An Investigation on the Originality of the Persian Manuscripts on Lifting Heavy Weights

In this paper, the contents of Heron’s treatise and the Persian manuscripts on lifting heavy weights have been investigated as a means to make preparations for comparing the Persian manuscripts to each other and to Heron’s treatise, and to evaluate the originality of the Persian manuscripts. The somewhat 22 manuscripts preserved in various libraries in Iran have been written during the 9AH/15AD to 13AH/19AD centuries. They have not yet been investigated. Some of them are attributed to Ibn Sīnā and some others to Ḥazīn Lāhījī. Abū Alī bin ʻabd al-Jalīl Khārazmī has also been named as an author. In the present paper it would be verified that these manuscripts are not independent from each other and can neither be attributed to Ibn Sīnā and Ḥazīn Lāhījī. The contents of these manuscripts are comparable to the second book of Heron’s treatise but independent of it.