The Sicilian Translators of the Twelfth Century and the First Latin Version of Ptolemy's Almagest

The Influential Impact and Contributions of the Scientific Heritage of Mouseion' Scholars Towards Renaissance and Present-day Technologies

“…Almagest, which was divided into 13 books, was translated into Arabic as late as the 8 th century A.D, and then into Latin in the second half of the 12 th century (Saliba, 1995). The Greek text was widely transmitted in Europe after that, though Latin versions from Arabic remained more prominent (Haskins & Lockwood, 1910).…”

Wonder, Sorcery, and Technology: Contribute to the History of Medieval Robotics

“…In his preface to the translation of the Phaedo, he addresses to an Englishman who was to return home from Sicily, using the following words: " […] Habes Heroni philosophi Mechanica pre manibus, qui tam subtiliter de inani disputat […] " (you have in your hands the Mechanics by Hero, who so subtly deals with the void). These words led Rose and Birkenmajer [28][29] to believe that it was the Pneumatics, since in the Mechanics Hero doesn't speak of void; Haskins [30][31][32] refused such an inference, because the content of Mechanics is known only from Arabic translations, possibly incomplete; moreover, Haskins rejected the subsequent inference by the above mentioned scholars as a risky assumption: according to them, Henricus was referring to his own Latin translation, since other translations of his are quoted in the passage.…”

La diplomatie médio-byzantine et l’Antiquité

“…Ce dernier est aussi un traducteur au sein d'une cour royale sicilienne où prévaut un singulier trilinguisme latin, grec et arabe. Il revient surtout de la cour byzantine avec un don impérial sous forme d'un manuscrit : la Megiv sth suv ntaxiı de Claude Ptolémée -davantage connu de nos jours sous le nom d'Almageste, de son nom arabe transmis au monde latin 95 96 . Un tel don a donc pu peser dans les négociations, certainement menées dans le cadre de cette ambassade par Henri Aristippe lui-même au regard de ses fonctions de chancelier à la cour de Sicile.…”