Hebrew Science in Early Medieval South Italy: Greco-Latin Astrological Lore in Hebrew Garb

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to offer a preliminary examination of the extent to which Latin and Greek have contributed to the creation of an astrological Hebrew terminology. Author's analysis of Hebrew astrological texts composed or known to early medieval southern Italy, revealed some unexpected information, such as, for example, that some of the advancements – specifically those in terminology – commonly attributed to 12^th and 13^th century Jewish astrologers (for example, to Avraham Ibn Ezra), were in fact made possible thanks to the work of early medieval scholars and interactions between Jewish and Graeco-Latin traditions. In this paper it is examined a series of works composed around the 10^th century by southern Italian Jewish astrologers. Most of these texts are by Shabbatai Donnolo, one of the most important intellectuals of Jewish Apulia.