From: Thomas Hockey et al. (eds.). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, Springer Reference. New York: Springer, 2007, pp. 95-96
Bar Ḥiyya: Abraham Bar Ḥiyya Savasorda
Y. Tzvi Langermann
Born Barcelona, (Spain), 1070
Bar Ḥiyya is credited with writing the first works
in Hebrew on astronomy and mathematics. He held several official positions
in Barcelona, although that city was under Christian control. Bar Ḥiyya
was fluent in Arabic, the leading language of science at the time. In response
to requests from his Jewish coreligionists in Provence, Bar Ḥiyya produced a series of Hebrew texts in
astronomy and mathematics, the first of their kind to be written in that language.
He also created an entirely new Hebrew technical terminology. His Ṣurat ha‐Aretz
(Form of the earth) is a representative of a nontechnical exposition of astronomy
genre that was immensely popular in the medieval period, especially among
the Hebrew reading public. Bar Ḥiyya also compiled a set of tables, known
as Luḥot ha‐Nasi
(Nasi being one of the titles borne by Bar Ḥiyya) or the Jerusalem Tables. These tables
are for the most part based upon the tables of Battānī.
However, some manuscripts (for example, Chicago, Newberry College, MS. Or
101) have appended to them a set of short essays and accompanying tables.
These addenda have never been properly studied; one of them, which investigates
the differences between the tables of Ptolemy
and Battānī, may be of particular interest. Bar Ḥiyya's tables were later used by Abraham
ibn ʿEzra; some manuscripts, such as the one just mentioned,
bear tables of Ibn ʿEzra as well as some glosses by students of the latter.
Goldstein, Bernard R. (1980). “Star Lists in Hebrew.” Centaurus 28: 185–208. (Publishes lists of astrolabe stars from Bar Ḥiyya's tables.)
Langermann, Y. Tzvi (1999). “Science in the Jewish Communities of the Iberian Peninsula.” In The Jews and the Sciences in the Middle Ages. Aldershot: Ashgate. (General assessment of Bar Ḥiyya's work and impact, with full references to publications of his texts in Spanish or Catalan by J. M. Millás‐Vallicrosa.)
——— (2000). “Hebrew Astronomy: Deep Soundings from a Rich Tradition.” In Astronomy Across Cultures, edited by Helaine Selin, pp. 555–584. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. (Discussion of utilization of Bar Ḥiyya's tables by Ibn ʿEzra and his students.)