FISH IN FICTION AND HISTORY
Qazwini - Zoological Section of the Nuzhatu-l-Qulub
A fabulous bestiary, rich with medicinal
uses and other lore.
Mustawfi bin Abu Bakr al-Qazwini (b. about 680 H / 1281-2 CE, fl. around
1330-1340 CE), was a financial officer under the regime of Abu Sa'id the
Mongol Il-Khan. He got the epithet "al-Mustawfi" through his grandfather,
who was an accountant (Mustawfi) in Iraq.
This is an
engrossing trip into medieval Persian zoology. Animals are classified as
being of the land, sea or air. A paragraph is devoted to each animal,
arranged in alphabetical order (Arabic). The Persian name is sometimes
given, and often also the Turki and Mongolian equivalents. Then attributes
such as the qualities of the animal's flesh, medical uses, and occasionally
the magical uses, are also given. The work gives a conspectus of the
zoological science of the time.