Latin translations of the 12th century were spurred by a major search by European scholars for new learning unavailable in Christian Europe
at the timeThe Renaissance of the 12th century was a period of many changes at the outset of the High Middle Ages. It included social, political and economic transformations, and an intellectual revitalization of Western Europe with strong philosophical and scientific roots...
; their search led them to areas of southern Europe, particularly in
central SpainThe taifa of Toledo was a Muslim medieval kingdom located in what is now central Spain. It existed from the fracturing of the long-eminent Muslim Caliphate of Córdoba in 1035 until the Christian conquest in 1085.-History:...
and Sicily, which recently had come under Christian rule following their reconquest in the late 11th century. These areas had been under a
more knowledgeableDuring the Islamic Golden Age philosophers, scientists and engineers of the Islamic world contributed enormously to technology and culture, both by preserving earlier traditions and by adding their own inventions and innovations...
MuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
rule for considerable time, and still had substantial Arabic-speaking populations to support their search. The combination of Muslim
accumulated knowledgeThe House of Wisdom was a library and translation institute established in Abbassid-era Baghdad, Iraq. It was a key institution in the Translation Movement and considered to have been a major intellectual centre during the Islamic Golden Age...
, substantial numbers of Arabic-speaking scholars, and the new Christian rulers made these areas intellectually attractive, as well as culturally and politically accessible to
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
scholars. A typical story is that of
Gerard of CremonaGerard of Cremona was an Italian translator of Arabic scientific works found in the abandoned Arab libraries of Toledo, Spain....
(c. 1114–87), who is said to have made his way to Toledo, well after its reconquest by Christians in 1085, because he
Unlike the interest in the literature and history of
classical antiquityClassical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
during the
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
, 12th century translators sought new
scientificScience in the medieval Islamic world, also known as Islamic science or Arabic science, is the science developed and practised in the Islamic world during the Islamic Golden Age . During this time, Indian, Iranian and especially Greek knowledge was translated into Arabic...
,
philosophicalEarly Islamic philosophy or classical Islamic philosophy is a period of intense philosophical development beginning in the 2nd century AH of the Islamic calendar and lasting until the 6th century AH...
and, to a lesser extent, religious texts. The latter concern was reflected in a renewed interest in translations of the Greek
Church FathersThe Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
into
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, a concern with translating Jewish teachings from
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, an interest in the
Qur'anThe Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
and other
IslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic religious texts. In addition, some
Arabic literatureArabic literature is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is adab which is derived from a meaning of etiquette, and implies politeness, culture and enrichment....
was also translated into Latin.
Translators in Italy
Just before the burst of translations in the 12th century,
Constantine the AfricanConstantine the African was a Tunisian doctor of the eleventh century. The first part of his life was spent in Tunisia and the rest in Italy. In Salerno, Italy, he became a professor of medicine and his work attracted widespread attention...
, a Christian from
CarthageCarthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
who studied medicine in Egypt and ultimately became a monk at the monastery of
Monte CassinoMonte Cassino is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, Italy, c. to the west of the town of Cassino and altitude. St. Benedict of Nursia established his first monastery, the source of the Benedictine Order, here around 529. It was the site of Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944...
in Italy, translated
medical worksIn the history of medicine, Islamic medicine, Arabic medicine or Arabian medicine refers to medicine developed in the Islamic Golden Age, and written in Arabic, the lingua franca of Islamic civilization....
from Arabic. Constantine's many translations included
Ali ibn Abbas al-MajusiAli ibn al-'Abbas al-Majusi , also known as Masoudi, or Latinized as Haly Abbas, was a Persian physician and psychologist most famous for the Kitab al-Maliki or Complete Book of the Medical Art, his textbook on medicine and psychology.-Biography:He was born in Ahvaz, southwestern Persia, and...
's medical encyclopedia
The Complete Book of the Medical ArtThe Liber pantegni is a medieval medical text compiled by Constantinus Africanus in ca. the 1080s, ascribed to Isaac Israeli ben Solomon . It is a compendium of Hellenistic and Islamic medicine, in large parts a translation of the kitab al-malaki "royal book" of Ali ibn al-Abbas...
(as
Liber pantegni),
the ancient medicine of
HippocratesHippocrates of Cos or Hippokrates of Kos was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles , and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine...
and
GalenAelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamon , was a prominent Roman physician, surgeon and philosopher...
as adapted by
Arabic physiciansIn the history of medicine, Islamic medicine, Arabic medicine or Arabian medicine refers to medicine developed in the Islamic Golden Age, and written in Arabic, the lingua franca of Islamic civilization....
,
and the
Isagoge ad Tegni Galeni by
Hunayn ibn IshaqHunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Assyrian Nestorian Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating Greek scientific and medical works into Arabic and Syriac during the heyday of the Islamic Abbasid Caliphate.Ḥunayn ibn Isḥaq was the most productive...
(Johannitius) and his nephew Hubaysh ibn al-Hasan.
Other medical works he translated include
Isaac Israeli ben SolomonIsaac Israeli ben Solomon , also known as Isaac Israeli the Elder and Isaac Judaeus, was one of the foremost physicians and philosophers of his time. He is regarded as the father of medieval Jewish Neoplatonism...
's
Liber febribus, Liber de dietis universalibus et particularibus and
Liber de urinis; Ishaq ibn Imran's
psychologicalIslamic psychology translates the term ʿIlm al-Nafs the science of the Nafs and refers to the medical and philosophical study of the psyche from an Islamic perspective...
work
al-Maqala fi al-Malikhukiya as
De melancolia; and
Ibn Al-JazzarAhmed Ben Jaafar Ben Brahim Ibn Al Jazzar Al-Qayrawani , was an influential 10th-century Muslim physician who became famous for his writings on Islamic medicine. He was born in Qayrawan in modern-day Tunisia...
