Shabbatai Donnolo's "Sefer Hakhmoni": Introduction, Critical Text, and Annotated English Translation

by Piergabriele Mancuso

"Sefer Hakhmoni" by the 10th-century Jewish polymath Shabbatai Donnolo is one of the first texts written in Hebrew in medieval Europe and one of the most important documents of the Hebrew Renaissance of Byzantine Jewry in southern Italy between the 9th and the 11th centuries. Written as a commentary on "Sefer Ye irah" (Book of Formation, an anonymous text probably written in Palestine between the 3rd and the 6th centuries), "Sefer Hakhmoni" is in fact a much more complex work, consisting of biblical exegesis, astrology, medicine, a detailed analysis of the neo-Platonic idea of "melothesia," and the correspondence between the elements of the microcosm and macrocosm. This volume offers the critical text, an annotated English translation, and a comprehensive introduction to Donnolo and his works.

428 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010