Volume 4, 2023

EN:

A unique text of physiognomic omens in Hebrew from the Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q186) is remarkable in that it mimics the similar Akkadian omens upon which it is based, in that it is written in a left-to-right format beginning with the column on the left. The Qumran text also avoids final letters and includes some words in Paleo-Hebrew script and Greek letters, all pointing to its Vorlage being an exemplar of Graeco-Babyloniaca (an Akkadian text in Greek transliteration), employed in order to make technical Akkadian more widely accessible.

FR:

Un texte de présages physionomiques en hébreu tiré des manuscrits de la mer Morte (4Q186) imite de façon remarquable les présages akkadiens sur lesquels il se fonde, en ce sens qu’il est composé de gauche à droite en commençant par la colonne de gauche. Le manuscrit de Qumran évite également les lettres finales et inclut quelques mots en écriture paléohébraïque et en lettres grecques, indiquant que son Vorlage est un exemple de Graeco-Babyloniaca (un texte akkadien en translittération grecque), utilisé afin de rendre la technique akkadienne accessible au plus grand nombre.

EN:

“Liber de wazalkora” is the title of an unpublished Latin treatise on the construction and use of the planispheric astrolabe, which appears to have been compiled in southeast Germany (Bavaria) in the second half of the 12th century. It is to a large extent derived from other astrolabe sources available in the Latin West before 1100, but also contains material that has no precedent in any of the known literature. The analysis presented in this article concentrates on the Liber de wazalkora’s section on the use of the astrolabe, which is unusual for both its extraordinary length and frequently atypical astronomical content. A study of the Arabic loan vocabulary in this section leads to the conclusion that some parts of the text were derived from an unidentified Arabic source, presumably via a Latin intermediary.

EN:

The current publication offers the first English translation of a cluster of medieval and early modern Slavonic renditions of Byzantine Greek editions of ancient medical compositions, the authorship of which is attributed to Galen. Among the emblematic texts deserving special attention are his celebrated commentaries on the Corpus Hippocraticum, the direct Greek Vorlage of which remains unidentified. The Slavonic translations of these Galenic paraphrases refer to various medical conditions as well as human anatomy and physiology; they contain discussions on diagnosis, therapeutics, and health care (including dietetics), as well as astral medicine (e.g., calendrical templates of recommended procedures according to the zodiac, winter and summer solstices, autumn and vernal equinoxes, lunar phases, the position of the Pleiades). While the earliest extant Slavonic manuscript witnesses are dated to the first quarter of the 15th century, their protographs must have originated much earlier among the cloistral scriptoria of Mt Athos and further disseminated through monastic networks within the Byzantine Commonwealth, from the Balkans to Russia. These texts represent a small but important contribution to the reception history of Galenic heritage within the Slavonic world, which has hardly been recognized.

EN:

Nicholaus de Heybech (fl. 1384–1394) is the author of a clever and compact solution to a major challenge for medieval astronomers: finding the time from mean to true syzygy. His table and associated canon for that purpose are now found in 30 manuscript copies, which means that this table was one of the most widely diffused single tables in Alfonsine astronomy. In this article, we present two different and hitherto unnoticed tables by Nicholaus de Heybech for determining mean syzygy, which nicely complement the table that is already known, and we gather the information available on another aspect of his activity beyond table making, as a copyist of texts and tables mainly in mathematical astronomy.

FR:

Nicholaus de Heybech (fl. 1384-1394) est l’auteur d’une solution ingénieuse et compacte à un défi majeur pour les astronomes médiévaux : trouver le temps entre la syzygie moyenne et la syzygie vraie. Sa table et le canon qui y est associé se trouvent dans quelque 30 manuscrits, ce qui signifie qu’elle était l’une des tables individuelles les plus largement diffusées de l’astronomie alphonsine. Dans cet article, nous présentons deux autres tables de Nicholaus de Heybech demeurées jusqu’ici inédites permettant de déterminer la syzygie moyenne et complétant la table déjà connue. Nous rassemblons en outre les informations disponibles sur un autre aspect de son activité, au-delà de dresser des tables, à savoir son travail de copiste de textes et de tables, principalement dans le domaine de l’astronomie mathématique.

EN:

A discussion of Visualizing the Invisible with the Human Body, Physiognomy and Ekphrasis in the Ancient World, edited by J. Cale Johnson and Alessandro Stavru, that focuses on what common ground the numerous ancient cultures that the book encompasses share and on how this bears on the study of Mesopotamian culture.

FR:

Une discussion sur l’ouvrage Visualizing the Invisible with the Human Body, Physiognomy and Ekphrasis in the Ancient World, dirigé par J. Cale Johnson et Alessandro Stavru, qui se concentre sur les points communs partagés par les nombreuses cultures anciennes embrassées par le livre et sur la façon dont ils influencent l’étude de la culture mésopotamienne.

EN:

A discussion of La poésie astrologique dans la littérature grecque et latine by Vanessa Monteventi that contextualizes this meritorious yet imperfect monograph in modern research on ancient astrological poetry and focuses on the whole range of its philological, astronomical, and astrological aspects. It is shown that Monteventi’s title promises a broader perspective than what her book actually covers. A more fitting title would be La poésie didactique astrologique dans la littérature grecque et latine de l’Antiquité. Numerous poems relevant to her actual title yet not taken into account by the author are collected here for the first time ever without any pretense to completeness [see Appendix 2, p. 62], and their relevant characteristics briefly sketched, including discussions of two anything but trivial mathematical riddles contained in anonymous astrological poems. Besides a plethora of details that call for minor addenda/corrigenda, a few of Monteventi's topics are discussed in depth, such as the autobiographical horoscope by the first didactic poet writing under the pseudonym of Manetho and the sources of the smaller astrological poem by John Camaterus.