Two Hebrew Fragments from Unknown Redactions of Abraham Ibn Ezra'sSefer ha-MivḥarimandSefer ha-Šeʾelot

Abstract

The examination of MS 363.3, a parchment bifolium in the Archivio di Stato, Modena, recently led to striking findings. First, although the right side of the verso and the left side of the recto bear a fragment of a hitherto unknown redaction of Sefer ha-Mivḥarim (Book of elections) by Abraham Ibn Ezra, the left side of the verso and the right side of the recto contain another fragment of a hitherto unknown redaction of the same author's Sefer ha-Seʾelot (Book of interrogations). Second, a very close Latin translation of these Hebrew fragments has been located in two Latin manuscripts that contain two astrological works designated therein as Liber eleccionum and Liber interrogacionum , confirming that these Latin texts are translations of the full texts of the lost Hebrew redactions of Mivḥarim III and Seʾelot III. Finally, the fact that we now have these fragments of Mivḥarim III and Seʾelot III as well as their Latin counterparts corroborates the thesis that Ibn Ezra composed at least three Hebrew astrological encyclopedias, consisting of several individual redactions of the various works. The present notice announces this discovery and offers a brief account of the Hebrew fragments and their correspondence with their Latin counterparts. Six excerpts from both fragments are published, accompanied by the Latin translations in Liber eleccionum and Liber interrogacionum and an English translation of a collation of the Hebrew excerpts with their Latin counterparts.