Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 70–75

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Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and

Biomedical Sciences
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Hebrew and Latin astrology in the twelfth century: the example of the
location of pain
Charles Burnett
Warburg Institute, University of London, Woburn Square, London WC1H 0AB, UK

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: The formative period of Latin and Hebrew astrology occurred virtually simultaneously in both cultures. In
Astrology the second quarter of the twelfth century the terminology of the subject was established and the text-
Abraham Ibn Ezra books which became authoritative were written. The responsibility for this lay almost entirely with
John of Seville
two scholars: John of Seville for the Latins, and Abraham ibn Ezra for the Jews. It is unlikely to have been
Epitome totius astrologiae
by coincidence that the same developments in astrology occurred in these two cultures. John of Seville
Pain
al-Qabı̄s: ı̄
and Abraham ibn Ezra were both brought up within the Islamic culture of Spain, and their astrology
Liber quadripartitus was Arabic astrology. Moreover, some scholars have thought that John’s origins were Jewish, while Ibn
Ezra is known to have collaborated with Latin scholars (whose names are not recorded). It cannot be a
coincidence that they forged the science of astrology for their respect co-religionists at almost the same
time. Yet, very little research has been done on the possible relations between the two scholars. The pur-
pose of this paper is to begin to explore this relationship, and to illustrate it in particular by their shared
doctrine concern the location of pain.
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When citing this paper, please use the full journal title Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences

1 the science of astrology for their respect co-religionists at almost the

The formative period of Latin and Hebrew astrology occurred
virtually simultaneously in both cultures. In the second quarter
of the twelfth century the terminology of the subject was estab-
lished and the textbooks which became authoritative were written.
The responsibility for this lay almost entirely with two scholars:
John of Seville for the Latins, and Abraham ibn Ezra for the Jews.
Is it a coincidence that the same developments in astrology oc-
curred in these two cultures? John of Seville and Abraham ibn Ezra
were both brought up within the Islamic culture of Spain, and their
astrology was Arabic astrology. Moreover, some scholars have
thought that John’s origins were Jewish, and a text on astrological
magic (Toz Grecus’s Book of Venus) is described as having been
translated by John from Hebrew into Latin.1 On the other hand
Ibn Ezra is known to have collaborated with Latin scholars (whose
names are not recorded).2 It cannot be a coincidence that they forged
same time. Yet, very little research has been done on the possible
relations between the two scholars. The purpose of this paper is to
begin to explore this relationship, and to illustrate it in particular
by their shared doctrine concern the location of pain.
There are in fact three corpora of astrological texts one should
consider. Those of John of Seville, those of Abraham ibn Ezra, and
those of an Epitome of the whole of astrology in five parts, which
is attributed to John of Seville, but is strikingly close in doctrine
and terminology to the corpus of Ibn Ezra.
1) First, John of Seville.3 The only facts we can be reasonably cer-
tain about in connection with John of Seville are those provided by
his extensive translations from Arabic. Aside from the regimen of
health from Pseudo-Aristotle’s Secret of secrets and the short medi-
cal-philosophical treatise of Qusta ibn Luqa De differentia spiritus et
anime (‘On the difference between the spirit and the soul’), the sub-
ject of the translations is entirely the science of the stars, including

E-mail address: Charles.Burnett@sas.ac.uk

1
Venice, Biblioteca nazionale Marciana, lat. XIV.174 (4606), fol. 23v. For the alleged Jewish origin of John of Seville see Abu
 Ma‘šar al-Balhi (1995–1996), Vol. 4, pp. 306–315.
2 
Smithuis (2006b), pp. 23–59.
3
For fuller details and sources of the information in the following paragraphs see Burnett (2009a,b).

1369-8486/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.shpsc.2010.04.002
 C. Burnett / Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 70–75
works on how to construct and use an astrolabe, astronomical tables
(a version of the Toledan Tables) and mathematical astronomy. In
sheer bulk the largest element of his oeuvre is astrology. John’s astro-
logical translations formed the basis of the curriculum in astrology
for Western Christendom for centuries to come, and were, for the
most part, printed in the Renaissance.
