The transmission of astronomical texts from Arabic into Latin in the Iberian Peninsula started as early as the 10th Century. Some of these translations made their way through the European continent and in some cases deeply influenced the works of later European astronomers.

One of the most interesting examples of this phenomenon is, without any doubt, that of al-Battani’s astronomical book called al-Zij al-Sabi. But being as important as it is, there is no study up to now of the Latin translations of this text. The only complete study of the original Arabic text is due to Carlo Nallino back in the 19th century.

The aim of the paper is to present some of the features that can be derived from the comparative study of the original Arabic text of this Zij and the Latin translation compiled in the 12th century in the Northern regions of the Iberian Peninsula by Plato of Tivoli.