's
De GradibusDe Gradibus was an Arabic book published by the Arab physician Al-Kindi . De gradibus is the Latinized name of the book. An alternative name for the book was Quia Primos....
, Viaticum, Liber de stomacho, De elephantiasi, De coitu and
De oblivione.
SicilySicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
had been part of the Byzantine Empire until 878, was under
Muslim controlThe Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state on the island of Sicily , which existed from 965 to 1072.-First Arab invasions of Sicily:...
from 878–1060, and came under Norman control between 1060 and 1090. As a consequence the Norman
Kingdom of SicilyThe Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy...
maintained a trilingual bureaucracy, which made it an ideal place for translations. Sicily also maintained relations with the
Greek East"Greek East" and "Latin West" are terms used to distinguish between the two parts of the Greco-Roman world, specifically the eastern regions where Greek was the lingua franca, and the western parts where Latin filled this role...
, which allowed for exchange of ideas and manuscripts.
A copy of
PtolemyClaudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
's
AlmagestThe Almagest is a 2nd-century mathematical and astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths. Written in Greek by Claudius Ptolemy, a Roman era scholar of Egypt,...
was brought back to Sicily by
Henry AristippusHenry Aristippus of Calabria, sometimes known as Enericus or Henricus Aristippus, was the archdeacon of Catania and later chief familiaris of the triumvirate of familiares who replaced the Emir Maio of Bari as chief functionaries of the kingdom of Sicily in 1161...
, as a gift from the Emperor to
King William IWilliam I , called the Bad or the Wicked, was the second king of Sicily, ruling from his father's death in 1154 to his own...
. Aristippus, himself, translated
PlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's
MenoMeno is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato. It attempts to determine the definition of virtue, or arete, meaning virtue in general, rather than particular virtues, such as justice or temperance. The first part of the work is written in the Socratic dialectical style and Meno is reduced to...
and
PhaedoPlato's Phaedo is one of the great dialogues of his middle period, along with the Republic and the Symposium. The Phaedo, which depicts the death of Socrates, is also Plato's seventh and last dialogue to detail the philosopher's final days .In the dialogue, Socrates...
into Latin, but it was left to an anonymous student at Salerno to travel to Sicily and translate the
Almagest, as well as several works by
EuclidEuclid , fl. 300 BC, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the "Father of Geometry". He was active in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I...
from Greek to Latin. Although the Sicilians generally translated directly from the Greek, when Greek texts were not available, they would translate from Arabic. Admiral Eugene of Sicily translated Ptolemy's
Optics into Latin, drawing on his knowledge of all three languages in the task. Accursius of
PistojaThe Province of Pistoia is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Pistoia. It has an area of 965 km², and a total population of 268,503 . There are 22 communes in the province .-External links:...
's translations included the works of
GalenAelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamon , was a prominent Roman physician, surgeon and philosopher...
and
Hunayn ibn IshaqHunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Assyrian Nestorian Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating Greek scientific and medical works into Arabic and Syriac during the heyday of the Islamic Abbasid Caliphate.Ḥunayn ibn Isḥaq was the most productive...
. Gerard de
SablonetaSabbioneta is a town and comune in the province of Mantua, Lombardy region, northern Italy. It is situated about 30 km north of Parma, not far from the northern bank of the Po River...
translated
AvicennaAbū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
's
The Canon of MedicineThe Canon of Medicine is an encyclopedia of Galenic medicine in five books compiled by Ibn Sīnā and completed in 1025. It presents a clear and organized summary of all the medical knowledge of the time...
and
al-Razi Muhammad ibn Zakariyā Rāzī , known as Rhazes or Rasis after medieval Latinists, was a Persian polymath,a prominent figure in Islamic Golden Age, physician, alchemist and chemist, philosopher, and scholar....
's
Almansor.
FibonacciLeonardo Pisano Bigollo also known as Leonardo of Pisa, Leonardo Pisano, Leonardo Bonacci, Leonardo Fibonacci, or, most commonly, simply Fibonacci, was an Italian mathematician, considered by some "the most talented western mathematician of the Middle Ages."Fibonacci is best known to the modern...
presented the first complete European account of the
Hindu-Arabic numeral systemThe Hindu–Arabic numeral system or Hindu numeral system is a positional decimal numeral system developed between the 1st and 5th centuries by Indian mathematicians, adopted by Persian and Arab mathematicians , and spread to the western world...
from
Arabic sourcesArabic numerals or Hindu numerals or Hindu-Arabic numerals or Indo-Arabic numerals are the ten digits . They are descended from the Hindu-Arabic numeral system developed by Indian mathematicians, in which a sequence of digits such as "975" is read as a numeral...
in his
Liber AbaciLiber Abaci is a historic book on arithmetic by Leonardo of Pisa, known later by his nickname Fibonacci...
(1202). The
Aphorismi by
MasawaiyhYuhanna ibn Masawaih, also written Ibn Masawaih, Masawaiyh, and in Latin Mesue, Masuya, Mesue Major, Msuya, and Mesue the Elder was an Assyrian physician from the Academy of Gundishapur...
(Mesue) was translated by an anonymous translator in late 11th or early 12th century Italy.
James of VeniceJames of Venice was a significant translator of Aristotle of the twelfth century. He has been called the first systematic translator of Aristotle since Boethius. Not much is otherwise known about him....
, who probably spent some years in Constantinople, translated Aristotle's
Posterior Analytics from Greek into Latin in the mid-12th century, thus making the complete Aristotelian logical corpus, the Organon, available in Latin for the first time.
In 13th century
PaduaPadua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
, Bonacosa translated
Averroes' , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was a Muslim polymath; a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy,...
