The present volume is the seventh installment of a series of critical editions, with English translation and commentary, of Abraham Ibn Ezra’s astrological writings, broken down according to the several branches of Greek and Arabic astrology addressed by him. The present volume is also the natural sequel to its immediate predecessor. This is clearly signaled by the first words of their titles: “Abraham Ibn Ezra Latinus.” By choosing this leitmotif I meant that the two volumes are intended to look at the same cultural phenomenon—the Ibn Ezra renaissance in the Latin West—from two different angles: As a result of Ibn Ezra’s increasing popularity after his death, collections of his Hebrew astrological treatises were translated in repeated waves into Latin and the emerging European vernaculars. Some of these texts are translations of treatises whose Hebrew originals have been lost; their study affords us a golden opportunity to shed light on a significant missing link in our knowledge of Ibn Ezra’s astrological oeuvre. They also illustrate how Abraham Ibn Ezra was “reborn” in the Latin West and how his astrological lore was received there.

Because the allocation of texts to the volumes of this series was done thematically, by astrological genre, the Latin texts selected for the current volume address two branches of Greek and Arabic astrology: (1) the doctrine of elections, on choosing the most auspicious moment for performing specific actions, by selecting a convenient ascendant among several possible astral configurations and then casting and analyzing the corresponding horoscope; (2) the doctrine of interrogations, designed to allow astrologers to reply to questions related to daily life by casting and analyzing an horoscope for the time when the querent poses his question to the astrologer. That elections and interrogations were the most popular branches of Greco-Arabic astrology in the Middle Ages, including among Jews, is indicated in part by the fact that Ibn Ezra composed no fewer than three versions of Sefer ha-Mivḥarim (Book of Elections) and three versions of Sefer ha-Sheʾelot (Book of Interrogations).

Volume Three of the current series, published in 2011, contained critical editions, with English translation and commentary, of the Hebrew originals of the first and second versions of Sefer ha-Mivḥarim, and of the first and second versions of Sefer ha-Sheʾelot. The present volume completes the picture and restores the third versions of Sefer ha-Mivḥarim (henceforth Mivḥarim III) and of Sefer ha-Sheʾelot (henceforth Sheʾelot III). Although these two Hebrew astrological texts are almost completely lost, their contents survive in two complete anonymous Latin translations, the Liber electionum (henceforth Electiones) and the Liber interrogationum (henceforth Interrogationes). The present volume relies on the two extant manuscripts to offer the first critical editions, with English translation and commentary, of these two Latin texts.

I say that the Hebrew source texts of Electiones and Interrogationes are almost completely lost because a parchment bifolium, recently discovered in the Archivio di Stato, Modena, contains a fragment of Mivḥarim III and another fragment of Sheʾelot III. Under close scrutiny, it turns out that these two Hebrew fragments have a perfect Latin counterpart in two corresponding fragments of Electiones and Interrogationes. This demonstrates without a shadow of doubt that Electiones and Interrogationes are Latin translations of Mivḥarim III and Sheʾelot III. On a recent visit to Modena, with the assistance of an ultraviolet lamp, I was able not only to read the flesh side of the bifolium more accurately, but also to decipher substantial parts of the hair side, particularly the fragment of Sheʾelot III. The Hebrew texts of the legible parts of the two Modena fragments, accompanied by an English translation, are found in an appendix to this volume.

The most mysterious category of Latin translations of Ibn Ezra’s astrological writings consists of Latin texts explicitly assigned to Ibn Ezra but that have no surviving Hebrew counterpart in Ibn Ezra’s astrological corpus and whose affiliation with Ibn Ezra is unclear. One example is Liber Abraham Iudei de nativitatibus, which was studied, edited, and translated in the previous volume of this series. Another specimen in the third category is the Tractatus particulares, a four-part work assigned to Abraham Ibn Ezra, addressing various topics related to the doctrines of elections and interrogations and extant in two Latin translations. Despite the efforts of scholars from the nineteenth century to the present, the source texts behind the bulk of Tractatus particulares remain a terra incognita, and so too the reason this text was attributed to Abraham Ibn Ezra. The present volume offers the first critical edition, with English translation and commentary, of Tractatus particulares. In addition, a preliminary study attempts to determine, taking account of the evidence provided by all the available manuscript and print witnesses of this text, (1) all the sources on which Tractatus particulares drew; (2) the modus operandi of its originator; (3) why this text was attributed to Abraham Ibn Ezra; and (4) the circumstances in which the Hebrew source text behind Tractatus particulares originated.

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to a number of people who have contributed toward the realization of this volume. Carlos Steel carefully read the Latin texts and was very helpful regarding their edition. David Juste provided me with kind access to manuscript copies of Tractatus particulares. Charles Burnett made helpful suggestions about the transmission and interpretation of the Latin texts. Lenn Schramm revised the translations and the English sections of this book; he also made helpful suggestions about the translation of the Latin texts. The Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 289/17) provided a generous grant. My warmest thanks to all of them.

Sh. S.

January 2020