KhalidAlAjaji at 20:55, 17 September 2026

2026-09-17T20:55:06Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:55, 17 September 2026
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	Authors: {{PAGEAUTHORS}}		Authors: {{PAGEAUTHORS}}
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			[[File:sullam_chart.png\|thumb\|''Al-Sullam'' and neighbouring Arabic asterisms in the region of Pisces. (CC BY Khalid Al-Ajaji 2026).]]

	'''Al-Sullam''' (<span lang="ar" dir="rtl">السُّلَّم</span>, “the ladder”) is a traditional Arabic asterism identified with the cord joining the two Fishes of [[Pisces]], the Ptolemaic ''linum piscium''. In this reconstruction it is a group of stars, rather than a single star, running eastward from the western end of the cord to [[Alrescha]] (α Piscium), between approximately declinations +2° and +8°.		'''Al-Sullam''' (<span lang="ar" dir="rtl">السُّلَّم</span>, “the ladder”) is a traditional Arabic asterism identified with the cord joining the two Fishes of [[Pisces]], the Ptolemaic ''linum piscium''. In this reconstruction it is a group of stars, rather than a single star, running eastward from the western end of the cord to [[Alrescha]] (α Piscium), between approximately declinations +2° and +8°.

KhalidAlAjaji at 20:54, 17 September 2026

2026-09-17T20:54:32Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:54, 17 September 2026
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	Authors: {{PAGEAUTHORS}}		Authors: {{PAGEAUTHORS}}
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	~~[[File:sullam_chart.png\|thumb\|''Al-Sullam'' and neighbouring Arabic asterisms in the region of Pisces. (CC BY Khalid Al-Ajaji 2026).]]~~

	'''Al-Sullam''' (<span lang="ar" dir="rtl">السُّلَّم</span>, “the ladder”) is a traditional Arabic asterism identified with the cord joining the two Fishes of [[Pisces]], the Ptolemaic ''linum piscium''. In this reconstruction it is a group of stars, rather than a single star, running eastward from the western end of the cord to [[Alrescha]] (α Piscium), between approximately declinations +2° and +8°.		'''Al-Sullam''' (<span lang="ar" dir="rtl">السُّلَّم</span>, “the ladder”) is a traditional Arabic asterism identified with the cord joining the two Fishes of [[Pisces]], the Ptolemaic ''linum piscium''. In this reconstruction it is a group of stars, rather than a single star, running eastward from the western end of the cord to [[Alrescha]] (α Piscium), between approximately declinations +2° and +8°.

Sushoff at 09:45, 17 September 2026

2026-09-17T09:45:44Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:45, 17 September 2026
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	[[File:sullam_chart.png\|thumb\|''Al-Sullam'' and neighbouring Arabic asterisms in the region of Pisces. (CC BY Khalid Al-Ajaji 2026).]]		[[File:sullam_chart.png\|thumb\|''Al-Sullam'' and neighbouring Arabic asterisms in the region of Pisces. (CC BY Khalid Al-Ajaji 2026).]]

	'''Al-Sullam''' (<span lang="ar" dir="rtl">السُّلَّم</span>, “the ladder”) is a traditional Arabic asterism identified with the cord joining the two Fishes of [[~~Pisces (constellation)\|~~Pisces]], the Ptolemaic ''linum piscium''. In this reconstruction it is a group of stars, rather than a single star, running eastward from the western end of the cord to [[Alrescha]] (α Piscium), between approximately declinations +2° and +8°.		'''Al-Sullam''' (<span lang="ar" dir="rtl">السُّلَّم</span>, “the ladder”) is a traditional Arabic asterism identified with the cord joining the two Fishes of [[Pisces]], the Ptolemaic ''linum piscium''. In this reconstruction it is a group of stars, rather than a single star, running eastward from the western end of the cord to [[Alrescha]] (α Piscium), between approximately declinations +2° and +8°.

	The identification is built on the positional phrase <span lang="ar" dir="rtl">أسفل من العانة عن يمينها</span> (“below ''[[Al-ʿana\|al-ʿĀna]]'', at/on its right”).		The identification is built on the positional phrase <span lang="ar" dir="rtl">أسفل من العانة عن يمينها</span> (“below ''[[Al-ʿana\|al-ʿĀna]]'', at/on its right”).

KhalidAlAjaji: Created page with "{{DISPLAYTITLE:Al-Sullam (السُّلَّم)}} Authors: {{PAGEAUTHORS}} ---- ''Al-Sullam'' and neighbouring Arabic asterisms in the region of Pisces. (CC BY Khalid Al-Ajaji 2026). '''Al-Sullam''' (السُّلَّم, “the ladder”) is a traditional Arabic asterism identified with the cord joining the two Fishes of Pisces, the Ptolemaic ''linum piscium''. In this reconstructi..."