' medical work
Kitab al-Kulliyyat as
Colliget, and
John of CapuaJohn of Capua was an Italian Jewish convert to Christianity, and a translator. He translated Rabbi Joel's Hebrew version of Kalilah wa-Dimnah into Latin under the title Directorium Vitae Humanae. His translation was the source from which that work became so widely spread in almost all European...
translated the
Kitab al-Taysir by
Ibn ZuhrAbū Merwān ’Abdal-Malik ibn Zuhr was a Muslim physician, surgeon and teacher in Al-Andalus.He was born at Seville...
(Avenzoar) as
Theisir. In 13th century
SicilySicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, Faraj ben Salem translated Rhazes'
al-Hawi as
Continens as well as
Ibn ButlanIbn Butlan was an Iraqi Christian physician of the Islamic Golden Age.He wrote the Taqwim al-Sihhah . The work treated matters of hygiene, dietetics, and exercise. It emphasized the benefits of regular attention to the personal physical and mental well-being...
's
Tacuinum sanitatisThe Tacuinum Sanitatis is a medieval handbook on health and wellbeing, based on the Taqwim al‑sihha , an eleventh-century Arab medical treatise by Ibn Butlan of Baghdad...
. Also in 13th century Italy, Simon of
GenoaGenoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
and Abraham Tortuensis translated Abulcasis'
Al-TasrifThe Kitab al-Tasrif was an Arabic encyclopedia on medicine and surgery, written near the year 1000 by Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi...
as
Liber servitoris, Alcoati's
Congregatio sive liber de oculis, and the
Liber de simplicibus medicinis by a
pseudo-SerapionSerapion the Younger was an Arabic medical writer who wrote in the 12th century . He is called "the Younger" to distinguish him from Serapion the Elder, aka Yahya ibn Sarafyun, an earlier Arabic medical writer with whom he was often confused...
Translators on the Spanish frontier
As early as the end of the 10th century, European scholars travelled to Spain to study. Most notable among these was Gerbert of Aurillac (later Pope Sylvester II) who
studied mathematicsIn the history of mathematics, mathematics in medieval Islam, often termed Islamic mathematics or Arabic mathematics, covers the body of mathematics preserved and developed under the Islamic civilization between circa 622 and 1600...
in the region of the Spanish March around
BarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. Translations, however, did not begin in Spain until after 1085 when Toledo was reconquered by Christians. The early translators in Spain focused heavily on
scientific worksScience in the medieval Islamic world, also known as Islamic science or Arabic science, is the science developed and practised in the Islamic world during the Islamic Golden Age . During this time, Indian, Iranian and especially Greek knowledge was translated into Arabic...
, especially
mathematicsIn the history of mathematics, mathematics in medieval Islam, often termed Islamic mathematics or Arabic mathematics, covers the body of mathematics preserved and developed under the Islamic civilization between circa 622 and 1600...
and
astronomyIslamic astronomy or Arabic astronomy comprises the astronomical developments made in the Islamic world, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age , and mostly written in the Arabic language. These developments mostly took place in the Middle East, Central Asia, Al-Andalus, and North Africa, and...
, with a second area of interest including the
Qur'anThe Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
and other
IslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic texts. Spanish collections included many scholarly works written in Arabic, so translators worked almost exclusively from Arabic, rather than Greek texts, often in cooperation with a local speaker of Arabic.
One of the more important translation projects was sponsored by
Peter the VenerablePeter the Venerable , also known as Peter of Montboissier, abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Cluny, born to Blessed Raingarde in Auvergne, France. He has been honored as a saint but has never been formally canonized.-Life:Peter was "Dedicated to God" at birth and given to the monastery at...
, the
abbotThe Abbot of Cluny was the head of the powerful monastery of Cluny Abbey in medieval France. The following is a list.-List of abbots:-References:...
of
ClunyCluny Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was built in the Romanesque style, with three churches built in succession from the 10th to the early 12th centuries....
. In 1142 he called upon
Robert of KettonRobert of Ketton was an English medieval theologian, astronomer and Arabist.Ketton, where Robert was either born or perhaps first took holy orders, is a small village in Rutland, a few miles from Stamford.Robert is believed to have been educated at the Cathedral School of Paris...
and
Herman of CarinthiaHerman Dalmatin or Herman of Carinthia , also known in Latin as Sclavus Dalmata, Secundus, was a philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, translator and author....
,
Peter of PoitiersPeter of Poitiers was a monk who served as secretary to Peter the Venerable, the ninth abbot of Cluny. Little is known of his life. Presumably he came from the French city of Poitiers or its vicinity.-Translating career:...
, and a
MuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
known only as "Mohammed" to produce the first Latin translation of the Qur'an (the
Lex Mahumet pseudopropheteLex Mahumet pseudoprophete is the translation of the Qur'an into Latin by Robert of Ketton...
).
Translations were produced throughout Spain and
ProvenceProvence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
.
Plato of TivoliPlato Tiburtinus was a 12th century Italian mathematician, astronomer and translator who lived in Barcelona from 1116 to 1138. He is best known for translating Hebrew and Arabic documents into Latin, and was apparently the first to translate information on the astrolabe from Arabic.Plato of...
worked in
CataloniaCatalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, Herman of Carinthia in Northern Spain and across the
PyreneesThe Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
in
LanguedocLanguedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...
, Hugh of Santalla in
AragonAragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
, Robert of Ketton in
NavarreNavarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
and
Robert of ChesterRobert of Chester was an English arabist of the 12th century. He translated several historically important books from Arabic to Latin, by authors such as Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan and Al-Khwarizmi including:...
in
SegoviaSegovia is a city in Spain, the capital of Segovia Province in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is situated north of Madrid, 30 minutes by high speed train. The municipality counts some 55,500 inhabitants.-Etymology:...