The only translations with dates are those of Abu  Ma‘shar’s Liber
introductorii maioris ad scientiam iudiciorum astrorum (1171, possi-
bly the Spanish era equivalent of 1133), and al-Farghani’s Liber in
scientia astrorum (which gives the Spanish era equivalent to
1135). Two further translations can be placed within the period
of office of their dedicatees: that of Pseudo-Aristotle’s Secret of se-
crets, addressed to Teresa, the queen of the Portuguese from 1112
to 1128, and that of Qusta ibn Luqa’s De differentia spiritus et ani-
mae dedicated to Raymond de La Sauvetat, archbishop of Toledo
from 1125 to 1152. Hence we may describe John’s activity as most
probably falling within the third, fourth and fifth decades of the
twelfth century. As for where he was active, certain phrases in
the colophons of his translations suggest that ‘Iohannes’ either
came from a certain ‘Seville in Limia’ or made his translations in
‘Limia’. This ‘Limia’ is most plausibly identified with the region of
the Lima valley in Portugal—an identification which receives some
support from the fact that the extract from the Secret of secrets is
dedicated to the Queen of Portugal. I am inclined (provisionally)
to believe that John originated from Seville (which, of course,
was still in Islamic hands during this period), but became associ-
ated also with Limia because of an extended stay in that area.
Because no collaborator or interpreter is mentioned (in contrast
to the case of other translations from Arabic into Latin4), John of Se-
ville was probably a native speaker of Arabic. In some manuscripts of
Qusta ibn Luqa’s De differentia and ‘Umar ibn al-Farrukhan al-Tabari
(Omar)’s De nativitatibus he is called ‘episcopus’ (‘bishop’). This last
work, additionally (in certain manuscripts), refers to him as a ‘mag-
ister’; but the absence of this epithet elsewhere makes it unlikely
that he was educated in the Latin Schools.
2) We know much more about the biography of Abraham Ibn
Ezra.5 He was born between 1089 and 1092 at Tudela in the Muslim
kingdom of Saragossa. This town fell to King Alfonso I of Aragon in
1119, but evidence suggests that Ibn Ezra moved further south into
Islamic Spain, lived in Córdoba, and visited North Africa. In ca. 1140
he left Islamic Spain, and began to wander throughout Christian Eur-
ope. First he appears to have been based in Rome (1140–1142), Luc-
ca and Pisa (1143–1145), visiting Mantua and Verona (1146); then
he travelled through France—being in Béziers (1148), and subse-
quently in Rouen—until he arrived in England (1154) where he pos-
sibly died after 1160.
Among his prolific writings on Hebrew grammar, Biblical com-
mentaries, poetry, and theological monographs an important con-
stituent are his astrological treatises, which dealt with every
branch of astrology, and in which the Hebrew terminology of the
subject was established. One might surmise that Ibn Ezra was so
successful in providing a full curriculum in astrology, that there
was felt to be less need to translate individual Arabic texts on
astrology into Hebrew, while Arabic texts on philosophy and med-
icine were translated wholesale. His texts were grouped together
in what modern scholars have called ‘encyclopedias’—successive
4
See Alverny (1994), and Zonta (2006).
5
For the sources of the details in the following paragraph see Sela (2001, 2003).
6
See Smithuis (2006a); see pp. 251, 273–274 for the French intermediary.
7
Edited in Ibn Ezra (1947), and placed in context by Mercier (2004).
8
A list of manuscripts is given in Burnett (2008b).
9
Zambelli (1992), pp. 226, 230, 234 and 236. The references to the Epitome are exceptional in that almost all the other astrological texts referred to in the Speculum are
translations from Arabic.
10
A detailed comparison has been made by Renate Smithuis in her doctoral thesis: Smithuis (2004), pp. 169–199, Ch. 3, ‘The authorship of the Ysagoge and Liber quadripartitus’
and tables on pp. 358–383.
11
See n. 16 below.
