{"title":"Scientific Perspectives on Psalm 148 in Medieval Jewish Exegesis","authors":"Mariano Gomez Aranda","doi":"10.21071/mijtk.v7i.13637","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21071/mijtk.v7i.13637","url":null,"abstract":"Psalm 148 is a hymn inviting all beings in the celestial world and the earthly world to praise God. Even though the Psalm seems simple and easy to understand, two questions have been raised in the history of the exegesis of this Psalm: why are these specific creatures and no others mentioned in the Psalm?, and why are they placed in this particular order? In Ancient Judaism no much attention was given to the explanation of this Psalm from a scientific perspective; however, in the thirteenth century, in the context of the reception of Aristotelianism in southern France, important exegetes such as David Qimhi and Menahem ha-Meiri interpreted this Psalm to the light of Aristotelian cosmology, and more especifically in consonance with scientific ideas exposed in Aristole’s Meteorology. Abraham ibn Ezra was the first Jewish exegete who wrote a systematic commentary on Psalm 148 to demonstrate that the biblical text describes the structure, composition and laws of the Universe according to Aristotelian principles. Ibn Ezra’s scientific comments on this Psalm were the starting point for the future scientific analysis of later exegetes in southern France, such as David Qimhi and Menahem ha-Meiri. It is the purpose of this article to analyze how Psalm 148 has been interpreted by these three Jewish exegetes from a scientific perspective and to prove how later exegetes explained, developed or even refuted the scientific interpretations of their predecessors. It also examines the sources that Ibn Ezra may have used to know Aristotle’s ideas.","PeriodicalId":212680,"journal":{"name":"Mediterranea. International Journal on the Transfer of Knowledge","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129628800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"In memoriam David Luscombe (22.VII.1938–30.VIII.2021)","authors":"M. Dunne","doi":"10.21071/mijtk.v7i.14088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21071/mijtk.v7i.14088","url":null,"abstract":"In memoriam \u0000David Luscombe \u0000(22.VII.1938–30.VIII.2021)","PeriodicalId":212680,"journal":{"name":"Mediterranea. International Journal on the Transfer of Knowledge","volume":"60 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129718471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reconstructing Middle Byzantine Arabo-Greek Astrology from Later Greek Manuscripts","authors":"Joe Glynias","doi":"10.21071/mijtk.v7i.13669","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21071/mijtk.v7i.13669","url":null,"abstract":"This paper sheds light on one aspect of the large-scale influx of Arabic scientific knowledge into Byzantium through an analysis of three Byzantine astrological compendia that contain texts originally written in Greek as well as those translated from Arabic to Greek. While written c. 1200–1400, each manuscript contains a compilation that was assembled in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The paper first considers the dating of each of the three compilations and shows the utility in using these late Byzantine manuscripts to study Middle Byzantine astrology. Second, it analyzes the Arabic texts translated in these compilations and uses them to explain the chronology and the scale of the translation of astrological material from Arabic to Greek. Third, it considers how the Arabic and Greek material is combined within these manuscripts, and what the resulting synthesis says about Middle Byzantine astrology writ large.","PeriodicalId":212680,"journal":{"name":"Mediterranea. International Journal on the Transfer of Knowledge","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123782815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From al-Biṭrīq to Ḥunayn: Melkite and Nestorian Translators in Early ʿAbbāsid Baghdad","authors":"A. Treiger","doi":"10.21071/mijtk.v7i.13666","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21071/mijtk.v7i.13666","url":null,"abstract":"The present study examines social history of the Graeco-Arabic translation movement from the perspective of the Christian communities that participated in it. Special attention is given to Melkite and Nestorian translators active in ʿAbbāsid Baghdad – from the late eighth-century Melkite translator al-Biṭrīq to the famous ninth-century Nestorian translator Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq – and to the complex interactions between Melkites and Nestorians, which involved both competition and scholarly collaboration.","PeriodicalId":212680,"journal":{"name":"Mediterranea. International