. The most important center of translation was the great cathedral library of
ToledoToledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
.
Plato of Tivoli's translations into Latin include al-Battani's astronomical and
trigonometricalTrigonometry is a branch of mathematics that studies triangles and the relationships between their sides and the angles between these sides. Trigonometry defines the trigonometric functions, which describe those relationships and have applicability to cyclical phenomena, such as waves...
work
De motu stellarum, Abraham bar Hiyya's
Liber embadorum,
Theodosius of BithyniaTheodosius of Bithynia was a Greek astronomer and mathematician who wrote the Sphaerics, a book on the geometry of the sphere. Born in Tripolis, in Bithynia, Theodosius is cited by Vitruvius as having invented a sundial suitable for any place on Earth...
's
Spherica, and
ArchimedesArchimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Among his advances in physics are the foundations of hydrostatics, statics and an...
'
Measurement of a CircleMeasurement of a Circle is a treatise that consists of three propositions by Archimedes. The treatise is only a fraction of what was a longer work.-Proposition one:Proposition one states:...
. Robert of Chester's translations into Latin included
al-Khwarizmi'There is some confusion in the literature on whether al-Khwārizmī's full name is ' or '. Ibn Khaldun notes in his encyclopedic work: "The first who wrote upon this branch was Abu ʿAbdallah al-Khowarizmi, after whom came Abu Kamil Shojaʿ ibn Aslam." . 'There is some confusion in the literature on...
's
Algebra , also known under a shorter name spelled as Hisab al-jabr w’al-muqabala, Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala and other transliterations) is a mathematical book written in Arabic in approximately AD 820 by the Persian (Arabic for "The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing", in...
and astronomical tables (also containing trigonometric tables). Abraham of
Tortosa-External links:* *** * * *...
's translations include Ibn Sarabi's (
Serapion JuniorSerapion the Younger was an Arabic medical writer who wrote in the 12th century . He is called "the Younger" to distinguish him from Serapion the Elder, aka Yahya ibn Sarafyun, an earlier Arabic medical writer with whom he was often confused...
)
De Simplicibus and
AbulcasisAbu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi , also known in the West as Abulcasis, was an Arab physician who lived in Al-Andalus. He is considered the greatest medieval surgeon to have appeared from the Islamic World, and has been described by some as the father of modern surgery...
'
Al-TasrifThe Kitab al-Tasrif was an Arabic encyclopedia on medicine and surgery, written near the year 1000 by Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi...
as
Liber Servitoris. In 1126,
Muhammad al-FazariAbu abdallah Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Fazari was a Muslim philosopher, mathematician and astronomer. He is not to be confused with his father Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī, also an astronomer and mathematician....
's
Great Sindhind (based on the
SanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
works of
Surya SiddhantaThe Surya Siddhanta is one of the earliest siddhanta in archeo-astronomy of the Hindus by an unknown author. It describes the archeo-astronomy theories, principles and methods of the ancient Hindus. This siddhanta is supposed to be the knowledge that the Sun god gave to an Asura called Maya. Asuras...
and
BrahmaguptaBrahmagupta was an Indian mathematician and astronomer who wrote many important works on mathematics and astronomy. His best known work is the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta , written in 628 in Bhinmal...
's
BrahmasphutasiddhantaThe main work of Brahmagupta, Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta , written c.628, contains ideas including a good understanding of the mathematical role of zero, rules for manipulating both negative and positive numbers, a method for computing square roots, methods of solving linear and some quadratic...
) was translated into Latin.
In addition to philosophical and scientific literature, the Jewish writer
Petrus AlphonsiPetrus Alphonsi was a Jewish Spanish writer and astronomer, and polemicist, who converted to Christianity....
translated a collection of 33 tales from
Arabic literatureArabic literature is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is adab which is derived from a meaning of etiquette, and implies politeness, culture and enrichment....
into
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
. Some of the tales he drew on were from the
PanchatantraThe Panchatantra is an ancient Indian inter-related collection of animal fables in verse and prose, in a frame story format. The original Sanskrit work, which some scholars believe was composed in the 3rd century BCE, is attributed to Vishnu Sharma...
and
Arabian Nights, such as the story cycle of "
Sinbad the SailorSinbad the Sailor is a fictional sailor from Basrah, living during the Abbasid Caliphate – the hero of a story-cycle of Middle Eastern origin...
".
The Toledo School of Translators
Toledo, with a large population of Arabic-speaking Christians (Mozarabs) had been an important center of learning since as early as the end of the 10th century, when European scholars traveled to Spain to study subjects that were not readily available in the rest of Europe. Among the early translators at Toledo were an Avendauth (who some have identified with
Abraham ibn DaudAbraham ibn Daud was a Spanish-Jewish astronomer, historian, and philosopher; born at Toledo, Spain about 1110; died, according to common report, a martyr about 1180. He is sometimes known by the abbreviation Rabad I or Ravad I. His mother belonged to a family famed for its learning...
), who translated
AvicennaAbū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
's encyclopedia, the
Kitāb al-ShifaThe Book of Healing is a scientific and philosophical encyclopedia written by Abū Alī ibn Sīnā from Asfahana, near Bukhara in Greater Persia. Despite its English title, it is not in fact concerned with medicine...
(
The Book of Healing), in cooperation with Domingo Gundisalvo, Archdeacon of Cuéllar.
However translating efforts were not properly organized until Toledo was reconquered by the Christian forces in 1085.
Raymond of ToledoFrancis Raymond de Sauvetât, or Raymond of Toledo, was the Archbishop of Toledo from 1125 to 1152. He was a French Benedictine monk, born in Gascony....
, started the first translation efforts at the library of the
Cathedral of ToledoThe Primate Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Toledo, Spain, seat of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Toledo....
