St Petersburg, Biblioteka Akademii Nauk, F. 8 (XXAb/IIII)
s. XIII (second half for f. 2-141 and second quarter for f. 142-253 acc. Georges; Lemay dates f. 2-141 to the 12th c. and f. 142-253 to the first half of the 13th c., while Pedersen and Kisseleva/Stirnemann date the whole MS to the 13th c. and Šangin to the 13th or 14th c.).
Or.:Italy (Kisseleva/Stirnemann and Georges; Spain acc. Šangin and Lemay; the Italian origin is also supported by the horoscope of revolution for 1178 for Reggio in Calabria, f. 77rb).
Prov.:Johannes Kepler (acc. Kisseleva/Stirnemann); Georg Wolfgang Krafft (cf. f. 1r), whose son bequeathed the MS to the Academy of Science of St Petersburg in the late 18th c.
Parchment, 253 f., MS made of two parts (f. 2-141 and 142-253), each copied by two hands (f. 2-77, 78-141, 142-252r and 252v-253r), with texts and notes added by a late 13th- or early 14th-c. hand in blank spaces (47va-47vb, 69v, 77rb, 77va, 86v, 93r, 94r, 118rb-118vb, 140rb-141vb and 253ra-253rb). One or several folia may be missing between f. 18 and 19.
Astrology, astronomy and medicine: table of contents, 15th c. (inner front cover); Alfraganus, De scientia astrorum, tr. Gerard of Cremona (2ra-12ra); Theorica planetarum Gerardi (12va-18rb); Thebit Bencora, De recta imaginatione spere et circulorum eius diversorum, end missing (18va-18vb); Pseudo-Thebit Bencora, De motu octave spere (19ra-20ra); Ptolemaica (20ra-21va); Gergis, De astronomie discipline peritia (21vb-24ra); Geminus of Rhodes, Elementa astronomie, attr. Ptolemy: ‘Explicit quod abrevatum est de libro introductorio Ptholomei ad librum suum nominatum Almagesti’ (25ra-35va); table: elections from the aspects of the Moon with the other planets (36r); ‘Cum fuerit Luna cum Capite vel Cauda in uno signo est dies emenda…’ (36r); ‘Ut mos est philosophorum in nativitate atque universali interrogatione…’ (36v); table for computing the zodiacal position of the Moon (36v); Alcabitius, Introductorius (37ra-47rb); medical text ‘Primus medicorum omnium Ypo<cras> docuit…’, added (47va-47vb); Zael, Liber iudiciorum (48ra-69vb); Messahallah, Liber receptionis (70ra-75vb); Messahallah, Epistola de rebus eclipsium (76ra-77ra); horoscope of revolution for 1178 for Reggio in Calabria, with note (77rb); calculus of the victorious and the vanquished ‘Si aliquis scire voluerit quis de duobus contemplationem habentibus vincerit…’ (77va-77vb); Isaac Judeus, Liber urinarum, preface (78ra-93rb); astronomical figure with note (93v); ‘De naturis ciborum custodiende…’ (94ra-94rb); Isaac Judeus, De dietis universalibus (94va-118rb); Isaac Judeus, Diete particulares (119ra-140rb); Ptolemaica (142ra-152va); astronomical/astrological Arabic-Latin lexicon ‘Salçafea id est tabula vel tabula perforata…’ (152va-152vb); Messahallah, In pluviis et ventis epistola (152vb-154vb); Hermann of Carinthia, De occultis (155ra-169vb); interrogations ‘Si vis scire latronem. Si vis scire latronem qui furtum fecit…’ (170ra-171va); Ptolemaica (171va-172rb); interrogations ‘An infirmus liberatur vel non. Si vis scire an infirmus moriatur si ipse est missus…’ (172rb-173ra); Ptolemaica (173ra-179rb); interrogations ‘Cum aliquid vis emere. Cum aliquid vis emere, partem fortune merge bonis stellis amico respectu…’ (179rb-180va); Albumasar, Introductorium maius, tr. John of Seville (180va-252rb); Ptolemaica (252va-253ra). The texts and notes added c. 1300 deal mainly with medicine, except for a list of 45 astrological books related to the Speculum astronomie on f. 253ra-253rb. Blank: 1r-1v (except for a note f. 1r), 24v.
Bibl. M. A. F. Šangin in Catalogus Codicum Astrologorum Graecorum, XII, Bruxelles, 1936, 205-210; O. Pedersen, ‘The Origins of the “Theorica Planetarum”’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 12 (1981), 113-123: 121-122; P. O. Kristeller, Iter Italicum, V, London-Leiden, 1990, 174; R. Lemay, Abū Maʿšar al-Balḫī [Albumasar]: Liber introductorii maioris ad scientiam judiciorum astrorum, Napoli, 1995-1996, IV, 84-97; R. Lemay, Le Kitāb aṯ-Ṯamara (Liber fructus, Centiloquium) d’Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf [Ps.-Ptolémée], 1999 [unpublished], I, 230; L. Kisseleva, P. Stirnemann, Catalogue des manuscrits médiévaux en écriture latine de la Bibliothèque de l’Académie des sciences de Russie de Saint-Pétersbourg, Paris, 2005, 116-119; S. Georges, Glosses as a Source for the History of Science. The Case of Gerard of Cremona’s Translation of Ptolemy’s Almagest (forthcoming).
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20ra–21va
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‘<E>quator diei est circulus maior qui describitur super duos polos orbis ― aut propinqui oppositioni erunt retrogradi. Expletus est liber Thebit filii Chore de his que indigent exposicione antequam legatur Almagesti.’ |
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142ra–152va
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‘Liber Ptho<lome>i expositus Abugafare in quo sunt 100 verba. Dixit Ptho<lomeu>s: Iam premisi libros in quibus tractavi de impressionibus planetarum in hoc mundo composito… Dixit P<tholomeus>: Sciencia astrorum ex te et illis, nec convenit peritum… Quod dixit P<tholomeus>, ex te et illis, significat quod qui res futuras prescire — acciditque in Egypto tunc quidquid dixit Pth<olomeu>s. Hoc est quod ego malui exponi in hoc libro et perfecta est eius expositio.’ = Abuiafar Hamet filii Joseph, 〈Commentum in Centiloquium〉 (‘Iam premisi’ version) (C.3.1.4)
. Glosses by at least two later hands, substantial on f. 142r-143r, 147r and 148v. |
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171va–172rb
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‘Artem artium astronomiam ingredientibus videndum est quid sit ipsa ars — hiis ita prelibatis doctrina tabularum primo docenda est, et hoc est quod intendebamus.’ = 〈Commentum in Iudicia〉 (C.4.6)
, preface only. No glosses. |
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173ra–179rb
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‘Incipit liber qui vocatur Ptholomeus. Signorum alia sunt masculini generis, alia feminini — procul dubio iudices eos vitales esse.’ = Pseudo-Ptolemy, Iudicia (B.3)
. Two sets of glosses by a later hand f. 175v. |
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252va–253ra
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‘Quidam princeps nomine Albugafe in libro suo quem scientiarum electionum et verborum nominavit — de scientia stellarum et motuum qui sunt in celo conscripsit etc.’ = Ptolemy, Almagesti (tr. Gerard of Cremona) (A.1.2)
, preface only. Glosses by a later hand f. 252va [ed. R. Lemay, Abū Ma’šar, IV, 193-194]. |