PAL

Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus

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Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, D. 114 inf.

s. XVIin (f. 76r-85r are dated 4 October 1518 in the note in Hebrew at the end of the text, which reads ‘In your honour, God, 19 of Tishrei 279, up to now’ – my thanks to Shlomo Sela for working out these Hebrew words and translating them for me).

Or.:

northern Italy (Italian script, both for the Latin and Hebrew texts; Mantua is mentioned in one of the Hebrew texts, f. 22v[93r], see Bernheimer, 128). The Latin texts are in the hand of Isaac Hebreus, as shown by a comparison with the autograph copies of his translations of Savasorda’s Liber de forma terrae et de figuratione corporum coelestium necnon de ordine motus stellarum (MS Vatican, BAV, Ott. lat. 2079) and of Levi ben Gerson’s Liber sillogismi recti (MS Vatican, BAV, Ott. lat. 1906).

Paper, 114 f., foliated twice in pencil, from the front and the back of the volume (the latter foliation, intended for Hebrew readers, is indicated between square brackets []). The Latin texts are copied in a single hand (three hands acc. Bernheimer). Several folia appear to be missing, after f. 69v and after f. 75v.

Astronomy, geography and physics, partly in Hebrew and partly in Latin: Hebrew texts nos 3-5 (1r[114v]-39v[76r]); Jordanus de Nemore, Elementa super demonstrationem ponderum (40r[75v]-48r[67v]); ‘Sic Leonardus Cremonensis [Leonardo (de Antoniis) of Cremona] prosequitur descriptionem cosmographiae in plano. Terreni situs habitabilis partes describentium Ptholomeus quis fuerit…’ (49r[66v]-57v[58r]), with diagrams (57v[58r]-58r[57v]); Ptolemaica (59r[56v]-69v[46r]); ‘De his que geographiae adesse debent Georgii Amerucii [George Amiroutzes] opusculum. Quoniam necessarium quidem est scienter de terrae situ…’, end gone (70r[45v]-75v[40r]); Ptolemaica (76r[39v]-85r[30v]); Hebrew texts nos 1-2 (86r[29v]-114v[1r]). Blank: 39r[76v], 48v[67r], 58v[57r], 59v[56r], 85v[30r]. The Hebrew texts consist of (1) a comm. on Menelaus’s Spherica ([1r]-[23v]); (2) a treatise on days and nights (Ḥilluf ha-yamin ve-ha-leilot) by Profayt Duran ([24r]-[29r]); (3) five propositions of geometry ([76r]); (4) Theodosius, Spherica ([77r]-[93r]), with notes thereupon ([93r]-[93v]); (5) Menelaus, Spherica ([94r]-[114v]).

Bibl. C. Bernheimer, Codices Hebraici Bybliothecae Ambrosianae, Firenze, 1933, 124-128 (no. 97); Inventario Ceruti dei manoscritti della Biblioteca Ambrosiana, ed. A. Paredi, I, Trezzano, 1973, 441-442.

59r–⁠69v

‘Verba Geber filii Affla Hispalensis. Scientia species habet quarum melior post scientiam — ad amorem et studium eius quod detulit nos ad assiduadandam… (60r) Et quia plurimum quod queritur in tractatu primo et secondo huius libri non est nisi extraction ignotorum arcuum — (65r) in libro suo sine demonstratione, quia est liber iste noster stans per se, non egens alio sicut premisimus. Et ad ultimum accideret si locus terrae non esset sub equatore diei esset inclinata ad unum duorum polorum ad septentrionem aut ad meridiem — sciemus ex eis per illud cuius declarabo precessit quantitatem arcuum angulorum qui eveniunt illis signis post orbem meridiei et sciemus…’

= Geber, Liber super Almagesti (C.1.2)

. Preface, 59r (beginning only, the text breaks off midsentence in the middle of a line, and the rest of f. 59r and f. 59v are blanc); I.11-18, 60r-65r; II, 65r-69v (later part only, with abrupt end in the last chapter of Book II due to one or several missing folia, catchword ‘iterum’). No glosses.

76r–⁠85r

‘Demonstrationes astrolabii a Ptholomeo editae, correctae et rectificatae per magistrum Hisaac Hebreum. Scripsit Ptholomeus ad Sirum: Postquam possibile est ut circuli secantes sphaeram appareant in superficie plana — (84v) non oportet dividere circulos per singulos gradus, sed sufficit divider eos per 30 gradus. Sequens capitulum non est Ptolomei sed est Abo Alcasis Mesulam filii Alchamad. Dixit Ptolomeus: Docuit in hoc tractatu quomodo debeamus describere orizontem et paralellos eius qui dicuntur almucantarat — arcus eque divident horizontem et omnes eius paralellos. Finis. כבודך ה' י"ט תשרי רע"ט לע"כ.’

= Ptolemy, Demonstrationes astrolabii (tr. Isaac Hebreus) (A.6.2)

. Marginal corrections by the scribe (Isaac Hebreus).