Abraham Ibn Ezra's introductions to astrology : a Parallel Hebrew-English Critical Edition of the Book of the Beginning of Wisdom and the Book of the Judgments of the Zodiacal Signs. Abraham Ibn Ezra's Astrological Writings, Volume 5

Leiden: Brill, 2017. First edition. Hardcover. Fine. Octavo. xiii, (1), 822pp. Indices and bibliography. Text in English and Hebrew with some Arabic. Green boards lettered in white, with a red spine band near top. A fine, as new copy.

The present volume offers a critical edition of the Hebrew texts, accompanied by English translation and commentary of Reshit Ḥokhmah (Beginning of Wisdom) and Mishpeṭei ha-Mazzalot (Judgments of the Zodiacal Signs) by Abraham Ibn Ezra (ca. 1089-ca. 1161). The first, the summa and by far the longest of his astrological works, the target of the most cross-references from the rest of that corpus and the most influential, enjoyed the widest circulation among Jews in the Middle Ages and after. The second, by contrast, is the most obscure. It is never referred to elsewhere by its author and is the only work for which Ibn Ezra's authorship must be substantiated. Reshit Ḥokhmah and Mishpeṭei ha-Mazzalot were written in order to explain concepts common to the various branches of astrology that Ibn Ezra addressed elsewhere and to elucidate the worldview that underlies astrology. These two treatises are the richest and most varied with regard to the astrological information they present. Reshit Ḥokhmah and Mishpeṭei ha-Mazzalot also exemplify the close collaboration between astronomy and astrology in medieval science and are the two components of Ibn Ezra's astrological corpus with the most extensive, comprehensive, and significant astronomical content. (OCLC)

Contents: General Introduction -- Part One: Book of the Beginning of Wisdom by Abraham Ibn Ezra Hebrew: Text and English Translation -- Part Two: Notes to the Book of the Beginning of Wisdom -- Part Three: Book of the Judgments of the Zodiacal Signs by Abraham Ibn Ezra: Hebrew Text and English Translation -- Part Four: Notes to the Book of the Judgments of the Zodiacal Signs -- Part Five: Appendices: 1. Manuscripts ; 2. Abū Maʿshar -- Kitāb al-mudkhal al-kabīr ; 3. Kitāb al-mudkhal (Al-Qabīṣī) and Kitāb al-thamarah (Centiloquium) ; 4. Planets and Horoscopic Places ; 5. The lots of the Twelve Places ; 6. Hebrew-Arabic Technical Glossary ; 7. English-Hebrew Glossary (Reshit Ḥokhmah) ; 8. English-Hebrew Glossary (Mishpeṭei ha-Mazzalot) ; 9. Hebrew-English Index to the English-Hebrew Glossaries ; 10. Authorities and Sources (Reshit Ḥokhmah) ; 11. Authorities and Sources (Mishpeṭei ha-Mazzalot) ; 12. Index of Technical Terms and Biographical Notes. (OCLC)

This is the 5th volume of Abraham Ibn Ezra's astrological writings, and the 69th volume in the series, Études sur le judaïsme médiéval.