Astrologumena Judaica

In these five studies, Reimund Leicht gives an introduction to central aspects of the history of Hebrew astrological literature in antiquity and the Middle Ages. He also provides the most comprehensive description which has been given up to now of the rich astrological literary tradition of Judaism, which had previously only been available mainly in handwritten manuscripts. He reconstructs the beginnings of Jewish astrological literature during Hellenism and presents a corpus of astrological texts in Hebrew and Aramaic which were previously completely unknown. The author studies the way this astrological legacy endured and developed in medieval Judaism in Europe and in the Orient and looks into the origins of the Jewish astro-magic of the Sefer Raziel. In conclusion, he discusses the Hebrew astromagical translation literature.