71
reworkings of the same material—of which the first was composed
in Italy before 1148, the second in southern France (Béziers) in
1148 and the third in the Angevin territories after 1148. The trans-
lations of the Hebrew titles of the individual texts show the range
of these texts: (1) the Beginning of wisdom (on the doctrines of
astrology), (2) the Book of reasons (a commentary on the doctrines),
(3) the Book of nativities, (4) the Book of elections, (5) the Book of
interrogations, (6) the Book of luminaries (on medical astrology),
and (7) the Book of the world (on general astrology). As well as
being copied into numerous Hebrew manuscripts and being the
source of many subsequent Hebrew works on astrology, all these
works were translated into Latin, often more than once. Most of
the Latin versions appear to derive from the late thirteenth-cen-
tury French translations of Hagin the Jew;6 the most readily avail-
able are those of Pietro d’Abano, printed by Peter Liechtenstein in
Venice in 1507. But in addition to his Hebrew works on astrology
there are several Latin texts on the science of the stars, and on arith-
metic and geometry, that are attributed to ‘magister Abraham’, or
state that they have been ‘dictated by magister Abraham’, and are
clearly the result of Ibn Ezra’s collaboration with Latin scholars. Of
these the major text is his translation of the tables of Pisa in 1143,
and the various introductions to them, of which the most elaborate
is the Book of the foundations of the astronomical tables, written in
1154.7
3) The Epitome of the whole of astrology is a work that consists of
an introduction to astrology (Ysagoge) and four books on the main
branches of astrology: general astrology, nativities, interrogations
and elections, collectively referred to as the Liber quadripartitus.
This work has come down to us in at least twenty-nine manu-
scripts, and was printed in 1548 by Joachim Heller, under the title
Epitome totius astrologiae.8 Separate parts of the work can be found
in numerous manuscripts, and the incipit and contents of each part
were described by the author of the Speculum astronomiae, the pop-
ular critical biography of texts on astrology of the mid-thirteenth
century.9 Its character as a comprehensive textbook on astrology
that is not a translation from Arabic immediately makes it compara-
ble to Ibn Ezra’s astrological ‘encyclopedia’. Moreover, the ‘present
date’ of the composition is given as ‘1142’, within a few years of
the encyclopedia put together by Ibn Ezra in Béziers in 1148.
When one compares the Epitome with Ibn Ezra’s encyclopedia,
they show some remarkable similarities. This is especially the case
for the Ysagoge and the Beginning of wisdom.10 While it may be ex-
pected that introductions to astrology would have the same mate-
rial, the choice of material, and the order of its arrangement, is
much closer between the Ysagoge and the Beginning of wisdom than
between either of them and other twelfth century introductions. Par-
ticularly striking is the inclusion, in the description of each sign of
the zodiac, of ninth-parts and twelfth-parts, the fixed stars with their
planetary temperaments, and the location of pain. A similarity in
style and approach to the respective subjects can be found through-
out these two ‘astrological encyclopedias’.
The alleged authorities for both ‘the author of the Epitome’ and
Ibn Ezra are Ptolemy, Dorothius and Hermes. Both authors, how-
ever, are critical of their authorities, and frequently appeal to the
deciding factor of ‘experience/observation’, though it may be
significant (as we shall see11) that Ibn Ezra refers to his personal
72 C. Burnett / Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 70–75
experience, while ‘Iohannes Hispalensis’ usually refers to ‘experi-
ence’ in impersonal terms. They both like giving testimonia (‘wit-
nesses’), which can be ‘false’, ‘middling’ or ‘perfect/complete’. They
both avoid calques or transcriptions of Arabic terms. The kind of
astrology found in both collections is the same: aside from the com-
monly found use of the houses, triplicities, terms and decans, it reg-
ularly employs the ninth-parts and twelfth-parts.
While there are undoubted similarities between the Epitome
and the works of Ibn Ezra, the attribution of the Epitome to John
of Seville raises problem. For, in many ways, the work is very
dissimilar to the astrological texts of John of Seville mentioned
above.12 For example, there is no evidence in the Epitome of the
use of the Spanish era, of the Toledan Tables, or of the Hispanic
compendium for ‘40’, which gave rise to confusion with ‘10’ in sev-
eral of John of Seville’s translations.13 The terminology of the Epit-
ome differs considerably from that of John of Seville’s translations:
for example ‘honor’ is used instead of ‘exaltatio’ (= exaltation), ‘lap-
sum/domus lapsa’ instead of ‘cadens’ (= cadent place), and ‘domi-
nus vigoris’ instead of ‘almubtaz’ (= dominant planet), and so on.
