An essay on Tradition Online, the web publication of the Rabbinical Council of America's journal Tradition, naming specific medieval Jewish astrologers who applied Saturn-Jupiter conjunction theory to Jewish history: Abraham bar Hiyya's Megillat HaMegalleh, which held that a conjunction occurring in Pisces signaled calamity for the Jewish people, and the view bar Hiyya shared with Ibn Gabirol that the timing of such conjunctions could be used to calculate the Messiah's arrival, a use Abraham Ibn Ezra explicitly rejected. The author, a physician and historian of science, has published academically on the Jewish reception of astronomy (New Heavens and a New Earth, Oxford University Press). Useful for these named positions and the specific primary works cited; not a peer reviewed academic article in its own right.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier2
Tier two: an essay on Tradition Online, the web publication of the Rabbinical Council of America's journal, by an author who has published academically on the Jewish reception of astronomy with Oxford University Press. Useful for the named medieval positions and primary works it cites; its limit is that it is not itself a peer reviewed academic article. NotesA named author with relevant academic credentials writing for a serious, edited, non-peer-reviewed venue; not itself carrying footnotes to secondary scholarship. Checked directly. Use for the specific named positions (bar Hiyya, Ibn Gabirol, Ibn Ezra) it documents; corroborate against the Burnett and Greenbaum volume where the claim is load bearing.
Citation
AuthorJeremy Brown
PublisherTradition Online (Rabbinical Council of America)
Publication Year2020
URLhttps://traditiononline.org/the-conjunction-of-saturn-and-jupiter-in-medieval-jewish-thought/
Source TypeEssay
Connections
Associated With
This source names Abraham directly: "conjunction theory to Jewish history: Abraham bar Hiyya's Megillat HaMegalleh, which held that a conjunction occurring in Pisces signaled calamity for the Jewish people, and the view bar Hiyya..."
Source The Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Medieval Jewish ThoughtJeremy Brown
This source names Americas directly: "An essay on Tradition Online, the web publication of the Rabbinical Council of America's journal Tradition, naming specific medieval Jewish astrologers who applied Saturn-Jupiter conjunction theory..."
Source The Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Medieval Jewish ThoughtJeremy Brown
This source names Jupiter directly: "Jewish astrologers who applied Saturn-Jupiter conjunction theory to Jewish history: Abraham bar Hiyya's Megillat HaMegalleh, which held that a conjunction occurring in Pisces signaled calamity for..."
Source The Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Medieval Jewish ThoughtJeremy Brown
This source names Saturn directly: "Jewish astrologers who applied Saturn-Jupiter conjunction theory to Jewish history: Abraham bar Hiyya's Megillat HaMegalleh, which held that a conjunction occurring in Pisces signaled calamity for..."
Source The Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Medieval Jewish ThoughtJeremy Brown
Claims Backed By This Source (14 claims)
This source backs 14 claims across the atlas. As facts: 8 well-attested. As cited relationships: 4 holds, 1 connected. Plus 1 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 12 claims: 8 well-attested, 4 holds.
- Ages, 1 claims: 1 general references.
- Historical Figures, 1 claims: 1 connected.
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