Papers by Hagar Kahana-Smilansky
Berechiah Ben Natronai Ha-Naqdan’s Works and Their Reception/ L’oeuvre de Berechiah Ben Natronai Ha-Naqdan et sa Réception, eds. Tamas Visi, Tovi Bibring. Daniel Soukup, Brepols, 2019
This article summarizes recent progress in the search for the sources of the twelfth century Hebr... more This article summarizes recent progress in the search for the sources of the twelfth century Hebrew collection of scientific Questions (ספר השאלות), known as Dodi ve-nekhdi, by Berechiah ben Naṭronai ha-Naqdan. Its main source has long been known to be Questiones naturales by Adelard of Bath, but it includes alterations and additions, most of them still unexplained. The present article outlines possible directions of research and illustrates the problems involved in them by examining two Questions in detail: A question on the eye and vision, and the question on "melancholic" animals.
Gersonides' Afterlife, Studies on the Reception of Levi ben Gershom’s Philosophical, Halakhic, and Scientific Oevre in the 14th through 20th Centuries, 2020
This article argues that the "Prognostication for 1355" by the Jewish Provencal scholar Violas de... more This article argues that the "Prognostication for 1355" by the Jewish Provencal scholar Violas de Rodez is a political prognostication calculated by a professional for a high ranking Christian. The associations of this prognostication with previous ones made in Provence are highlighted, including the one Gersonides had cast for 1345-1355.
ALEPH_18, 2018
The astrological prognostication for the year 1355 C.E., written in Hebrew by the Provencal-Jewis... more The astrological prognostication for the year 1355 C.E., written in Hebrew by the Provencal-Jewish scholar Violas de Rodez, remained unstudied and unedited to date like his other extant work. The present study comprises the Hebrew text and English translation, preceded by an historical introduction. The latter seeks to establish the author’s situation in the scene of scientific creativity that emerged from Christian-Jewish scholarly contacts in southern France. It supports the self-presentation of the treatise as an annual prognostication made in the wake of previous false prognostications for 1355, and argues that its character and themes indicate that it was made for a Christian sovereign in southern France.
Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and …, Jan 1, 2010
Book Reviews by Hagar Kahana-Smilansky
Uploads
Papers by Hagar Kahana-Smilansky
Book Reviews by Hagar Kahana-Smilansky