The eccentricity of this terminology prompted the Renaissance edi-
tor, Ioachim Heller, to give the current terms of many of the tech-
nical words in the margin of the printed text, most of which are, in
fact, the terms found in John of Seville’s translations. Again, just as
Arabic authorities are rarely referred to, so too Arabic translitera-
tions are avoided. This is obvious, for example, in the names the
author has chosen for the lunar mansions, which are all Latin
translations, while in John of Seville’s translation of al-Farghani’s
Liber in scientia astrorum or ‘The thirty chapters’ the Arabic names
of the lunar mansions are transliterated,14 and when translations
are given, they differ from those in the Epitome. The Epitome’s
avoidance of Arabic words is very unusual in astrological texts,
particularly in regard to the lunar mansions.15 Above all, when
the signs and planets assigned to various cities and regions (astro-
logical chorography and ascendants of the foundation-horoscopes
of cities) are mentioned in the Epitome, no city in the Iberian pen-
insula is mentioned, but almost all the cities and regions are Ital-
ian: Rome, Sicily, Sardinia, Pisa, Lucca and Palermo. It is
particularly significant that the author implies that the sign of Pisa
has been confirmed by observation: ‘dixerunt Pise signum esse Pis-
cem, experimento autem .2. gradus Aquarii’ (‘They have said that
Pisces is the sign of Pisa; by experience, however, it is 2° Aquar-
ius’),16 a point which also occurs in Ibn Ezra’s encyclopedia,17
and, as we have seen, Ibn Ezra was in Pisa, Lucca and Rome and
other parts of Central and Northern Italy.
So we are left with a puzzle: three corpora of astrological works
written at about the same time, one by John of Seville, the other by
Abraham Ibn Ezra, and the third one falling somehow between the
two. One way of tackling the problem is looking carefully at doc-
trine which is common to the three works, and in order to do that
I have taken a particular astrological doctrine which is relevant to
the subject of this book, and which happens, as far as I know, to oc-
cur only in these three corpora (and their derivatives),18 namely,
the location of pain in the body.
12
Some of the differences summarised below are described more fully in Burnett (2008b).
13
Burnett (2008a).
14
For John of Seville’s translation of al-Farghani, Liber in scientia astrorum, Ch. 20, see Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 14704, fols. 220vb–221ra and the printed
edition Farghani (1546), pp. 76–79.
15
Other versions of the translations of the lunar mansions can be found in the table in Burnett (2004), pp. 128–130, and Juste (2007), pp. 657–665.
16
See Burnett (2008b), p. 246.
17
The second Hebrew version of the Sefer ha-Olam, extant in MS Vat. Ebr. 477, fol. 89v, quoted in Sela (2001), p. 102 n. 34. See now Ibn Ezra (2010), pp. 165–166. Ibn Ezra
emphasizes that this his own experience.
18
See n. 21 below.
19
Qabı̄s: ı̄ (2004), pp. 137, 346–347.
20
The likelihood that Ibn Ezra took these lots from al-Qabı̄s: ı̄ has already been noted by Smithuis (2004), Ch. 5, pp. 227–228.
2
The first attested source of this doctrine is the Introduction to
astrology by al-Qabı̄s: ı̄ (fl. 945–967). Most of al-Qabı̄s: ı̄’s doctrine
can be found in earlier astrological works—especially those of
Abu Ma‘shar, but in this case I have not located his source. His
Introduction is one of the astrological texts translated by John of Se-
ville. It was also used without acknowledgement by Ibn Ezra, who
is economic in naming his Arabic sources (though he is not shy
about referring to Ptolemy, Dorotheus, Hermes, the Persians, Egyp-
tians and Indians, and the Ancients in general as authorities). Al-
Qabı̄s: ı̄’s Introduction to astrology was the most popular introduc-
tion to astrology in the Middle Ages. It has survived in over
twenty-five Arabic manuscripts (two of which are written in He-
brew script) and over 200 Latin manuscripts of the translation of
John of Seville.19 It provides a convenient summary of astrological
concepts and terms in the same way as does the Beginning of wisdom:
the two texts belong to the same genre. The principal doctrines on
which the Introduction and the Beginning of wisdom are in agreement
with each other are:
1) the description of the quarters of the circle of the twelve
astrological places.