, where he led a team of translators that included Mozarabic Toledans, Jewish scholars,
MadrasahMadrasah is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious...
teachers and monks from the
Order of ClunyThe Cluniac Reforms were a series of changes within medieval monasticism of West focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement is named for the Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy, where it started within the Benedictine order. The reforms were...
. They worked in the translation of many works from Arabic into Castilian, from Castilian into Latin, or directly from Arabic into Latin or Greek, and also made available important texts from Arabic and Hebrew philosophers who the Archbishop deemed important for an understanding of
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
. As a result of their activities, the cathedral became a translations center known as the
Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (
Toledo School of TranslatorsThe Toledo School of Translators is the name that commonly describes the group of scholars who worked together in the city of Toledo during the 12th and 13th centuries, to translate many of the philosophical and scientific works from classical Arabic, classical Greek, and ancient Hebrew.The School...
), which was on a scale and importance not matched in the history of western culture.
The most productive of the Toledo translators at that time was
Gerard of CremonaGerard of Cremona was an Italian translator of Arabic scientific works found in the abandoned Arab libraries of Toledo, Spain....
, who translated 87 books, including
PtolemyClaudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
's
AlmagestThe Almagest is a 2nd-century mathematical and astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths. Written in Greek by Claudius Ptolemy, a Roman era scholar of Egypt,...
, many of the works of
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, including his
Posterior AnalyticsThe Posterior Analytics is a text from Aristotle's Organon that deals with demonstration, definition, and scientific knowledge. The demonstration is distinguished as a syllogism productive of scientific knowledge, while the definition marked as the statement of a thing's nature, .....
,
PhysicsThe Physics of Aristotle is one of the foundational books of Western science and philosophy...
,
On the Heavens and the WorldOn the Heavens is Aristotle's chief cosmological treatise: it contains his astronomical theory and his ideas on the concrete workings of the terrestrial world...
,
On Generation and CorruptionOn Generation and Corruption , , also known as On Coming to Be and Passing Away) is a treatise by Aristotle. Like many of his texts, it is both scientific and philosophic...
, and
MeteorologyMeteorology is a treatise by Aristotle which contains his theories about the earth sciences. These include early accounts of water evaporation, weather phenomena, and earthquakes....
,
al-Khwarizmi'There is some confusion in the literature on whether al-Khwārizmī's full name is ' or '. Ibn Khaldun notes in his encyclopedic work: "The first who wrote upon this branch was Abu ʿAbdallah al-Khowarizmi, after whom came Abu Kamil Shojaʿ ibn Aslam." . 'There is some confusion in the literature on...
's
On Algebra and Almucabala , also known under a shorter name spelled as Hisab al-jabr w’al-muqabala, Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala and other transliterations) is a mathematical book written in Arabic in approximately AD 820 by the Persian (Arabic for "The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing", in...
,
ArchimedesArchimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Among his advances in physics are the foundations of hydrostatics, statics and an...
'
On the Measurement of the Circle,
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
,
EuclidEuclid , fl. 300 BC, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the "Father of Geometry". He was active in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I...
's
Elements of GeometryEuclid's Elements is a mathematical and geometric treatise consisting of 13 books written by the Greek mathematician Euclid in Alexandria c. 300 BC. It is a collection of definitions, postulates , propositions , and mathematical proofs of the propositions...
,
Jabir ibn AflahAbū Muḥammad Jābir ibn Aflaḥ was a Muslim astronomer and mathematician from Seville, who was active in 12th century Andalusia. His work Iṣlāḥ al-Majisṭi influenced Islamic, Jewish and Christian astronomers....
's
Elementa astronomica,
Al-Kindi' , known as "the Philosopher of the Arabs", was a Muslim Arab philosopher, mathematician, physician, and musician. Al-Kindi was the first of the Muslim peripatetic philosophers, and is unanimously hailed as the "father of Islamic or Arabic philosophy" for his synthesis, adaptation and promotion...
's
On Optics, al-Farghani's
On Elements of Astronomy on the Celestial Motions,
al-Farabi' known in the West as Alpharabius , was a scientist and philosopher of the Islamic world...
's
On the Classification of the Sciences, the chemical and
medicalIn the history of medicine, Islamic medicine, Arabic medicine or Arabian medicine refers to medicine developed in the Islamic Golden Age, and written in Arabic, the lingua franca of Islamic civilization....
works of
al-Razi Muhammad ibn Zakariyā Rāzī , known as Rhazes or Rasis after medieval Latinists, was a Persian polymath,a prominent figure in Islamic Golden Age, physician, alchemist and chemist, philosopher, and scholar....
(Rhazes), the works of
Thabit ibn Qurra' was a mathematician, physician, astronomer and translator of the Islamic Golden Age.Ibn Qurra made important discoveries in algebra, geometry and astronomy...
and
Hunayn ibn IshaqHunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Assyrian Nestorian Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating Greek scientific and medical works into Arabic and Syriac during the heyday of the Islamic Abbasid Caliphate.Ḥunayn ibn Isḥaq was the most productive...
, and the works of al-Zarkali,
Jabir ibn AflahAbū Muḥammad Jābir ibn Aflaḥ was a Muslim astronomer and mathematician from Seville, who was active in 12th century Andalusia. His work Iṣlāḥ al-Majisṭi influenced Islamic, Jewish and Christian astronomers....
, the
Banu MusaThe Banū Mūsā brothers , namely Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir , Abū al‐Qāsim Aḥmad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir and Al-Ḥasan ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir , were three 9th-century Persian scholars of Baghdad who are known for their Book of Ingenious Devices on automata and mechanical devices...
