Book on the Configuration of the Orb

The Book on the Configuration of the Orb, known only in Latin translation as Liber de orbe, was long ascribed to the famous ninth-century Abbasid court astrologer Māshā’allah. Dunash’s authorship has only been confirmed in recent years with the discovery of two manuscripts of the Arabic original. It treats cosmology, classical Aristotelian elemental theory, geology, and meteorology, explaining variations in climate, earthquakes, volcanoes, tides, and floods. The eclipse mentioned in the last section took place in 938, suggesting that the manuscript was produced shortly after its occurrence. Perhaps even more interesting is the evidence it provides that the exact times of eclipses were recorded locally and compared with observations in other places.