2) the description of the twelve places themselves, including
the significance of each of the three lords of their triplicities.
3) The lots relating to historical astrology, to prices, and to
water, foodstuffs, tastes, purgative drinks and poison.20
4) the days and nights of the planets, and the range of power of
their bodies.
5) The location of pain in the body, depending on the combina-
tions of planets and signs.
The question is whether Ibn Ezra is indebted to an Arabic text of
al-Qabı̄s: ı̄ directly, rather than to a common source, and, if so,
whether there are common features between his use of al-Qabı̄s: ı̄
and that of John of Seville. In one passage where Ibn Ezra’s text,
and the Arabic and Latin manuscripts of al-Qabı̄s: ı̄ diverge from
each other, it would seem that Ibn Ezra’s text is closer not only
to the Arabic than to the Latin, but also to the readings of an Arabic
manuscript which comes from a different family from that used
John of Seville, namely, MS Hamidiye 856 (H) (see Table 1).
When we look at the extended passage on the location of pain
we can discover more. It is continuous in the Arabic and Latin
al-Qabı̄s: ı̄, but the information is inserted into the general
Table 1
Ibn Ezra on the second place.
Ibn Ezra, Beginning of wisdom, Ch. 3: Al-Qabı̄?ı̄, Introduction, 1 [58]: ‘The
‘The second place (house) second is the place of property,
indicates money and possessions, livelihood (Arabic MS H adds: ‘giving
giving and receiving, food, and and receiving, and one’s allotted
helpers’. portion) and helpers’.
 C. Burnett / Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 70–75
Table 2
The locations of pain compared.
Al-Qabı̄s: ı̄, 1 [37]: In Ariete Saturnus habet pectus,
Iupiter ventrem, Mars caput, Sol femora, Venus
pedes, Mercurius crura, Luna genua.
1 [38] In Tauro, Saturnus ventrem, Iupiter dorsum,
Mars collum, Sol genua, Venus caput, Mercurius
pedes, Luna crura.
1 [39] In Geminis, Saturnus ventrem, Iupiter verenda
et que succedunt, Mars pectus, Sol crura [et
cavillas], Venus collum, Mercurius caput, Luna
femora (pedes KW).
1 [40] In Cancro, Saturnus virilia [et eius succedentia],
Iupiter femora, Mars pectus, Sol pedes, Venus
brachia [et humeros], Mercurius oculos (L adds ‘et
collum’), Luna caput.
1 [41] In Leone, Saturnus verenda [et eius
succedentia], Iupiter femora [et genua], Mars
ventrem, Sol caput, Venus cor, Mercurius humeros
[et guttur], Luna collum.
1 [42] In Virgine, Saturnus pedes (Ar.: thighs), Iupiter
genua [et eorum succedentia], Mars ventrem, Sol
collum, Venus ventrem, Mercurius cor, Luna
humeros.
1 [43] In Libra, Saturnus genua [et eorum
succedentia], Iupiter oculos [et eorum
succedentia], Mars verenda [et eorum
succedentia], Sol humeros, Venus caput (Ar. HC:
belly), Mercurius ventrem, Luna cor.
1 [44] In Scorpione, Saturnus cavillas [et eorum
succedentia], Iupiter pedes, Mars caput, [brachia et
femora], Sol cor, Venus verenda [et succedentia
eorum], Mercurius dorsum, Luna ventrem.
1 [45] In Sagittario, Saturnus pedes, Iupiter [crura et]
caput, Mars pedes et manus, Sol ventrem, Venus
femora et brachia (Ar. HC omit), Mercurius
verenda [et cor], Luna dorsum.
1 [46] In Capricorno, Saturnus caput [et pedes], Iupiter
[genua et] oculos, Mars crura et humeros, Sol
dorsum, Venus femora [et cor], Mercurius verenda
[et eorum succedentia], Luna [femora et]
verendorum [succedentia].
1 [47] In Aquario, Saturnus [caput et] collum, Iupiter
humeros, pectus [et pedes], Mars cavillas [et cor],
Sol verenda [et eorum succedentia], Venus genua
[et succedentia eorum], Mercurius femora [et cor],
Luna verenda.
