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Tile with two rabbits, two snakes and a tortoise. Illustration for Zakariya al-Qazwini's book, Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing (13th century).

Tile with two rabbits, two snakes and a tortoise. Illustration for Zakariya al-Qazwini's book, Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing (13th century).

Abu Yahya Zakariya' ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini (1203 – 1283) was a Persian physician, astronomer, geographer and proto-science fiction writer. He travelled around in Mesopotamia and Syria, and finally entered the circle patronized by the governor of Baghdad, ‘Ata-Malik Juwayni (d. 1283 CE). This 19th-century tile from the Louvre shows two rabbits, two snakes, and a tortoise and is based on an illustration from his magnum opus Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing.