Resumen de A Panoramic View of Hebrew Astronomical Tables in the Middle Ages
This survey of the corpus of sets of astronomical tables in Hebrew from the twelfth to the early sixteenth century is intended to complement surveys of astronomical tables in Arabic and Latin. In addition to translations of sets of astronomical tables into Hebrew from Arabic, Latin, and Greek, there were also translations of Hebrew astronomical tables into these languages. But the focus here is on adaptations and original works rather than on translations. Some sets of tables in Hebrew only address the motions of the Sun and the Moon as well as eclipses, and many do not include any astrological material. The impact of the zijes by al-Battānī and Ibn al-Kammād is examined, as well as the impact of the Toledan Tables and the Parisian Alfonsine Tables. A topic in many sets of tables in Hebrew is the determination of the time from mean to true syzygy, for which various solutions were offered. Of particular interest are the tables by Levi ben Gerson of Orange, France (d. 1344), which include a table for the lunar equation based on his innovative lunar model. Another major figure is Abraham Zacut of Salamanca, Spain (d. 1514), whose tables were composed in Hebrew, but were printed in 1496 in Latin without a translation of his Hebrew canons. Rather, some copies have new canons in Latin and others have them in Castilian. Zacut was familiar with astronomical traditions in both Hebrew and Latin, and his tables were translated into Arabic twice.