1 [48] In Pisce, Saturnus, humeros, brachia [et
collum], Iupiter cor [et caput], Mars cavillas [et
ventrem], Sol femora [et eorum succedentia],
Venus collum et dorsum, Mercurius crura [et
verenda], Luna femora.
description of the characteristics of each of the zodiac signs in
turn in the Epitome and Ibn Ezra.21 The information is simply a list
of the positions of pain or illnesses within the body depending on
21
The information is also inserted into Roger of Hereford’s Liber de tribus generalibus judiciis astronomie, and displayed in tabular form in Appendix 2 of French (1996), p. 480.
Another derivative text is an anonymous astrological miscellany which occurs in Florence, Biblioteca nazionale centrale, MS Conv. soppr. J.III.28 (San Marco 180), f. 79rb. In both
cases John of Seville’s translation of al-Qabı̄s: ı̄ is clearly the source. Erfurt, Wissenschaftliche Allgemeinbibliothek, Quarto 343, s. XIV, fol. 185r–v presents the passage on the pains
of the planets detached from the rest of the Introduction.
Epitome, Vat. Reg. lat. 1452, fol. 58r: Dolor Saturni est
ibi in pectore, Iovis in corde, Martis in /B2r/ capite,
Solis in coxis, Veneris in pedibus, Mercurii in tibiis,
Lunae in poplite.
Dolor Saturni in stomaco, Iovis in costis, Martis in
collo, Solis in po<p>lite, Veneris in capite, Mercurii in
pedibus, Lune in tybiis.
Dolor Saturni in ventre, Iovis in lumbis, Martis in
brachiis, Solis in tybiis, Veneris in collo, Mercurii in
capite, Luna in pedibus.
Dolor Saturni in lumbis, Iovis in pene, Martis in
pectore, Solis in pedibus, Veneris in manibus,
Mercurius in collo, Lune in capite.
Dolor Saturni in pene, Iovis in natibus, Martis in core,
Solis in capite, Veneris in pectore, Mercurii in brachio,
Lune in collo.
Dolor Saturni in natibus, Iovis in po<p>lite, Martis in
ventre, Solis in collo, Veneris in stomaco, Mercurius in
pectore, Lune in brachiis.
Dolor Saturni in oculis, Iovis in tybiis, Martis in
lumbis, Solis in brachiis, Veneris in ventre, Mercurii in
stomaco, Luna in pectore.
Dolor Saturni in tybiis, Iovis in pede, Martis in capite,
Solis in pectore, Veneris in lumbis, Mercurii in ventre,
Lune in stomaco.
Dolor Saturni in pedibus, Iovis in capite, Martis in
coxis, Solis in stomaco, Veneris in pene, Mercurii in
lumbis, Lune in ventre.
Dolor Saturni in capite, Iovis in collo, Martis in oculo,
Solis in ventre, Veneris in coxis, Mercurii in pene,
Lune in lumbis.
Dolor Saturni in collo, Iovis in brachiis, Martis in
tybiis, Solis in lumbis, Veneris in oculis, Mercurii in
coxis, Lune in pectore.
Dolor Saturni in brachiis, Iovis in pectore, Martis in
pedibus, Solis in pene, Veneris in tybiis, Mercurii in
oculis, Lune in coxis.
where each of the seven planets (including the Sun and Moon) is
in the signs of the zodiac. No rationale is given in al-Qabı̄s: ı̄ or the
Beginning of wisdom, but Ibn Ezra explains the rationale in his Book
73
Ibn Ezra, Beginning of wisdom, pp. 39 ff.: But according
to the opinion of the wise men of Egypt the pain
which Saturn arouses is in the chest, Jupiter, in the
heart, Mars in the head, Sun in the testicles, Venus in
the feet, Mercury in the shanks, and the Moon in the
knees.
But according to the opinion of the masters of Egypt
the pains of Saturn in this sign are in the heart,
Jupiter, in the belly, Mars in the neck, the Sun in the
knees, Venus in the head, Mercury in the feet, and the
Moon in the shanks.