2026-09-17T03:34:31Z

Created page with "{{DISPLAYTITLE:Al-Sullam (السُّلَّم)}} Authors: {{PAGEAUTHORS}} ---- thumb|''Al-Sullam'' and neighbouring Arabic asterisms in the region of Pisces. (CC BY Khalid Al-Ajaji 2026). '''Al-Sullam''' (السُّلَّم, “the ladder”) is a traditional Arabic asterism identified with the cord joining the two Fishes of Pisces, the Ptolemaic ''linum piscium''. In this reconstructi..."

New page

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Al-Sullam (السُّلَّم)}}

Authors: {{PAGEAUTHORS}}
----
[[File:sullam_chart.png|thumb|''Al-Sullam'' and neighbouring Arabic asterisms in the region of Pisces. (CC BY Khalid Al-Ajaji 2026).]]

'''Al-Sullam''' (السُّلَّم, “the ladder”) is a traditional Arabic asterism identified with the cord joining the two Fishes of [[Pisces (constellation)|Pisces]], the Ptolemaic ''linum piscium''. In this reconstruction it is a group of stars, rather than a single star, running eastward from the western end of the cord to [[Alrescha]] (α Piscium), between approximately declinations +2° and +8°.

The identification is built on the positional phrase أسفل من العانة عن يمينها (“below ''[[Al-ʿana|al-ʿĀna]]'', at/on its right”).

== Etymology ==

The name السُّلَّم means “ladder.” In the ''Tāj al-ʿArūs'', al-Zabīdī explains the name as على التَّشْبِيه بالسُّلَّم, “by resemblance to a ladder.” This is al-Zabīdī’s own explanatory gloss rather than a transmitted early statement, but it accords with an extended and regularly spaced stellar chain such as the cord of Pisces.

== Sources ==

=== Ibn Qutayba ===

'''Ibn Qutayba (d. 276 AH / 889 CE)''' gives the positional statement without specifying a number of stars:<ref name="qutayba"/>

<blockquote lang="ar" dir="rtl">
و«السلم» أسفل من «العانة» عن يمينها.
</blockquote>

;English
<blockquote>
Al-Sullam is below ''[[Al-ʿana|al-ʿĀna]]'', at its right-hand side.
</blockquote>

=== Ibn ʿĀṣim al-Ṯaqafī ===

'''Ibn ʿĀṣim al-Ṯaqafī (d. 403 AH / c. 1013 CE)''' supplies a singular noun in his paraphrastic account:<ref name="thaqafi"/>

<blockquote lang="ar" dir="rtl">
وأسفل من العانة وعن يمينها كوكب يقال له: السلم.
</blockquote>

;English
<blockquote>
Below ''[[Al-ʿana|al-ʿĀna]]'' and at its right is a star called al-Sullam.
</blockquote>

=== Lexicographical witnesses ===

Earlier and later lexicographical witnesses preserve the plural كواكب (“stars”):

<blockquote lang="ar" dir="rtl">
والسُّلَّمُ: كَواكِبُ أسْفَل من العَانَة عن يَمِيْنِها.
</blockquote>

;English
<blockquote>
Al-Sullam: stars below ''[[Al-ʿana|al-ʿĀna]]'', at its right-hand side.
</blockquote>

This wording occurs in Ibn ʿAbbād al-Ṣāḥib’s ''al-Muḥīṭ fī al-Lugha'' (d. 385 AH) and in al-Ṣaghānī’s ''al-Takmila'' (d. 650 AH). The ''Tāj al-ʿArūs'' likewise records:

<blockquote lang="ar" dir="rtl">
(و) أَيْضا: (كَواكِبُ أَسْفَل من العانَةِ عَن يَمِينِها) على التَّشْبِيه بالسّلم.
</blockquote>

;English
<blockquote>
Also: stars below ''[[Al-ʿana|al-ʿĀna]]'', at its right-hand side, by resemblance to a ladder.
</blockquote>

Al-Marzūqī omits al-Sullam from his version of the notice.

== Number of stars ==

The evidence favors the plural reading كواكب, and indicates that the surviving Hyderabad text of Ibn Qutayba’s ''al-Anwāʾ'' has lost the noun.

* Ibn ʿAbbād, who died in 385 AH, predates al-Ṯaqafī by eighteen years; his plural reading is therefore earlier than al-Ṯaqafī’s singular formulation.
* The lexica retain Ibn Qutayba’s positional wording—أسفل من العانة عن يمينها—verbatim while adding كواكب. This close agreement suggests that their exemplars preserved the missing word.
* Al-Ṯaqafī’s phrase كوكب يقال له: السلم is best treated as an inference from a source that did not state a number, rather than as a variant reading. His treatment of ''[[Al-ʿana|al-ʿĀna]]'' in the same context is likewise paraphrastic.
* The singular is deliberate in al-Ṯaqafī’s own text: he writes كواكب بيض يقال لها: العانة but كواكب يقال له: السلم, with pronouns agreeing respectively with the collective and singular names. This confirms his editorial interpretation, not the original number in Ibn Qutayba.

