Biography

Al-Jazarī was a brilliant inventor, engineer, and craftsman who lived over 800 years ago in what we now call southeastern Türkiye. He worked at the royal court of Diyār Bakr (modern-day Diyarbakır) under the Artuqid rulers, a dynasty that ruled parts of Mesopotamia, the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.

His full name was Badīʿ az-Zamān Abū al-ʿIzz ibn Ismāʿīl ibn ar-Razzāz al-Jazarī, where Badīʿ az-Zamān means “The Prodigy of His Age.” Yet, despite his fame as one of history’s greatest inventors, we know surprisingly little about his life. Almost everything we know comes from the introduction to his only surviving book, where he tells us that he spent 25 years designing machines for the Artuqid kings.

His book, known in English as The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, is a masterpiece of medieval engineering. It describes and illustrates more than 50 fascinating devices — from elaborate water clocks and automata to sophisticated water-raising machines — blending scientific knowledge with practical craftsmanship.

“I have studied the books of the earlier scholars and the works of the later craftsmen. I have considered the treatment of the subject by each of them and examined the chapters which each compiled. I progressed, by practising it, from the stage of book learning to that of witnessing and beholding the truth of it. I was fervently attached to the pursuit of this subtle science and persisted in the endeavour to arrive at the truth.”

— al-Jazarī, Introduction, p. 5 (Hill trans.)

Al-Jazari

The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices