Tag: ibn-ezra

A Fatal Law: Medieval Europe and the Astrological Renaissance

Adelard of Bath with his students—bridging Arabic science and European learning beneath the stars

Reintroduced to the Latin West in the 12th century, astrology positioned man at the center of the vast universe, and inspired Renaissance thinkers to investigate — and eventually uproot — concepts that had held sway for centuries

In the Footsteps of Angels: Medieval Arabic Astrology

Illustration of different phases of the moon, from manuscript of the Kitab al-Tafhim by Al-Biruni (973-1048).

As the newly formed Muslim caliphate extended beyond the Arabian Peninsula, it encountered Persian, Hellenistic, and Indian forms of astrology, integrating them into a refined science that would reach its medieval peak in Baghdad, a city whose fortune and fate would be foretold by the stars.