The name “ladder,” with its implied rungs, and the structure of the surrounding notice also favor a collective. In that passage, ''[[Al-ʿana|al-ʿĀna]]'', [[Al-Ribq|al-Ribq]], and al-Safīna are all groups of stars; a solitary star would be the lone exception.

== Direction: yamīn ==

The positional term يمين (“right”) denotes north in this astronomical convention. Al-Marzūqī explicitly explains that the figures rise with their faces toward the west: north is consequently on their right and south on their left.<ref name="marzuqi"/>

<blockquote lang="ar" dir="rtl">
وكلّ صورة من نظم الكواكب فميامنها مما يلي الشّمال ومياسرها مما يلي الجنوب، لأنّها تطلع بصدورها ناظرة إلى المغارب فالشّمال على أيمانها، والجنوب على أيسارها.
</blockquote>

;English
<blockquote>
For every stellar figure, its right-hand side is that which faces north and its left-hand side that which faces south, because it rises breast-first facing the western horizons: north is on its right and south on its left.
</blockquote>

The convention is independently confirmed in indigenous descriptions. Ibn Qutayba places Awlād al-Ḍibāʿ “to the right” of al-Ḍibāʿ, in the direction of Banāt Naʿsh, that is, north; and al-Ṯaqafī places al-Baqar “to the right” of al-Kaff al-Jadhmāʾ, in the direction of al-Thurayyā, likewise north.<ref name="qutayba"/><ref name="thaqafi"/>

== Identification ==

With يمين understood as north, al-Sullam is identified with the cord of Pisces, extending from its western end eastward to Alrescha. The chain comprises δ, ε, ζ, μ, ν, ξ, α Psc.

The extended sequence and its regularly spaced appearance accord with the “ladder” image. It also lies immediately off the north-eastern end of [[Al-ʿĀna]], matching Ibn Qutayba’s general framing of the nearby stars, الكواكب المقاربة لهذه السعود (“the stars close to these Suʿūd”).

== Positional ambiguity ==

The phrase أسفل من العانة عن يمينها contains the principal issue. If يمين means north, as the sources indicate, then أسفل (“below”) and “at its right” may describe a later position in rising, hence an eastward position. Al-Sullam would then lie east and north of al-ʿĀna, corresponding to the cord of Pisces.

== References ==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="qutayba">أبو محمد عبد الله بن مسلم ابن قتيبة الدينوري المتوفى سنة 276هـ - 879م، كتاب الأنواء في مواسم العرب، دائرة المعارف العثمانية، حيدر أباد، الهند، 1375 هـ - 1956م. Ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh b. Muslim (d. 276 AH / 879 CE), ''Kitāb al-Anwāʾ fī Mawāsim al-ʿArab'', Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-ʿUthmāniyya, Hyderabad, 1375 AH / 1956 CE.</ref>
<ref name="thaqafi">عبد الله بن حسين بن عاصم الثقفي (توفي 403 هـ)، الأنواء والأزمنة، تحقيق: د. نوري حمودي القيسي، د. محمد نايف الدليمي، دار الجيل، بيروت، لبنان، 1416 هـ. Al-Ṯaqafī, ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḥusayn b. ʿĀṣim (d. 403 AH / c. 1013 CE), ''al-Anwāʾ wa-al-Azminah'', ed. Nūrī Ḥammūdī al-Qaysī and Muḥammad Nāyif al-Dulaymī, Dār al-Jīl, Beirut, 1416 AH / 1996 CE.</ref>
<ref name="marzuqi">الإمام أبو علي أحمد بن محمد بن الحسن المرزوقي (توفي سنة 421 هـ)، الأزمنة والأمكنة، تحقيق د. محمد نايف الدليمي، عالم الكتب، بيروت، لبنان، 1422 هـ. Al-Marzūqī, Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan (d. 421 AH / 1030 CE), ''al-Azminah wa-al-Amkinah'', ed. Muḥammad Nāyif al-Dulaymī, ʿĀlam al-Kutub, Beirut, 1422 AH / 2002 CE.</ref>
<ref name="muhit">الصاحب بن عباد، المحيط في اللغة. Ibn ʿAbbād al-Ṣāḥib (d. 385 AH), ''al-Muḥīṭ fī al-Lugha''.</ref>
<ref name="takmila">الصاغاني، التكملة والذيل والصلة لكتاب تاج اللغة وصحاح العربية. Al-Ṣaghānī (d. 650 AH), ''al-Takmila wa-al-Dhayl wa-al-Ṣila li-Kitāb Tāj al-Lugha wa-Ṣiḥāḥ al-ʿArabiyya''.</ref>
<ref name="taj">مرتضى الزبيدي، تاج العروس من جواهر القاموس. Al-Zabīdī (d. 1205 AH), ''Tāj al-ʿArūs min Jawāhir al-Qāmūs''.</ref>
}}

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Al-Sullam - Revision history

KhalidAlAjaji at 20:55, 17 September 2026

KhalidAlAjaji at 20:54, 17 September 2026

Sushoff at 09:45, 17 September 2026