Ibrāhīm ibn Yaʿqūb aṭ-Ṭurṭūšī in Pavia: The ‘Regisole’ (A Re-reading)

Ibrāhīm ibn Yaʽqūb aṭ-Ṭurṭūšī (fl. 960s) has long been identified as one of the, albeit indirectly used, sources of Ibn ʽAbd al-Munʽim al-Ḥimyarī’s geographical dictionary, Kitāb ar-rawḍ al-miʽṭār, compiled in 1461. Al-Ḥimyarī’s ‘Italian’ entries – without prejudice to others – present textual composites of clearly heterogeneous provenance, from which at times a noticeably factual, detail-rich strand can be descried. Several of al-Ḥimyarī’s anonymous quotations concerning places in Italy can be attributed to Ibrāhīm. The article presents an analysis of al-Ḥimyarī’s, or rather his predecessor Ibrāhīm’s, entry on Pavia and the town’s equestrian bronze (‘the Regisole’).