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al-Jazari

Type Figure Region Upper Mesopotamia Time c. 1136–1206 Also known as Ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari

Artuqid court engineer (c. 1136–1206) in Upper Mesopotamia, author of the 1206 Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices.

Timeline

  1. c. 1136–1173Upper Mesopotamia · MesopotamiaAl-Jazari came from Upper Mesopotamia and said he learned mechanical craft from his father. His exact town is uncertain, but his knowledge clearly inherited the existing Islamic traditions of water clocks, gears, and hydraulic devices.
  2. 1174–1185Amid · Southeastern AnatoliaIn AH 570 (1174) he entered the service of the Diyarbakır branch of the Artuqids, under his first patron Nur al-Din Muhammad. The court's need for banquet automata, water clocks, and fortification devices gave him stable conditions for experimentation and construction.
  3. 1185–1200Amid · Southeastern AnatoliaHe went on to serve Qutb al-Din Sukman and Nasir al-Din Mahmud. By the late 12th century he had held office for about twenty-five years, gaining experience in designing and building water clocks, elephant clocks, piston pumps, cams, and crank-and-connecting-rod mechanisms.
  4. 1201–1206Amid · Southeastern AnatoliaAt the request of Nasir al-Din Mahmud he compiled his devices into The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (also known as The Compendium on the Science and Useful Practice of Mechanics), completed in January 1206, illustrating about fifty machines. He died later that year.

Sources