Wonder and Environment in al-Jazarī’s Technology

Abstract A medieval water-raising device is located in the courtyard of a family house in an ancient area of Damascus. The design of this machine is based upon a project for a hydraulic ḥīla (automata) described in the book of engineering that Ismail ibn al-Razzāz al-Jazarī completed in 602/1206, known to the architect of the device through the copying of al-Jazarī’s manuscript. The machine was built for raising water, from the Yazīd river up to the al-Qaymarī hospital. Previous research has addressed its functional qualities and produced literature that is comprehensive and diverse. However, the present study deals with the analysis of this hydraulic structure to highlight the distinctive feature with respect to al-Jazarī’s description and to its intrinsic resilience in adapting a small-scale project of a playful instrument to an innovative water-raising machine for utilitarian purposes.