Al-Idrisi
c. 1100 CE–c. 1165 CE · Cordoba
Abu Abdallah Muhammad al-Idrisi (born c. 1100, Ceuta; died c. 1165) was a geographer and mapmaker who produced some of the most influential cartography of the medieval Mediterranean. Tradition holds that he descended from the Hammudids, a dynasty in North Africa and al-Andalus that claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad through the earlier Idrisid line; this prestigious lineage is widely reported, though early biographical detail about him is thin. He is reported to have studied at Cordoba and to have traveled in North Africa and Mediterranean lands, gathering geographical information.
His enduring fame rests on his years at the court of Roger II, the Norman Christian king of Sicily, in Palermo. There he compiled the "Nuzhat al-mushtaq" ("The Excursion of One Eager to Penetrate the Horizons"), completed in 1154 and known in Latin tradition as the Tabula Rogeriana, or "Book of Roger." Working over many years, he combined inherited Greek and Arabic learning with travelers' reports to produce a descriptive geography accompanied by a sectional world map and, by report, a silver planisphere. The work is a striking instance of cross-cultural collaboration: a Muslim scholar serving a Christian monarch.
Little is documented about his final years. Sources disagree on where he died: some place his death at Ceuta, others say he remained in Sicily. Because the surviving record is sparse, both the exact date and the place of death remain uncertain.
Did you know?
A silver world map for a Christian king
Around 1154, the geographer al-Idrisi completed at the court of the Norman king Roger II of Sicily a book of world geography (the "Book of Roger") together with a large planisphere: a disc of silver reportedly some two metres across and weighing about 400 pounds, engraved with the seas, rivers and cities of the known world. He finished the work the same year Roger II died; the silver map was later broken up during civil unrest and lost.
How we know
al-Idrisi c.1100–1165; Book of Roger + silver planisphere (~400 Roman ratls, ≈2 m diameter) completed Jan 1154, weeks before Roger II of Sicily (b. 22 Dec 1095, d. 26 Feb 1154) died; map destroyed in unrest c. 1160.
Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→Trace on the map →
CordobaקורדובהAl-Andalus, Spain
What they did here
He is reported to have studied at Cordoba in al-Andalus, a leading center of learning. This is repeated across reference sources but rests on later biographical tradition rather than dated documentary evidence; the dates of his stay are not securely recorded.
About Cordoba
The Rambam's birthplace (1138). Medieval Cordoba was a leading center of Sephardi philosophy and Talmud under the Caliphate of Cordoba.
Across the traditions, in Cordoba at the same time
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Al-Idrisi’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Al-Idrisi’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Jewish world
Christian world
Graeco-Roman world
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.