But according to the opinion of the wise men of Egypt
the pain of Saturn in this sign is in the belly, Jupiter in
the loins, Mars in the shoulders, the Sun in the legs,
Venus in the neck, Mercury in the head, and the Moon
in the feet.
But according to the wise men of Egypt the illness of
Saturn is in the loins, Jupiter in the sexual organs,
Mars in the upper belly, the Sun in the feet, Venus in
the hands, Mercury in the neck, the Moon in the head.
But according to the opinion of the Egyptians the
pains of Saturn in it are in the sexual organs, Jupiter in
the testicles, Mars in the heart, the Sun in the head,
Venus in chest, Mercury in the shoulders, the Moon in
the neck (but it also effects the seeing of the eyes).
But according to the opinion of the Egyptians the
pains of Saturn in it Saturn are in the testicles, Jupiter
in the knees, Mars in the stomach, Sun in the neck,
Venus in the heart, Mercury in the chest, Moon in the
arms.
But according to the opinion of the wise men of Egypt
the illness of Saturn is in the knees, Jupiter in the
shanks, Mars under the belly, the Sun in the hands,
Venus in the belly, Mercury in the heart, and the
Moon in the chest.
But according to the opinion of the wise men of Egypt
the illness of Saturn is in the shanks, Jupiter in the
foot, Mars in the testicles, the Sun in the heart, Venus
in the loins, Mercury in the belly and the Moon in the
upper belly.
But according the opinion of the wise men of Egypt
the illness of Saturn is in the foot, Jupiter in the head,
Mars in the testicles, the Sun in the heart, Venus in
the sexual organs, Mercury in the loins, the Moon in
the lower belly.
But according to the opinion of the wise men of Egypt
the illness of Saturn Is in the head, Jupiter in the neck,
Mars in the knees, the Sun in the lower belly, Venus in
the testicles and thighs, Mercury in the sexual organs,
the Moon in the loins.
But according to the opinion of the Egyptians, the
illness of Saturn is in the neck, Jupiter in the hands
and shoulders, Mars in the shanks, the Sun in the
loins, Venus in the knees, Mercury in the thigh and
testicles, the Moon in the sexual organs.
The Egyptians say that the illness of Saturn in it is in
the hands and shoulders, Jupiter in the chest, Mars in
the feet, Sun in the sexual organs, Venus in the
shanks, Mercury in the knees, the Moon in the
testicles and thighs.
74 C. Burnett / Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 70–75

Table 3
The terminology of the body parts compared.

Body part (translation of Arabic al-Qabı̄?ı̄) Latin al-Qabı̄?ı̄ (Alcabitius) Epitome Ibn Ezra
1. head caput caput head
2. neck collum, guttur collum neck
3. shoulders, arms, hands, and throat humeri, brachia, manus, guttur brachia, manus shoulder, arms, hands
4. chest, heart (fu’ād) pectus, cor pectus chest, upper belly, heart
5. belly venter stomachus, cor heart, belly, upper belly
6. belly, back venter, dorsum venter, costae belly, stomach, lower belly
7. pubes (‘āna) verenda, virilia, venter lumbi loins, under the belly (motnayim)
8. pubes (‘āna), thighs (fakhidan) femora, verenda penis sexual organs (ervah)
9. thighs, upper leg (fakhidhān) femora coxae, nates testicles/thighs (pechadim)
10. knees genua poples knees
11. shanks, lower leg, ankles crura, cavillae tibiae shanks
12. feet pedes pedes feet

of reasons (which explains the astrological doctrine in his Beginning
of wisdom).22
One may place the text of al-Qabı̄s: ı̄ (both Arabic and Latin), the
Epitome and Ibn Ezra in parallel columns (Table 2). Bold typeface
indicates cases in which the Epitome and/or Ibn Ezra diverge from
the rationale given by Ibn Ezra in his Book of reasons; italics indi-
cate where the ‘second’ house of the planet is used instead of, or
as well, as the first; square brackets indicate extra words or
phrases in al-Qabı̄s: ı̄. What one notices immediately is the differ-
ence in terminology between the Latin al-Qabı̄s: ı̄, on the one hand,
and the Epitome together with Ibn Ezra on the other. One can see
this clearly if the body parts in all three texts are arranged a capite
ad calcem (Table 3), in the order of the melothesia (the assignment
of the twelve signs of the zodiac to the corresponding parts of the
body).
