The Triads of Ibn al-Maḥfūf: tracing the origin of Arabic geomancy and its reception in Europe and beyond

01/10/2022 to 30/09/2025

This project aims at providing a comprehensive account of the origins and early development of geomancy, a divinatory technique in which predictions are obtained by means of sixteen figures typically cast on sand. Among the disciplines transmitted from Antiquity to the Middle Ages and early modern period, geomancy is a special case, because it is the only scientia codified initially in the Arabic language, as ʿilm al-raml (‘the science of the sand’). From this source it was later adopted and developed worldwide in other linguistic milieus. However, until now, the beginnings of this codification can only be traced as far back as a series of Latin treatises from the 12th century based on and related to Arabic antecedents, which remain unidentified. The present project will be the first to approach the question of the beginning of geomantic literature and its transmission to other linguistic millieus combining different strategies. The first goal of the project is to produce a critical edition and a study of the unpublished treatise Kitāb al‐Muthallathāt fī l‐raml (‘The book of the triads on the sand’) written by a certain Ibn al‐Maḥfūf, who claims to be the first codifier of the subject. The Arabic edition will be published along with the edition of an early Latin translation of the text. The publication will include an English translation based on both editions and a study of the text. The study will analyse the text, the manuscripts, the author, and other geomantic treatises to evaluate the claims of Ibn al‐Maḥfūf and to shed light on the beginnings of geomancy and its transmission to Europe and beyond. As it shall be argued later, the textual history of Kitāb al‐Muthallathāt fī l‐raml is crucial for understanding the transmission of Arabic geomancy into Latin and for better understanding the Latin reception’s entanglements with the various strands of Islamicate traditions. In order to elucidate this, the second goal of the project is to create a descriptive catalogue of Arabic treatises. The catalogue will compensate for the current lack of studies and editions regarding the Arabic legacy and enable future research. Furthermore, it will allow us assess the place of the Muthallathāt in relation to other treatises and illustrate the different methods represented.