Ibn al-'Awwam

Ibn al-'Awwam , also called Abu Zakariya Ibn al-Awwam , was an Andalusi agriculturist who flourished at Seville (modern-day southern Spain) in the later 12th century. He wrote a lengthy handbook on agriculture entitled in Arabic Kitāb al-Filāḥa , which is the most comprehensive treatment of the subject in medieval Arabic, and one of the most important medieval works on the subject in any language. It was published in Spanish and French translations in the 19th century.

Biography

His full name was Abu Zakariya Yahya ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Al-'Awwam Al-Ishbili . The appellation "Al-Ishbili" at the end of his name means "the Sevillean" i.e. from Seville. Nearly everything that is known about him is gleaned from his book. It appears that he was a large landowner whose interests lay exclusively with agricultural matters. It is clear that he did much hands-on growing and experimenting with a wide range of crops himself. It is also clear that he was well-read in the agricultural writings of his predecessors.

Kitāb al-Filāḥa (كتاب الفلاحة)

The work is mostly compiled from the writings of other authors. Al-'Awwam cites information from 112 different prior authors. His citations of earlier authors have been analyzed with the following summary results: about 1,900 direct and indirect citations altogether, of which 615 are to Greek authors (the great majority to the Geoponica of Cassianus Bassus), 585 are to Middle Eastern Arabic authors (the great majority to the Book of Nabataean Agriculture attributed to Ibn Wahshiyya), and 690 are to Andalusian Arabic authors (the great majority to Ibn Bassal, Abu ʾl-Khayr al-Ishbīlī or Ibn Hajjaj, all three of whom wrote books about agriculture in the later 11th century in southern Spain, copies of which have survived only partly and incompletely).

An edition was published in 1802 with the Arabic text placed alongside a translation into Spanish. In 1864, it was published in French.