once, and he kindly answered. I was desperate to obtain a copy of an article that he was about to publish in the Journal of the Warburg Institute in London – but this did not take place, and the article has appeared in a very rare Journal – and I can only find ONE copy of it here in Italy in Venice . . . so I am sulking over this . . . but this article in MICROLOGOS . . . is also full or rich and fragrant fragments uncovering the hidden tradition . . .

"Finally, the three treatises at the end of the Florence manuscript are all representatives of Salomonic magic. The first two concern almandal of Salomon. This mandal is in shape and inscriptions completely conformable to an Indian mandala; it is remarkable to see the Sanskrit word transmitted so purely through Arabic, in which it is still used to refer to a magical object, to Latin. The figure is a square "wall" with a circle in the center and spokes pointing to the four cardinal directions (indicated by "gates") and to the four intermediate directions. On each of the four side walls are inscribed the names of angels. The whole al-mandal is engraved on a talismanic plate, which is suffumigated and ex­orcized. It then can be used for various magic acts including the ex­pulsion of demons from the possessed and four exorcisms of the jinn and the shaytān. Subsidiary sigils moulded from Toledan wax reveal the place where our versions of this text were concocted.

The first of these two versions is entitled Liber in figura almandal et eius opere; ^[1] it is perhaps the Almandal Salomonis of Albert, ^[2] and the al­mandal referred to by William. ^[3] The second book is the Liber de alman­dal which is called the table or altar of Salomon; this has the same incipit as Albert's De figura almandal. ^[4] Here the four exorcisms are attributed to Icmile (Ishmael) "Arhginemem". I have so far observed no mention of almandal by Michael Scot."

David Pingree, " Learned Magic in the time of Frederick II ", in Le Scienze alla corte di Federico II. Sciences at the Court of Frederick II. Micrologus, 2, 1994, p.48.

A basic introduction to the work of David Pingree is at WIKIPEDIA.

The Article mentioned above is published by:

International Journal of the Classical Tradition

David Pingree, "The Sabians of Harran and the Classical Tradition," IJCT 9 (2002-2003), pp. 8-35.

This article addresses questions concerning the characteristics of the paganism of Harran, its eclectic sources, and its development by examining the relationships — real, possible, and fictitious — of various personalities with the city of Harran from Assyrian times till the Mongol attack in 1271. It is suggested that the Sabians used Neoplatonism, which, if Tardieu's analysis is correct, they originally learned from Simplicius, to develop, explain, and justify their practise of astral magic, and that their interest in the Greek astronomy and astrology that astral magic required served to maintain the study and to preserve the texts of these sciences during the centuries in which they were ignored in Byzantium. It is further shown that the Greek philosophical and scientific material available to them was mingled with elements from ancient Mesopotamia, India, Iran, Judaism, and Egypt to form a syncretic system of belief that they could claim to be mankind's original and authentic religion.

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1. F ff. 74V-77.

2. Speculum XI 25, though this is more likely to be the next, derivative treatise.

3. Thorndike, History, II, 351.

4. Speculum XI 80-81.