BPHV raccoglie testi significativi del sapere medievale e rinascimentale,
nelle versioni occidentali ed orientali, secondo una duplice organizzazione:
a) geografica, dove l'accento è posto sul rapporto tra i centri in cui il sapere si sviluppa e si irradia verso le periferie:
b) tematica:
The book includes some notions of astronomy and describes only the first phase of training in geomancy, with the definition of the figures but without providing further guidance to the learner on how to practice the art of divination.
James of Viterbo is considered the author of a Lectura in IV libros Sententiarum. Before the publication of Stegmüller's Repertorium Commentariorum in Sententias Petri Lombardi, the Lectura was believed to be transmitted only by the code G V 15 of the Biblioteca Comunale of Siena.
It is difficult to determine whether the Liber Antimaquis (book of the spiritual works of Aristotle and the secrets of Hermes) represents the direct translation of a set of treaties on Hermetic magic, with several titles in Arabic manuscripts, or the adaptation of a previous version.
The text consists of a collection of astrological aphorisms attributed to Hermes probably translated by a lost Arabic origil by the physician and philosopher of the 11th century Haly Abenrudianus ('Ali ibn Ridwan).
The Liber de quattuor confectionibus ad omnia genera animalium capienda is the Latin translation of an Arabic treatise about natural magic. Handed down from a single manuscript, the text in dialogical form is mentioned by the author of the Speculum astronomiae and by William of Auvergne in De universo.
This booklet, attributed to Hermes Abhaidimon, «almost unique among the philosophers blessed by God», relates the characters of fifteen fixed stars, each one exerting influence on an associated gem, plant and magic image.
It is the Latin version - achieved by Ugo of Santalla - of the Arab work Kitab sirr al-haliqa ("The book of the secret of Creation"), written in the first half of the 11th century.
The original Greek version of the Liber de septem herbis consists of two notices: one is anonymous or attributed to Hermes, the other one to Alexander the Great.
The book is divided into seven parts preceded by a prologue, in which the legend of the three Hermes, dating back to the philosopher Albumasar, is narrated.
The scapulimancy is an ars divinatoria that consists in the analysis of the shoulder blades of the animals sacrificed.
The oldest fragment concerning this practice and attributed to Hermes has North African origins.
The Liber de virtutibus herbarum consists of a treatise about zodiacal signs and the seven planets, connected to medical plants, described by Jonathan Smith as "one of the most precious texts for an understanding of the religious life of Late Antiquity".
Liber Hermetis vel de rebus occultis
The Liber imaginum signorum is a treatise on astrological medicine that appears under the title De imaginibus ad calculum in the Latin translation of Picatrix and in Opus de praeclarum imaginibus astrologicis of Jerome Torrella.
The Liber institutionum activarum is the Latin translation, compiled in Spain in the thirteenth century, of an Arabic apocryphal Kitab al-nawamis drawn up perhaps by Abu Zayd Hunayn.
The Liber philosophorum moralium antiquorum is the Latin transposition of a text called Bocados de oro, drawn up at the court of Alfonso X el Sabio.
The Liber viginti quattuor philosophorum is an apocryphal of the hermetic tradition, written in the second half of the twelfth century and attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.
Astrological poem in hexameters concerning the impact of celestial bodies on atmospheric phenomena and on the sublunary sphere.
The poem develops natural and astrological issues and ethical and pedagogical reasons.
The original Arabic text, entitled Ghayat al-hakim, was written in Spain in 1047-1051 and translated into Castilian in 1256, at the court of Alfonso X el Sabio.
In 1303, Pietro d'Abano composes the Conciliator differentiarum philosophorum et precipue medicorum, a medical manual. In this book he writes about the interdisciplinary nature of medicine.
