Hebrew Medical Astrology: David Ben Yom Tov, Kelal Qatan: Original Hebrew Text, Medieval Latin Translation, Modern English Translation (American Philosophical Society Transaction 95-5, ISBN: 0871699559)

Hebrew Medical Astrology:
David Ben Yom Tov, Kelal Qatan: Original Hebrew Text, Medieval Latin Translation, Modern English Translation
(American Philosophical Society Transaction 95-5, ISBN: 0871699559)
Edited by Gerrit Bos, Charles Burnett and Tzvi Langer
(Paperback, 121 pages, 2005, $24.00)

The “Kelal Qatan (Concise Summary)” was composed by David Ben Yom Tov, a Hebrew scholar who lived in the first half of the 14th century. He is known in Latin simply as David Iudaeus.

This is a text on medical astrology, dealing primarily with the astrological indications pertaining especially to fevers. It is the most detailed and extensive original Hebrew treatise on astrological medicine surviving in Hebrew Literature.

Contents of this edition: Introduction; Original Hebrew Text; The Latin Text; Modern English Translation; Glossary; and Bibliography. Color and black and white illustrations.

“Though the text begins with an account of ancient and Medieval astrological medicine, it explains the background that led the ancients (Ptolemy, Hippocrates, Galen etc.) to astrological medicine,” writes C. Del Valle in a review for the journal Iberia Judaica ( Spanish [PDF] • English Translation [PDF] ).

“Next is a study of the life and work of David Ben Yom, with special reference to the Hebrew authors associated with astrological medicine. Apart from some of the Hebrew translators who worked in the field (David Calonico, Solomon Avigdor), the authors cite a hitherto unpublished work of Pinças Narbonne and that is just one part of astrological medicine. The influence of the astral world in the sublunary world and specifically the power that the moon exerts on the plants and animals, Pinças makes a study of the influence of hebdomales lunar cycles in human pathology.

“The authors acknowledge that in the history of astrological medicine there are still many elements to be researched. But there is absolutely no doubt that this small booklet, a mere 120 pages, clearly has advanced our knowledge of Hebrew medieval medicine. The American Philosophical Society must be recognized its success in the publication of this work.”

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