Journal on the Transfer of Knowledge","volume":"89 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126318030","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"'Quididad', 'definición' y 'partes de la definición' en Dietrich de Freiberg: una interpretación de Metafísica Zeta, 10","authors":"Fernanda Ocampo","doi":"10.21071/mijtk.v7i.14047","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21071/mijtk.v7i.14047","url":null,"abstract":"Este trabajo se propone considerar la doctrina de la ‘quididad’ y la ‘definición’ en Dietrich de Freiberg, en relación con una de sus cuatro tesis medulares: a saber, que la quididad de la substancia compuesta no está constituida sino por la forma substancial, y que son las partes de dicha forma (y no otras) las que la definición significa a través de los términos que la integran. En este sentido, buscaremos evidenciar los elementos doctrinales que motivan la posición de Dietrich, haciendo a la vez hincapié en su modo peculiar de leer a Aristóteles, especialmente en lo que se refiere a las tesis centrales esbozadas en Metafísica VII 10.","PeriodicalId":212680,"journal":{"name":"Mediterranea. International Journal on the Transfer of Knowledge","volume":"58 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125940782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Il caso e la necessità: lettura del Canto XIII dell’Inferno","authors":"Carlo Prosperi","doi":"10.21071/mijtk.v7i.13506","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21071/mijtk.v7i.13506","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:p>-</jats:p>","PeriodicalId":212680,"journal":{"name":"Mediterranea. International Journal on the Transfer of Knowledge","volume":"91 3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130927200","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Statistics of the Classics in Thirteenth-Century Italy","authors":"John Monfasani","doi":"10.21071/mijtk.v7i.13624","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21071/mijtk.v7i.13624","url":null,"abstract":"In 2015 I argued that the statistics of manuscripts derived from Élisabeth Pellegrin’s Les manuscrits classique latins de la Bibliothèque Vaticane proved that interest in classical literature did not collapse in thirteenth-century Italy as it did in Northern Europe. In 2017 Robert Black published a refutation of my argument. The present article is an answer to Black’s article.","PeriodicalId":212680,"journal":{"name":"Mediterranea. International Journal on the Transfer of Knowledge","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128433276","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Navigating the Seas of Human Knowledge: Hernardo Colón and the New World of Books","authors":"Natale Vacalebre","doi":"10.21071/mijtk.v7i.14143","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21071/mijtk.v7i.14143","url":null,"abstract":"Review article of: \u0000José Maria Peréz Fernandez, Edward Wilson-Lee, Hernando Colón’s New World of Books. Toward a Cartography of Knowledge, Yale University Press, New Haven–London 2021.","PeriodicalId":212680,"journal":{"name":"Mediterranea. International Journal on the Transfer of Knowledge","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131699418","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"In memoriam Herbert A. Davidson (25.V.1932–28.IV.2021)","authors":"Josep PUIG MONTADA","doi":"10.21071/mijtk.v7i.13677","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21071/mijtk.v7i.13677","url":null,"abstract":"In memoriam \u0000Herbert A. Davidson \u0000(25.V.1932–28.IV.2021)","PeriodicalId":212680,"journal":{"name":"Mediterranea. International Journal on the Transfer of Knowledge","volume":"23 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121912004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Greek Fragments of the Works of Māšāʾallāh ibn Aṯarī","authors":"L. Farina","doi":"10.21071/mijtk.v7i.13659","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21071/mijtk.v7i.13659","url":null,"abstract":"This article provides an overview of the Greek mentions of the Arabic astrologers Māšāʾallāh ibn Aṯarī al-Baṣrī and Abū Maʿšar al-Balḫī, together with the edition of the Greek fragments explicitly attributed to Māšāʾallāh, based on all their witnesses. Moreover, a general introduction to the Greek tradition of the two astrologers and a discussion of their mentions in the manuscript Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 1056 are supplied.","PeriodicalId":212680,"journal":{"name":"Mediterranea. International Journal on the Transfer of Knowledge","volume":"63 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117120682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}