, Abu Kamil,
Abu al-QasimAbu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi , also known in the West as Abulcasis, was an Arab physician who lived in Al-Andalus. He is considered the greatest medieval surgeon to have appeared from the Islamic World, and has been described by some as the father of modern surgery...
, and Ibn al-Haytham (including the
Book of OpticsThe Book of Optics ; ; Latin: De Aspectibus or Opticae Thesaurus: Alhazeni Arabis; Italian: Deli Aspecti) is a seven-volume treatise on optics and other fields of study composed by the medieval Muslim scholar Alhazen .-See also:* Science in medieval Islam...
). The medical works he translated include
Haly AbenrudianAbu'l Hasan Ali ibn Ridwan Al-Misri was an Egyptian Muslim physician, astrologer and astronomer, born in Giza.He was a commentator on ancient Greek medicine, and in particular on Galen; his commentary on Galen's Ars Parva was translated by Gerardo Cremonese...
's
Expositio ad Tegni Galeni; the
Practica, Brevarium medicine by
Yuhanna ibn SarabiyunYahya ibn Sarafyun a Syrian physician, known in Europe as Johannes Serapion, and commonly called Serapion the Elder to distinguish him from Serapion the Younger, with whom he was often confused.-Biography:...
(Serapion);
Alkindus' , known as "the Philosopher of the Arabs", was a Muslim Arab philosopher, mathematician, physician, and musician. Al-Kindi was the first of the Muslim peripatetic philosophers, and is unanimously hailed as the "father of Islamic or Arabic philosophy" for his synthesis, adaptation and promotion...
'
De GradibusDe Gradibus was an Arabic book published by the Arab physician Al-Kindi . De gradibus is the Latinized name of the book. An alternative name for the book was Quia Primos....
; Rhazes'
Liber ad Almansorem, Liber divisionum, Introductio in medicinam, De egritudinibus iuncturarum, Antidotarium and
Practica puerorum;
Isaac Israeli ben SolomonIsaac Israeli ben Solomon , also known as Isaac Israeli the Elder and Isaac Judaeus, was one of the foremost physicians and philosophers of his time. He is regarded as the father of medieval Jewish Neoplatonism...
's
De elementis and
De definitionibus; Abulcasis'
Al-TasrifThe Kitab al-Tasrif was an Arabic encyclopedia on medicine and surgery, written near the year 1000 by Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi...
as
Chirurgia;
AvicennaAbū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
's
The Canon of MedicineThe Canon of Medicine is an encyclopedia of Galenic medicine in five books compiled by Ibn Sīnā and completed in 1025. It presents a clear and organized summary of all the medical knowledge of the time...
as
Liber Canonis; and the
Liber de medicamentis simplicus by Ibn Wafid (Abenguefit).
At the close of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th centuries,
Mark of ToledoMark of Toledo was a Spanish physician and a canon of Toledo.He produced one of the earliest translations of the Qur'an into Latin while working at the Toledo School of Translators...
translated the
Qur'anThe Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
(once again) and various
medical worksIn the history of medicine, Islamic medicine, Arabic medicine or Arabian medicine refers to medicine developed in the Islamic Golden Age, and written in Arabic, the lingua franca of Islamic civilization....
. He also translated
Hunayn ibn IshaqHunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Assyrian Nestorian Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating Greek scientific and medical works into Arabic and Syriac during the heyday of the Islamic Abbasid Caliphate.Ḥunayn ibn Isḥaq was the most productive...
's medical work
Liber isagogarum.
Under King
Alfonso X of CastileAlfonso X was a Castilian monarch who ruled as the King of Castile, León and Galicia from 1252 until his death...
, Toledo rose even higher in importance as a translation center. By insisting that the translated output was "llanos de entender" ("easy to understand"), they reached a much wider audience both within Spain and in other European countries, as many scholars from places like Italy, Germany, England or the Netherlands, who had moved to Toledo in order to translate medical, religious, classical and philosophical texts, brought back to their countries the acquired knowledge. Others were selected and hired with very high salaries by the King himself from many places in Spain, like Seville or Córdoba and foreign places like Gascony or Paris.
Michael ScotMichael Scot was a medieval mathematician and scholar.- Early life and education :He was born in Scotland, and studied first at the cathedral school of Durham and then at Oxford and Paris, devoting himself to philosophy, mathematics, and astrology...
(c. 1175–1232) translated the works of
al-BetrugiNur ad-Din al-Bitruji was an astronomer and a Qadi from Al-Andalus...
(Alpetragius) in 1217, al-Bitruji's
On the Motions of the Heavens, and
Averroes' , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was a Muslim polymath; a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy,...
' influential commentaries on the scientific works of
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
.
Later translators
David the Jew (c. 1228–1245) translated the works of
al-Razi Muhammad ibn Zakariyā Rāzī , known as Rhazes or Rasis after medieval Latinists, was a Persian polymath,a prominent figure in Islamic Golden Age, physician, alchemist and chemist, philosopher, and scholar....
(Rhazes) into Latin.
Arnaldus de Villa NovaArnaldus de Villa Nova was an alchemist, astrologer and physician....
's (1235–1313) translations include the works of
GalenAelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamon , was a prominent Roman physician, surgeon and philosopher...
and
AvicennaAbū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
(including his
Maqala fi Ahkam al-adwiya al-qalbiya as
De viribus cordis), the
De medicinis simplicibus by Abu al-Salt (Albuzali), and
Costa ben LucaQusta ibn Luqa was a Melkite physician, scientist and translator, of Byzantine Greek extraction. He was born in Baalbek. Travelling to parts of the Byzantine Empire, he brought back Greek texts and translated them into Arabic.- Biography :Qusta ibn Luqa al-BaBa'albakki, i. e...
's
De physicis ligaturis.
