It is also demonstrated that this compendium was utilized and frequently refashioned by Theophilus of Edessa between 765 and 775 and was made available by Theophilus to his colleague at the ’Abbasid court at Baghdad, Masha’allah.
Masha’allah’s works in turn strongly influenced the early development of Arabic astrology, and many of them were translated into Latin and Greek, thereby spreading Rhetorius’s influence. A manuscript of Rhetorius’s compendium was apparently brought to Byzantium by Theophilus’s student, Stephanus, in about 790; from this archetype are descended the several Byzantine epitomes and reworking of portions of this text; some of these-pseudo-Porphyry, Ep(itome) III, Ep. IIIb, and Ep. IV — passed through the hands of Demophilus in about 1000, while two of the remainder — Ep. IIb and Ber. — were the only ones to preserve the name of Rhetorius as their author.
From Alexandria to Baghdad to Byzantium. The Transmission of Astrology
David Pingree
IJCT 8 (2001-2002), pp. 3-37.
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