Date: 12/13/2009
TUMSPR News: Professor Sonja Brentjes from Seville University in Spain who lectured at the “Culture and Civilization History of the Islam and Iran” congress, participated in an interview with TUMS Public Relations representative to express her motivations for attending such a congress.
Professor Sonja Brentjes, who gave a lecture at Culture and Civilization History of Islam and Iran congress about An Isfahani merchant and his interest in the mathematical sciences participated in an interview with Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) Public Relations representative, Dr. Hashemi, to express her motivations and interests for participating in such a congress.
- Would you please introduce yourself?
My name’s Sonja Brentjes. I am 58 and live in Seville [in Spain] and work at the University of Seville.
- What have been your reasons for attending this congress?
I am here because I am editing a text from the 9th century, an Arabic text on Euclid’s elements and part of this text is in Sepahsalar. So I want to go to Sepahsalar to get access to the text and prepare a solid academic publication. That’s my major reason and [as you know] getting a visa for Iran is very difficult and the only possibility for a researcher like me to come is by invitation and for this you need a conference [at least]. That’s why I came.
- Then, how about your interest in the 9th century?
That’s a long-standing interest. I have worked for more than 20 years on the Euclid’s elements of the 9th century.
- Your interests are mostly about Islamic civilization, Iranian civilization or both?
Well my interests are very broad and I am interested about Islamic civilization from the 8th to 17th century. I’m doing quite a bit of work on the Safavid period, Isfahan and some other things and I’ve just published a paper on mathematics in the Safavid period but I’m also interested in European and Mediterranean science and now I am doing a colloquium in Spain about Mediterranean knowledge.
- And as the final question, would you please express you general impression about the congress?
[To tell you the truth] I have seen better [ones].
- Thank you very much for the time
The abstract for the paper published by Routledge Publishing Company in the Iranian Studies Journal by Sonja Brentjes, titled: Euclid's Elements, Courtly Patronage and Princely Education reads as follows:
The Persian tradition of Euclid's Elements is closely connected with the Arabic transmission of the work in Iran, Central Asia and India. This tradition has multiple starting points. Nasīr al-Dīn Tusī's Arabic edition had a profound impact, but it was one of several Arabic versions that served as the basis for Persian translations. At the institutional level both the Arabic and the Persian traditions flourished in different spaces—at the courts, in the madrasa, and in the sphere of collectors. Emphasizing the continued importance of court patronage, this paper explores the specifics of spatial and temporal coordinates in the transmission and transformation of Euclid's Elements in Islamic Iran.
The audio file of the interview (WAV format)
http://publicrelations.tums.ac.ir/UserFiles/Media/Voice%20main/Prof-Brentjes-interview.wav
The congress
Picture gallery 1.
http://publicrelations.tums.ac.ir/gallery/detail.asp?galleryID=1026
Picture gallery 2.
http://publicrelations.tums.ac.ir/gallery/detail.asp?galleryID=1028
http://publicrelations.tums.ac.ir/english/news/detail.asp?newsID=14781
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