In 13th century Portugal,
Giles of SantarémGiles of Santarém was a Portuguese Dominican scholar.-Life:He was born at Vouzela. His father, Rodrigo Pelayo Valladaris, was governor of Coimbra and councillor of Sancho I...
translated Rhazes'
De secretis medicine, Aphorismi Rasis and
MesueYuhanna ibn Masawaih, also written Ibn Masawaih, Masawaiyh, and in Latin Mesue, Masuya, Mesue Major, Msuya, and Mesue the Elder was an Assyrian physician from the Academy of Gundishapur...
's
De secretis medicine. In
Murcia-History:It is widely believed that Murcia's name is derived from the Latin words of Myrtea or Murtea, meaning land of Myrtle , although it may also be a derivation of the word Murtia, which would mean Murtius Village...
, Rufin of
AlexandriaAlexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
translated the
Liber questionum medicinalium discentium in medicina by
Hunayn ibn IshaqHunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Assyrian Nestorian Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating Greek scientific and medical works into Arabic and Syriac during the heyday of the Islamic Abbasid Caliphate.Ḥunayn ibn Isḥaq was the most productive...
(Hunen), and Dominicus Marrochinus translated the
Epistola de cognitione infirmatum oculorum by Ali Ibn Isa (Jesu Haly). In 14th century
LeridaLleida is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida, as well as the largest city in the province and it had 137,387 inhabitants , including the contiguous municipalities of Raimat and Sucs. The metro area has about 250,000 inhabitants...
, John Jacobi translated Alcoati's medical work
Liber de la figura del uyl into
CatalanCatalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
and then Latin.
Willem van MoerbekeWillem van Moerbeke, O.P., known in the English speaking world as William of Moerbeke was a prolific medieval translator of philosophical, medical, and scientific texts from Greek into Latin...
, known in the English speaking world as William of
MoerbekeMoerbeke is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality only comprises the town of Moerbeke proper. On January 1, 2006 Moerbeke had a total population of 5,844...
(c. 1215–1286) was a prolific medieval translator of philosophical, medical, and scientific texts from Greek into Latin. At the request of Aquinas, so it is assumed—the source document is not clear—he undertook a complete translation of the works of
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
or, for some portions, a revision of existing translations. He was the first translator of the
Politics (c. 1260) from Greek into Latin. The reason for the request was that the many copies of Aristotle in Latin then in circulation had originated in Spain (see
Gerard of CremonaGerard of Cremona was an Italian translator of Arabic scientific works found in the abandoned Arab libraries of Toledo, Spain....
). These earlier translations were assumed to have been influenced by the rationalist
Averroes' , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was a Muslim polymath; a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy,...
, who was suspected of being a source of philosophical and theological errors found in the earlier translations of Aristotle. Moerbeke's translations have had a long history; they were already standard classics by the 14th century, when Henricus Hervodius put his finger on their enduring value: they were literal (
de verbo in verbo), faithful to the spirit of Aristotle and
without elegance. For several of William's translations, the Greek texts have since disappeared: without him the works would be lost. William also translated mathematical treatises by
Hero of AlexandriaHero of Alexandria was an ancient Greek mathematician and engineerEnc. Britannica 2007, "Heron of Alexandria" who was active in his native city of Alexandria, Roman Egypt...
and
ArchimedesArchimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Among his advances in physics are the foundations of hydrostatics, statics and an...
. Especially important was his translation of the
Theological Elements of
ProclusProclus Lycaeus , called "The Successor" or "Diadochos" , was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major Classical philosophers . He set forth one of the most elaborate and fully developed systems of Neoplatonism...
(made in 1268), because the
Theological Elements is one of the fundamental sources of the revived Neo-Platonic philosophical currents of the 13th century. The
VaticanThe Vatican Library is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. Formally established in 1475, though in fact much older, it has 75,000 codices from...
collection holds William's own copy of the translation he made of the greatest Hellenistic mathematician,
ArchimedesArchimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Among his advances in physics are the foundations of hydrostatics, statics and an...
, with commentaries of Eutocius, which was made in 1269 at the papal court in Viterbo. William consulted two of the best Greek manuscripts of Archimedes, both of which have since disappeared.
Other European translators
Adelard of BathAdelard of Bath was a 12th century English scholar. He is known both for his original works and for translating many important Greek and Arabic scientific works of astrology, astronomy, philosophy and mathematics into Latin from Arabic versions, which were then introduced to Western Europe...
's (
fl.Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
1116–1142) translations into Latin included al-Khwarizmi's astronomical and trigonometrical work
Astronomical tables and his
arithmeticArithmetic or arithmetics is the oldest and most elementary branch of mathematics, used by almost everyone, for tasks ranging from simple day-to-day counting to advanced science and business calculations. It involves the study of quantity, especially as the result of combining numbers...
al work
Liber ysagogarum Alchorismi, the
Introduction to Astrology of Abū Ma'shar, as well as Euclid's
Elements. Adelard associated with other scholars in Western England such as
Peter AlfonsiPetrus Alphonsi was a Jewish Spanish writer and astronomer, and polemicist, who converted to Christianity....
and
Walcher of MalvernWalcher of Malvern, also known as Walcher of Lorraine or Doctor Walcher, was the second Prior of Malvern and a noted astrologer-astronomer and mathematician....
who translated and developed the astronomical concepts brought from Spain. Abu Kamil's
Algebra was also translated into Latin during this period, but the translator of the work is unknown.
Alfred of SareshelAlfred of Sarashel, also known as Alfred the Philosopher, Alfred the Englishman or Alfredus Anglicus, was born in England some time in the 12th century and died in the 13th century....
