RESOURCESanalyzed in the articles of F. Nau, "La Cosmographie au VIle siecle
chez les Syriens," ROe 15 (1910): 225-54, which concerns the as-
tronomical works by Severus Sebokht and others in Berlin ms. 346;
and "Le Traite sur les 'Constellations' ecrit, en 661, par Severe Sebokt
eveque de Qennesrin," Roe 27 (1929-30): 327-410, and 28 (1931-
32): 85-100, which has the Syriac text with a French translation. See
also F. Nau's Le Traite de Severe Sabokt sur l'astrolabe plan (Paris,
1899). For Masha'allah of Basra, see E. S. Kennedy and D. Pingree,
The Astrological History of Miisna'alliih (Cambridge, Mass., 1971)
and Pingree's "Masha'allah: Some Sasanian and Syriac Sources," in
Essays on Islamic Philosophy and Science, ed. G. Hourani (Albany,
ca. 1975), pp. 5-14. The most convenient introduction to Islamic
astronomy is S. H. Nasr's Science and Civilization in Islam (Cam-
bridge, Mass., 1968).
For ancient connections between astral fatalism, destiny, and the
reactions they provoked, see D. Amand, Fatalisme et liberte dans
l'antiquite grecque (Louvain, 1945) and F. Notscher, "Himmlische
Biicher und Schicksals Glaube in Qumran," Revue de Qumran 1 (1958-
59): 405-11. The main studies of the belief in destiny among pre-
Islamic Arabs are those by W. L. Schrameier, Ober den Fatalismus
der vorislamischen Araber (Bonn, 1881); W. Caskel, Das Schicksal in
der altarabischer Poesie (Leipzig, 1926); and H. Ringgren, Studies in
Arabian Fatalism (Uppsala, 1955).
For the ancient connection between sorcery and therapeutic magic,
see E. K. Ritter, "Magical-Expert (-Asipu) and Physician (-Asu): Notes
on Two Complementary Professions in Babylonian Medicine," in Studies
in Honour of Benno Landsberger (Chicago, 1965), pp. 299-321. R. C.
Thompson's classic study of Assyrian,jewish, Syriac, and Arabic magic
called Semitic Magic, Its Origins and Development (London, 1908)
is still worth consulting, as is j. Trachtenberg's Jewish Magic and
Superstition (New York, 1939). But the main primary source for con-
temporary magic in Iraq and its pagan references is in the incantations
written on bowls in Aramaic, Syriac, and Mandaic. Mandaic incan-
tation texts will be cited in the section on Mandaeans. j. A. Mont-
gomery's Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur (Philadelphia, 1913)
is still a convenient collection of Aramaic texts. Additional such bowl
texts have been published by C. Gordon in "Aramaic Magical Bowls
in the Istanbul and Baghdad Museums," Archiv Orientalni 6 (1934):
319-34; E. Yamauchi, "Aramaic Magic Bowls," JAOS 85 (1965):
511-23; and F. Franco, "Five Aramaic Incantation Bowls from Tell