PAL

Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus

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Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, ebr. 392

[Colour scanned images of the textblock and covers.]
Collection of two main and two minor works, Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew.  Date:

undated; c. 800/‌1400 (Beit-Arié & Pasternak, based on a comparison of watermarks).

Or.:

possibly al-Andalus; unknown scribe.

Prov.:

handwritten note ‘Lingua Arabica charactere hebreo’ at the bottom of the first page of the Ptolemaic work (1r). Description of the two main works in Latin, indicating the old shelfmark (‘173’) and the current one (‘392’) (Iv). Old shelfmark ‘173’ (Ir), current shelfmark (1r, 87v); stamp of the Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana (1r, 87v).

Cod.: paper, I+87+Ia ff. (foliated with Arabic-European numerals in ink, with ff. I and 1 additionally numbered ‘1’ and ‘1a’ in pencil and an unnumbered blank folio between ff. 49 and 50; catchwords). A single semi-cursive Sephardic hand in brown, dotted for the Judaeo-Arabic parts. Book titles and initial words of passages enlarged and bold in brown (1r–49v), or in brown or red (51r–87v). Several diagrams with lines in brown and letters and labels in red. Only one astronomical table with lines in brown and headings and Hebrew abjad numbers in red (58v). Codex in acceptable condition; significant moisture stains throughout, occasionally affecting the readability; restorations with pasted paper slips in the folds and margins (1r–v, 86v, 87r). Dimensions: 200×140 mm, written area: 150×93 mm (1r–49v) and 140×88 mm (51r–87v); 26 (1r–49v) and 23 (51r–87v) lines per page. Covers in white parchment over paper pasteboards. Type III binding.

Cont.: astronomy and mathematics. — Index: Ptolemaica (1r–48v); a mathematical theorem on spherical triangles, referring to the first part of the Ptolemaic work (48v–49v); a poem in Hebrew within an ornamental frame (50v); Joseph b. Naḥmias, Kitāb Nūr al-ʿālam (51r–87v). Blank: 49bis, 50r, Ia.

Bibl.: Bernard R. Goldstein, ‘The Survival of Arabic Astronomy in Hebrew’, Journal for the History of Arabic Science 3 (1979), pp. 31–39, here p. 32; Moritz Steinschneider, Mathematik bei den Juden, 2 vols, Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 2001, vol. I, p. 114 (no. e38); Delio Vania Proverbio, ‘Manoscritti scientifici giudeo-arabi (praeter lexica) nella serie dei codici vaticani ebraici’, Miscellanea Bibliothecae Apostolicae Vaticanae 8 (2001), pp. 351–405, here pp. 368–379; Benjamin Richler, Malachi Beit-Arié and Nurit Pasternak, Hebrew Manuscripts in the Vatican Library. Catalogue, Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticano, 2008, p. 339; Robert G. Morrison, Joseph ibn Nahmias. The Light of the World. Astronomy in al-Andalus, Berkeley / Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2016, pp. 45–46, 263, 265 n. 5, etc.. DigiVatLib: https://opac.vatlib.it/mss/detail/Vat.ebr.392 (with scans).

1r–⁠48v

\1r\ || מע עודה זמאן אלסנה לא גיר ואנה לם נרד אלאמור אלטׄאהרה באלכסופאת תכאלף קי{...} ותלך {... ... ...} ט֗הר אכ֗תלאף סאעתאן באלתקריב לו כאן אלאכ֗תלאף בגג֗ ואחד פקט לו לם ידרך חקיקה אלאמר פיג֗ד זמאן אלסנה {...} יומה ואקל מן רבע יום — \48v\ אלצבאחיה ואלמסאיה פי מבאדי סאיר אלברוג֗ ווט֗ענאהא פי גדול פיה יב סטרה֗֗ וה צפוף פי אלאול מן מבאדי ברג֗ ברג֗ ופי אלאתנאן אבעאד אלמסאיה ואלצבאחיה ללזהרה ואלבאקין לעט֗ארד. כמל אכ֗תצאר אלמקאלה אליב מן אלמג֗סטי ובתמאמה תם אלכתאב.

\1r\ || مع عودة زمن السنة لا غير وأنّه لم نردّ الأمور الظاهرة بالكسوفات تخالف قي{...} وتلك {... ... ...} ظهر اختلاف ساعتان بالتقريب لو كان الاختلاف بجزء واحد فقط لو لم يدرك حقيقة الأمر فيجد زمان السنة {...} يومه وأقلّ من ربع يوم — \48v\ الصباحيّة والمسائيّة في مبادئ سائر البروج ووضعناها في جدول فيه يب سطرة وه صفوف في الأوّل من مبادئ برج برج وفي الاثنان أبعاد المسائيّة والصباحيّة للزهرة والباقين لعطارد. كمل اختصار المقالة اليب من المجسطي وبتمامه تمّ الكتاب.

= 〈Ikhtiṣār al-Majisṭī〉 (C.1.40)

. — Title: none. — Index: Book III (acephalous), 1r–5v; IV, 5v–11r; V, 11r–20v; VI, 20v–28r; VII/VIII, 28v–29v; IX, 29v–35v; X/XI, 36r–43v; XII, 43v–48v. — Undated colophon containing a long invocation (48v). A few marginal corrections.