Book of the Seven Climes

ILLUSTRATION OF THE ALCHEMICAL PROCESS, IN ABŪ AL-QĀSIM AL-‘IRĀQĪ, KITĀB AL-AQĀLĪM AL-SAB‘AH (BOOK OF
THE SEVEN CLIMES) (18TH CENTURY) British Library

Abū al-Qāsim Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-‘Irāqī was an author of books on alchemy and magic. Al- ‘Irāqī's Book of the Seven Climes is the earliest known study focused wholly on alchemical illustrations. This picture was supposedly taken from a ‘Hidden Book’ attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, a legendary sage-king of ancient Egypt, who was believed to have mastered the secrets of alchemy and recorded them in hieroglyphs on the walls of tombs. Al-‘Irāqī gave each element an alchemical interpretation, but in actual fact this illustration has no meaning. Unknown to al-‘Irāqī, the picture reproduces an ancient monument erected in memory of King Amenemhat II, who ruled Egypt around 1922–1878 BC.

“Al-‘Irāqī was known as al-Sīmāwī, which means ‘ the practitioner of natural or white magic’. He lived in Egypt in the 13th century, during the reign of the Mamluk sultan, Baybars I al-Bunduqdārī.”

Bink Hallum
Curator

KITĀB AL-AQĀLĪM AL-SAB‘AH (BOOK OF THE SEVEN CLIMES) (18TH CENTURY)

British Library

KITĀB AL-AQĀLĪM AL-SAB‘AH (BOOK OF THE SEVEN CLIMES) (18TH CENTURY)

British Library