Al-Harawī’s Version of Menelaus’ Spherics

This paper is a study, based on four medieval manuscripts, of al-Harawī’s edition of Menelaus’ Spherics, the oldest version of this treatise in our manuscript sources. We provide a critical edition and translation of a number of key passages. We show that this version of the text can be used to elucidate some of Menelaus’ concerns as a mathematician, to study al-Harawī’s work as an editor and as a mathematical scholar, and to understand the early
efforts of the ʿAbbāsid translators of technical works into Arabic.