Ikhtiṣār min al-maqālāt min kitāb Uqlīdis [Epitome of Euclid’s Elements]
![Ikhtiṣār min al-maqālāt min kitāb Uqlīdis [Epitome of Euclid’s Elements]](http://ljs101.exhibits.library.upenn.edu/files/fullsize/ad9ea53d34e80343492ecce646e518a7.jpg "Ikhtiṣār min al-maqālāt min kitāb Uqlīdis [Epitome of Euclid’s Elements]")
LJS 37 contains an anonymous Arabic abridgement of Euclid’s Elements, the quintessential introduction to geometry. The Elements was first compiled around 300 BCE. It has proven one of the most enduring and influential textbooks ever written and still forms the basis of studying geometry today. You may recognize on fols. 16v and 17r, shown here, diagrams illustrating the Pythagorean theorem for calculating the length of the sides of a right triangle.
There is a robust history of translation, abridgement, and commentary of the Elements. There was great interest in the text in the medieval Arabic-speaking world, as evidenced by LJS 37. The earliest translations into Arabic appear between the eighth and tenth centuries, corresponding with the period when LJS 101 was made. There were many abridgements made of these translations, including the one contained in LJS 37. Showing the widespread interest in the Elements and the subject of geometry, there is also substantial evidence that Boethius completed a translation of the Elements into Latin, although the text only survives in fragments.