Emilia Calvo Labarta
Member of the Research Project. PhD in Arabic Philology. Tenured University Professor. University of Barcelona.
In charge of:
- Critical edition, translation and study of the Arabic original of the Kitāb al-Bāri‘ (Volume One and Volume Two) by Ibn Abī-l-Rijāl in collaboration with Montse Díaz Fajardo.
MONTSERRAT DÍAZ FAJARDO
Main Researcher of the Project. PhD in Arabic Philology. Senior Professor. University of Barcelona.
In charge of:
- Critical edition, translation and study of the Arabic original of the Kitāb al-Bāri‘ (Volume One and Volume Two) by Ibn Abī-l-Rijāl in collaboration with Emilia Calvo Labarta.
- Study, translation and critical Edition of the Urjūza fī l-ra‘d (The Poem on Thunder) attributed to Ibn Abī-l-Rijāl.
Miquel Forcada Nogués
Member of the Research Project. PhD in Arabic Philology. Full Professor. University of Barcelona.
In charge of:
- Study and translation of the al-Tamhīd li-mā fī l-Muwaṭṭaʾ min al-maʿānī wa-l-asānid by Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, specifically the section about Mālik ibn Anas’s criticism of meteorological prognostication based on anwāʾ.
- Study of the thought of Abū Bakr ibn al-‘Arabī in his Kitāb al-ʿAwāṣim min al-qawāsim about the relation between science and religion and the legality of astrology.
- Study of the views on astrology and its epistemological status of two Andalusian philosophers Ibn Rushd and Ibn Ṭumlūs in their commentaries on Ibn Sīnā’s poem on medicine.
Cristian Tolsa Domènech
Member of the Research Project. PhD in Classical Philology. Senior Professor. University of Barcelona.
In charge of:
- Comparison, from a philological viewpoint, of the Arabic original of the Kitāb al-Bāri‘ (Volume One and Volume Two), the Poem of Astrology by Dorotheus of Sidon (mainly preserved in an Arabic translation from a lost Pahlavi translation) and Greek fragments of the treatise of Hephaestion.
- Comparative study of the following Greek sources: Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos. Sextus Empiricus, Adversus mathematicos. Vettius Valens. Hephaestion. Paul of Alexandria. Other sources: fragments of Greek astrological treatises preserved in Medieval miscellanies, and horoscopes on papyri.
Julio Samsó Moya (1942–2026)
Julio Samsó died suddenly the 13th February 2026. Two months earlier he gave a talk at his home institution, the University of Barcelona, Faculty of Philology and Communication; he did not talk about his large and preeminent work in the field of the History of Arabic Science in al-Andalus and the Maghrib, its connections with Eastern science and the transmission in medieval Europe, but talked instead about the research done by his disciples, showing enthusiasm for their work. Julio Samsó was a generous person, and rigorous and hardworking scholar. We will endeavor to emulate his teaching and strength, keeping alive his love of research in the hope of making him proud.
The ASARGA team.