PHILOSOPHY OF ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA: Catalan Jewish mathematician Astronomer Judaica

Description: PHILOSOPHY OF ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA: Catalan Jewish mathematician Astronomer Judaica JUDAISM AS A PHILOSOPHY THE PHILOSOPHY OF ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA ( 1065-1143 ) by Leon D. Stitskin Yeshiva University / Bloch Publishing, New York, 1960. First edition Hardcover. Maroon cloth cloth. Octavo, 251 pages, notes, bibliography, index. The book deals with the life, and with the scientific and philosophical works of Bar Hiyyah who is described as the first Jewish Aristotelian philosopher. The book discusses his views on cosmology and cosmogny, psychology, ethics, and his contributions to the philosophy of Judaism. Abraham bar Ḥiyya ha-Nasi (c. 1070 – 1136 or 1145), also known as Abraham Savasorda, Abraham Albargeloni, and Abraham Judaeus, was a Catalan Jewish mathematician, astronomer and philosopher who resided in Barcelona. Bar Ḥiyya was active in translating the works of Islamic science into Latin, and was likely the earliest to introduce Arabic algebra into Christian Europe. He also wrote several original works on mathematics, astronomy, Jewish philosophy, chronology, and land surveying. His most influential work is his Ḥibbur ha-Meshiḥah ve-ha-Tishboret, translated in 1145 into Latin as Liber embadorum.[12] A Hebrew treatise on practical geometry and Islamic algebra, the book contains the first known complete solution of the quadratic equation { x^{2}-ax+b=c}, and influenced the work of Leonardo Fibonacci. Biography Abraham bar Ḥiyya was the great-grandson of the Hezekiah Gaon. Bar Ḥiyya occupied a high position in the royal court, serving as minister of police, and bore the title of governor (Hebrew: נשיא, lit. 'prince'). Scholars assume that Bar Hiyya would have obtained this title in the court of Banu Hud of Saragossa-Lerida; there is even a record of a Jewish Savasorda there in the beginning of the 12th century. In his travelogues, Benjamin of Tudela mentions bar Ḥiyya living in Barcelona in the 1160s. According to Adolph Drechsler, bar Ḥiyya was a pupil of Rabbi Moshe haDarshan and teacher of Abraham Ibn Ezra. He was held in high consideration by the ruler he served on account of his astronomical knowledge, and had disputes with learned priests, to whom he demonstrated the accuracy of the Jewish calendar. Abraham bar Hiyya is said to have been a great astronomer and wrote some works on astronomy and geography. One tells about the form of the earth, the elements and the structure of the spheres. Other works included papers on astrology, trigonometry, and music. Some scholars think that the Magister Abraham who dictated De Astrolabio (probably at Toulouse) to Rudolf de Bruges (a work that the latter finished in 1143) was identical with Abraham bar Ḥiyya.Although the title "Sephardi" is always appended to his name, Barcelona was at the time no longer under Muslim rule, and therefore not part of Sepharad. Abraham Albargeloni (i.e., from Barcelona) thus belonged to the community of the Jews of Catalonia. Catalonia joined Provence in 1112 and Aragon in 1137, and thus the County of Barcelona became the capital of the Catalan-Aragonese Confederation called the Crown of Aragon. The kings of the Crown of Aragon extended their domains to the Occitan countries in what is now southern France. Abraham Albargeloni spent some time in Narbonne where he composed some works for the Jews of Provence, in which he complains of their Provençal Jewry's ignorance of mathematics. Work Abraham bar Ḥiyya was one of the most important figures in the scientific movement which made the Jews of Provence, the Jews of Catalonia, Spain, and Italy the intermediaries between Arabic science and the Christian world, in both his original works and his translations. Bar Ḥiyya's Yesode ha-Tebunah u-Migdal ha-Emunah (Hebrew: יסודי התבונה ומגדל האמונה, lit. 'The Foundations of Understanding and the Tower of Faith', usually referred to as the Encyclopedia, was the first European attempt to synthesize Greek and Arabic mathematics. Likely written in the first quarter of the 12th century, the book is said to elaborate on the interdependence of number theory, mathematical operations, business arithmetic, geometry, optics, and music. The book draws from a number of Greek sources then available in Arabic, as well as the works of al-Khwarizmi and Al-Karaji. Only a few short fragments of this work have been preserved. Bar Ḥiyya's most notable work is his Ḥibbur ha-Meshiḥah ve-ha-Tishboret (Hebrew: חיבור המשיחה והתשבורת, lit. 'Treatise on Measurement and Calculation'), probably intended to be a part of the preceding work. This is the celebrated geometry translated in 1145 by Plato of Tivoli, under the title Liber embadorum a Savasordo in hebraico compositus. Fibonacci made the Latin translation of the Ḥibbūr the basis of his Practica Geometriae, following it even to the sameness of some of the examples. Bar Ḥiyya also wrote two religious works in the field of Judaism and the Tanach: Hegyon ha-Nefesh ("Contemplation of the Soul") on repentance, and Megillat ha-Megalleh ("Scroll of the Revealer") on the redemption of the Jewish people. The latter was partly translated into Latin in the 14th century under the title Liber de redemptione Israhel. Even these religious works contain scientific and philosophical speculation. His Megillat ha-Megalleh was also astrological in nature, and drew a horoscope of favourable and unfavourable days. Bar Ḥiyya forecasted that the Messiah would appear in AM 5118 (1358 CE). Abraham bar Ḥiyya wrote all his works in Hebrew, not in Judaeo-Arabic of the earlier Jewish scientific literature, which made him a pioneer in the use of the Hebrew language for scientific purposes. Other notable works "Form of the Earth" (Hebrew: צורת הארץ), an astronomical work on the formation of the heavens and the earth, which was to have been followed by a second part on the course of the stars. A portion was translated into Latin by Sebastian Münster and Erasmus Oswald Schreckenfuchs. It appears also that complete translations into Latin and French were made.] The Bodleian Library contains a copy with a commentary, apparently by Ḥayyim Lisker. "Calculation of the Courses of the Stars" (Hebrew: חשבון מהלכות הכוכבים), the sequel to the preceding work, which is found sometimes in manuscripts with the notes of Abraham ibn Ezra. "Tables" or "Tables of the Prince" (Hebrew: לוחות or לוחות הנשיא, Luḥot ha-Nasi), astronomical tables, called also the "Tables of Al-Battani" and the "Jerusalem Tables".Several manuscripts of this work contain notes by Abraham ibn Ezra. "Book of Intercalation" (Hebrew: ספר העבור). This work was published in 1851, in London, by Filipowski. It is the oldest-known Hebrew work treating of the calculation of the Hebrew calendar. "Meditation of the Soul" (Hebrew: הגיון הנפש), an ethical work upon a rationalistic religious basis. It was published in 1860 by Freimann, with a biography of the author (by the editor), a list of his works, and learned introduction by Rapoport. "Scroll of the Revealer" (Hebrew: מגלת המגלה), a controversial work in defense of the theory that the Messiah would appear in the year AM 5118 (AD 1358). Its fifth and last chapter, the largest part of the work, may be read as an independent treatise providing an astrological explanation of Jewish and universal history based on an analysis of the periodical conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter. An apologetic epistle addressed to Judah ben Barzilai al-Barzeloni. Translations[edit] Abraham bar Ḥiyya co-operated with a number of scholars in the translation of scientific works from Arabic into Latin, most notably Plato of Tivoli with their translation of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos in 1138 at Barcelona.[24] There remains doubt as to the particulars: a number of Jewish translators named Abraham existed during the 12th century, and it is not always possible to identify the one in question.

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