The first thing to notice is the closeness of the Epitome and Ibn
Ezra, in comparison to al-Qabı̄s: ı̄. On three occasions (1.46, 47 and
48) the author of the Epitome evidently mistook a word for knee
for ‘eyes’ (oculi), but the terminology is generally more consistent
than that of Ibn Ezra’s The beginning of wisdom. Al-Qabı̄s: ı̄ tends to
include two body-parts under one planet-sign combination, while
the Epitome and Ibn Ezra give only one. On the other hand, al-
Qabı̄s: ı̄ repeats two of the body parts (the belly and the pubes),
while all four parts are clearly distinguished in the Epitome. One
thing that is noticeable is a discrepancy among the different texts
between genitalia and thighs. This confusion may arise from the
fact that pechadim is the Hebrew cognate of the Arabic fakhidhan
(‘thighs’), but becomes associated with pachad = fear; hence pecha-
dim may mean either ‘thighs’ or ‘parts to be feared’ or ‘shameful
parts’ (the equivalent of the Latin ‘verenda’ and ‘pudenda’). On
other occasions, the differences between al-Qabı̄s: ı̄, on the one
hand, and the Epitome together with Ibn Ezra on the other suggest
that different Arabic words were being translated. On two of these
occasions we can actual recognize the differing Arabic reading in
Arabic manuscripts HC where John’s reading follows that of MS B
(1.43 and 1.45), while on a third (1.42) Ibn Ezra and the Epitome
follow all three Arabic manuscripts against the reading of the Latin
Qabı̄s: ı̄. In 1.39 the Epitome and Ibn Ezra give a reading found in two
of the Latin manuscripts. The most likely explanation is that these
Latin manuscripts give an alternative Arabic reading, which corre-
sponds to that in the Arabic manuscript used by Ibn Ezra. We may
be looking at the same situation in 1.40 where one Latin manu-
script adds ‘et collum’ (‘and the neck’) after ‘oculos’, and the Epit-
ome and Ibn Ezra both have ‘collum’/‘neck’ and not ‘oculi’. But
when we find in 1.46 that the Epitome and Ibn Ezra have ‘col-
lum’/‘neck’ where all the Latin manuscripts have ‘oculi’, another
explanation immediately comes to mind: the Arabic words for
‘neck’ and ‘eye’ look very similar to each other when written down.
The Latin translator of al-Qabı̄s: ı̄ read the text one way (though MS
L in 1.40 shows that there may have been some hesitation on his
part); Ibn Ezra read it the other. This is corroborated by the Hebrew
text of 1.41, in which both translations (‘neck’ and ‘eye’) are given.
There is no instance in this passage on the location of pain
where a reading of John of Seville’s Latin translation of al-Qabı̄s: ı̄
can explain a reading in Ibn Ezra or the Epitome. Moreover, if Ibn
Ezra did use a text of al-Qabı̄s: ı̄ (most likely in Arabic), he must have
corrected it in the light of the rationale of the planet–sign correla-
tion which he detected; for there are several mistakes in the
assignments, which are shared by all the Arabic and Latin manu-
scripts known to us. On the other hand, it might still be possible
eventually to find a common source for Ibn Ezra and al-Qabı̄s: ı̄—
perhaps even among the ‘wise man of Egypt’ to whom Ibn Ezra
credits the theory.
If this conclusion can be sustained by comparing Ibn Ezra’s use
of other Arabic astrological sources with the translations of those
sources by John of Seville (for example, Abu  Ma‘shar’s Great intro-
duction to astrology) we have confirmation that the second quarter
of the twelfth century shows the independent introduction of Ara-
bic astrological material into the West–through Latin translations
on the one hand, and through Hebrew translations (in turn trans-
lated into Latin) on the other. The Epitome totius astrologiae, in turn,
would show a remarkably early introduction of the Hebrew mate-
rial into Latin and would prove that, at least by the early 1140s, He-
brew and Latin scholars were collaborating with each other.
Acknowledgements
I am most grateful to Renate Smithuis, Shlomo Sela, and an
anonymous reader for some valuable corrections and suggestions.
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