Hugo of Santalla facts for kids
Hugo of Santalla (also known as Hugh of Santalla) was a very important translator who lived in the early 1100s. He took old texts written in Arabic and changed them into Latin. These texts were about interesting subjects like alchemy, astronomy, astrology, and geomancy.
Who Was Hugo of Santalla?
Hugo of Santalla is believed to have been a priest from Spain. He worked in a city called Tarazona. A powerful person named Michael, who was the bishop (a church leader) of Tarazona, supported his work. This support helped Hugo to do his important translations.
What Did Hugo Translate?
Hugo of Santalla translated many significant books. These books helped to share knowledge from the Arabic world with people in Europe.
Here are some of the works he translated:
- Books on the stars: He translated works by famous thinkers like Alfraganus and Haly. These books were about astronomy (the study of stars and planets) and astrology (the belief that stars influence human events).
- Mysterious texts: He translated the Liber de secretis naturae (which means Book of Nature's Secrets) by Apollonius of Tyana. He also translated De Spatula, a book about divination (trying to predict the future).
- The Emerald Tablet: Hugo also translated the famous Tabula Smaragdina, also known as the Emerald Tablet. This text is very important in the history of alchemy, which was an early form of chemistry. People in alchemy tried to turn common metals into gold.
- The Liber Aristotilis: This book was a collection of different writings. It included ideas from ancient Greek and Persian cultures. Even though it was called Liber Aristotilis (Book of Aristotle), none of the ideas in it are now thought to be from the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle.
Hugo's work was crucial because it helped to bring a lot of scientific and philosophical knowledge from the Arabic world into Latin-speaking Europe. This helped new ideas and discoveries to spread widely.
See also
In Spanish: Hugo de Santalla para niños
