Astronomical Illustration

Solomon ben Abraham Avigdor

Artist Unknown

16th Century

Manuscript page with concentric circles, zodiacal signs and Hebrew labels in outer circles, and some Hebrew text above and below.

This diagram of the cosmos is from a treatise on astronomy, Sefer mareh ha-ofanim (The Appearance of the Heavenly Beings), by Solomon ben Abraham Avigdor. The treatise was mostly a translation of Johannes de Sacrobosco’s thirteenth-century Latin text De sphaera mundi (On the Sphere of the World), considered the standard textbook on astronomy until the mid-seventeenth century. This manuscript was written in Mantua, Italy.

Credits

The British Library, London, England. Or. 10661. From the collection of The British Library, The Polonsky Foundation Catalogue of Digitised Hebrew Manuscripts.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

Dialoghi d’amore (Dialogues of Love)

[ . . . ] Philo: I have already told you that the cognition of the generating nature is meant to direct them towards their natural perfection, without any other…

View Source

Printed page with upside-down triangle featuring two Hebrew words on left, and floral pattern with the letter S in a pattern on right.

Orḥot ‘olam (Paths of the World)

On the existence and nature of a great and awesome, holy world, which is situated beyond the equator, and whether it is possible that there is a settlement south of this equator, called zo…

View Source

Responsum: On Philosophy

On the twenty-fourth day of the counting [of the Omer] may there be tranquility and pleasantness in your chamber of Torah. The handmaids of the emperor’s house would sing his praises: “no eye-shadow…

View Source

Responsum: On Philosophy

On the thirty-third day of the counting [of the Omer, i.e., Lag b’Omer]. May there be tranquility and pleasantness in your chamber of Torah. May God continuously save the beautiful pearl, for whom the…

View Source

Print with decorative border of man in robes wearing hat and holding a book with right hand and Latin heading.

Oath

I swear by the Eternal God and by His ten most holy commandments, which were given on Mount Sinai through Moses as lawgiver after the people had been freed from their bondage in Egypt, that I have…

View Source

Jewish Doctor (Medico Giudeo)

View Source

Engage with this Source

Creator Bio

Solomon ben Abraham Avigdor

14th Century–15th Century

Born in Provence, Solomon ben Abraham Avigdor was a translator and physician. By the time he reached his teen years, he was already translating scientific works from Latin into Hebrew, including a translation of Arnauld de Villeneuve's work, De Judiciis Astronomiæ (On the Judgement of the Stars) at the age of 15. His translations were popular with later Hebrew scholars, who relied on them for Latin knowledge.

Related Guide

Early Modern Trade and Mercantilism (1500–1750)

1500–1750

International trade drove Jewish mobility during the age of mercantilism, as Jewish merchants formed wide commercial networks and partnerships and developed cosmopolitan attitudes that facilitated civic inclusion.

Related Guide

Early Modern Italy: Where East and West Meet

1500–1750

Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and Marranos encountered each other in Italian cities, developing community structures that later influenced Jewish communal organization throughout the western world.