The Hebrew Geometrical Compendium

Abstract

The Hebrew Geometrical Compendium (HGC) is one of the most complete encyclopedic presentations of geometry from the Middle Ages extant today. The compendium presents mainly works by Euclid, Archimedes, Hypsicles, Theodosius, Menelaus, but relies also on Thābit Ibn Qurra, and on some additional materials from Greek and Arabic geometry. The text was first noticed by Tzvi Langermann, who commented that the compilation could have originally been written in either Greek, Arabic, or Hebrew. The present study confirms that it was written in Hebrew and was addressed to a Jewish audience. With the exception of some unidentified additions at the end of HGC V, all the texts included in the compilation were available in Hebrew translations by Moses Ibn Tibbon, Jacob ben Makhir, and Qalonimos ben Qalonimos. The compiler relied on these translations. It is likely that he could read some Arabic and/or Latin, but definite proof of this ability has not been found.