Event
Dating Saints: A Remarkable Late Medieval Hebrew Compendium of Astronomy and Calendars
3420 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA
This event is a segment of The Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies & the Herbert D. Katz Center Distinguished Fellow's Lecture in Jewish Manuscript Studies.
Penn Libraries' LJS 57, a manuscript written ca. 1361 in Sephardic script, is a remarkable compendium of Hebrew astronomical and related scientific works. It includes four astrological works by Abraham ibn Ezra and the astronomical tables of Jacob ben David ben Yom Tov. The longest section of the codex is an impressive, richly illustrated catalog of stars and constellations, demonstrating how medieval sciences could open the door for creative, artistic expression. In the middle of the codex, the scribe presents a Christian liturgical calendar in Hebrew translation, complete with saint days and other liturgical events. This raises the question: why were Jews interested in Christian dates?
Featured Speaker
Sacha Stern is a Fellow of the British Academy and Professor of Rabbinic Judaism at the University College London’s Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies. He is an expert in Jewish history in late Antiquity, early rabbinic literature, and the history of calendars and time reckoning. Among his many publications, he is the author of Calendar and Community: A History of the Jewish Calendar, 2nd Century BCE to 10th Century CE (2001), Time and Process in Ancient Judaism (2003), and Calendars in Antiquity: Empires, States, and Societies (2012) and the editor of the Journal of Jewish Studies.