abian history,
because he had, like his Greek prototype, undertaken extensive
travels, and had like him made the description of countries and
nations his chief occupation. The titles of ten of his works are known
to us, but the principal one is that named above, in the composition
of which he used eighty-five historical, geographical, and
philological works, as he himself informs us in the first chapter of
his history. The work itself contains one hundred and thirty-two
chapters.

Ibn al Athir al Jazari, born A.D. 1160 and died A.D. 1233, was also an
historian of note, and a personal friend of Ibn Khallikan, who writes
of him as follows: 'His knowledge of the Traditions, and his
acquaintance with that science in its various branches, placed him in
the first rank; and his learning as an historian of the ancients and
moderns was not less extensive; he was perfectly familiar with the
genealogy of the Arabs, their adventures, combats and history; whilst
his great work, "The Kamil or Complete," embracing the history of the
world from the earliest period to the year 628 of the Hijrah (A.D.
1230-1231), merits its reputation as one of the best productions of
the kind.' Another of Ibn Al Athir's works is the history of the most
eminent among the companions of Muhammad, in the shape of a
biographical dictionary.

As the development of Arab letters proceeded, in the course of time
various authors began to tabulate the different branches of knowledge
and science, and these, with the biographies of many of the writers,
and the lists of their works, formed a distinct branch in the
literature of that day.

The most noteworthy of them all was Abul Faraj Muhammad bin Ishak, who
is generally known by the name of Ibn Ali Yakub al Warrak the copyist,
surnamed An-Nadim al Baghdadi, the social companion from Baghdad, and
the author of the 'Fihrist.' It may be truly said that this writer,
along with Ibn Khallikan, laid the foundations of the records of the
edifice of encyclopaedical and biographical works, which was afterwards
completed by Haji Khalfa and Abul Khair. Without the work of Ibn
Khallikan it would be as impossible to give a history of Arab
scholars, as without the work of An-Nadim to give an account of Arab
literature.

The 'Kitab al-Fihrist' was written by An-Nadim in A.D. 987, and is
divided into ten sections, dealing with every branch of letters and
learning. It gives the names of many authors and their works long
since