Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic Tables for the Latitudes of Venus and Mercury

Three traditions of astronomical tables for the latitudes of Venus and Mercury circulated among medieval astronomers in al-Andalus: the Almagest tradition, the Handy Tables tradition, and the Indian tradition. These traditions came to the attention of scholars whose literary language was Hebrew or Judeo-Arabic (Arabic written in Hebrew characters) through Arabic zijes, either directly or indirectly. The present study offers an in- depth examination of eleven tables for the latitudes of Venus and Mercury, composed in Hebrew or Judeo-Arabic in the Iberian Peninsula and southern France from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, focusing on their structure, entries, and terminology. We find that each of the three traditions had at least one representative in Hebrew or Judeo-Arabic. Additionally, we provide a biographical overview of the compilers of the tables, present the various manuscripts in which the tables are extant, and include either full transcriptions of the tables or transcriptions of the variants in other tables in the same tradition. Finally, we review the variety of Hebrew terms used by the authors under discussion for «inclination», «slant», «latitude», and «proportion», as well as for the name of the planet Mercury, highlighting the different strategies employed in their usage.