's (c. 1200–1227) translations include the works of
Nicolaus of DamascusNicolaus of Damascus was a Greek historian and philosopher who lived during the Augustan age of the Roman Empire. His name is derived from that of his birthplace, Damascus. He was born around 64 BC....
and
Hunayn ibn IshaqHunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Assyrian Nestorian Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating Greek scientific and medical works into Arabic and Syriac during the heyday of the Islamic Abbasid Caliphate.Ḥunayn ibn Isḥaq was the most productive...
. Antonius Frachentius Vicentinus' translations include the works of
Ibn SinaAbū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
(Avicenna). Armenguad's translations include the works of Avicenna,
Averroes' , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was a Muslim polymath; a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy,...
, Hunayn ibn Ishaq, and
MaimonidesMoses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
. Berengarius of
ValentiaValentia may refer to:*Valentia Island, off the coast of Ireland*Valentia , a province of Roman Britain*Valence, Drôme, France, known in Roman times as Valentia*Nuragus, Sardinia, Italy, known in Roman times as Valentia...
translated the works of
Abu al-QasimAbu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi , also known in the West as Abulcasis, was an Arab physician who lived in Al-Andalus. He is considered the greatest medieval surgeon to have appeared from the Islamic World, and has been described by some as the father of modern surgery...
(Abulcasis). Drogon (Azagont) translated the works of
al-Kindi' , known as "the Philosopher of the Arabs", was a Muslim Arab philosopher, mathematician, physician, and musician. Al-Kindi was the first of the Muslim peripatetic philosophers, and is unanimously hailed as the "father of Islamic or Arabic philosophy" for his synthesis, adaptation and promotion...
. Farragut (Faradj ben Salam) translated the works of Hunayn ibn Ishaq, Ibn Zezla (Byngezla),
MasawaiyhYuhanna ibn Masawaih, also written Ibn Masawaih, Masawaiyh, and in Latin Mesue, Masuya, Mesue Major, Msuya, and Mesue the Elder was an Assyrian physician from the Academy of Gundishapur...
(Mesue), and
al-Razi Muhammad ibn Zakariyā Rāzī , known as Rhazes or Rasis after medieval Latinists, was a Persian polymath,a prominent figure in Islamic Golden Age, physician, alchemist and chemist, philosopher, and scholar....
(Rhazes). Andreas Alphagus Bellnensis' translations include the works of Avicenna, Averroes,
Serapion-Physicians:*Serapion of Alexandria , Greek physician*Yahya ibn Sarafyun , also known as Serapion the Elder or Johannes Serapion, Christian physician who wrote two medical compilations in Syriac...
, al-Qifti, and Albe'thar.
In 13th century
Montpellier-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
, Profatius and Bernardus Honofredi translated the
Kitab alaghdiya by
Ibn ZuhrAbū Merwān ’Abdal-Malik ibn Zuhr was a Muslim physician, surgeon and teacher in Al-Andalus.He was born at Seville...
(Avenzoar) as
De regimine sanitatis; and Armengaudus Blasius translated the
al-Urjuza fi al-tibb, a work combining the medical writings of
AvicennaAbū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
and
Averroes' , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was a Muslim polymath; a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy,...
, as
Cantica cum commento.
Other texts translated during this period include the alchemical works of Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber), whose treatises became standard texts for European
alchemistsAlchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
. These include the
Kitab al-Kimya (titled
Book of the Composition of Alchemy in Europe), translated by
Robert of ChesterRobert of Chester was an English arabist of the 12th century. He translated several historically important books from Arabic to Latin, by authors such as Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan and Al-Khwarizmi including:...
(1144); the
Kitab al-Sab'een translated by
Gerard of CremonaGerard of Cremona was an Italian translator of Arabic scientific works found in the abandoned Arab libraries of Toledo, Spain....
(before 1187), and the
Book of the Kingdom,
Book of the Balances and
Book of Eastern Mercury translated by Marcelin Berthelot. Another work translated during this period was
De Proprietatibus Elementorum, an
Arabic workScience in the medieval Islamic world, also known as Islamic science or Arabic science, is the science developed and practised in the Islamic world during the Islamic Golden Age . During this time, Indian, Iranian and especially Greek knowledge was translated into Arabic...
on
geologyGeography and cartography in medieval Islam refers to the advancement of geography, cartography and the earth sciences in the medieval Islamic civilization....
written by a
pseudo-AristotlePseudo-Aristotle is a general cognomen for authors of philosophical or medical treatises who attributed their work to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, or whose work was later attributed to him by others....
. A pseudo-
MesueYuhanna ibn Masawaih, also written Ibn Masawaih, Masawaiyh, and in Latin Mesue, Masuya, Mesue Major, Msuya, and Mesue the Elder was an Assyrian physician from the Academy of Gundishapur...
's
De consolatione medicanarum simplicum, Antidotarium, Grabadin was also translated into Latin by an anonymous translator.
See also
- Toledo School of Translators
The Toledo School of Translators is the name that commonly describes the group of scholars who worked together in the city of Toledo during the 12th and 13th centuries, to translate many of the philosophical and scientific works from classical Arabic, classical Greek, and ancient Hebrew.The School...
- Renaissance of the 12th century
The Renaissance of the 12th century was a period of many changes at the outset of the High Middle Ages. It included social, political and economic transformations, and an intellectual revitalization of Western Europe with strong philosophical and scientific roots...
- Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe
Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe were numerous, affecting such varied areas as art, architecture, medicine, agriculture, music, language, and technology. From the 11th to 13th centuries, Europe absorbed knowledge from the Islamic civilization...
- Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete
Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete is the translation of the Qur'an into Latin by Robert of Ketton...
- List of translators
- Mark of Toledo
Mark of Toledo was a Spanish physician and a canon of Toledo.He produced one of the earliest translations of the Qur'an into Latin while working at the Toledo School of Translators...
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