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DISSEMINATION OF MAIMONIDES’ MEDICALWRITINGS IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Lola Ferre

Jewish studies researchers usually consider Maimonides as one of themost, if not the most, important Jewish authors of medical texts in the

medieval world. But I have found many more quotations from another Jewish author, Isaac Israeli, in the medical literature of the time than Ihave from Maimonides. I wondered then whether we had exaggeratedhis importance as a medical author, whether his strong personality asa theologian or philosopher may have caused us to think that he musthave stood out in every topic he wrote about. Was Maimonides actu-ally as respected a physician in the Middle Ages as we tend to thinknowadays?

In order to answer these questions, I am going to approach the mat-ter by following the dissemination of his medical books. I am going tofocus on manuscripts preserved in the different languages in which hisworks were preserved: Arabic, Hebrew and Latin.

Dissemination through the Arabic language

Since I am quite unfamiliar with Arabic studies, I decided to take theÞrst step cautiously by looking at the classics,1 searching for referencesto Arabic manuscripts of Maimonides’ medical books. However, itseemed to me that these classical studies of medieval Arabic textsprovide quite an incomplete list. Steinschneider’s book contains onlyreferences to European libraries and almost the same could be saidabout Brocklemann’s book. The absence of any mention of Oriental

libraries was, from my point of view, a serious problem, since I waslooking for Arabic sources. I presumed that these sources were copied

1 By this I mean Steinschneider (1902), p. 221, and Brockelmann, Supplement II(1938), p. 351, and Supplement III (1942), pp. 644–646, books on Arabic literatureof Jewish authors and on Arabic literature respectively.

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and preserved in Arab countries rather than in European ones. Tosolve this problem I turned to more recent works and to the modernedition of these Arabic texts.2

I found interesting data in Haskell Isaacs’ book on medical andparamedical manuscripts of the Cairo Geniza. I was struck, Þrst, by thelarge number of Hebrew manuscripts of the Commentary on Hippocrates’

Aphorisms and second, by the existence of a Judeo-Arabic manuscriptof On sexual intercourse, since the copies whose existence is known areeither in a very bad condition or dif Þcult to access. These manuscriptsare not very useful for editing purposes: they consist of just a few leaves,

but their existence is very enlightening as they provide evidence of thecirculation of Arabic or Judeo-Arabic manuscripts of certain speciÞcbooks among Jewish communities in Muslim countries. Moreover, theexistence of these books is less signiÞcant than the absence of otherswhich are supposed to have been extremely popular: for example, therewere no copies of his Commentary on Hippocrates’ Aphorisms or Regimen ofhealth.

Although my main purpose was to construct a whole picture of themanuscript transmission in Arabic of all Maimonides’ medical writ-ings, I Þnally decided to use just those that had been edited in moderntimes and compare the number of manuscripts in them with those thatSteinschneider gave in his book.3

This is the result:

1. On Asthma 2 (Steinschneider) 3 (Bos)2. Aphorisms 10 (Steinschneider) 10 (Bos)3. On Hemorrhoids 2 (Steinschneider) 10 (Bos)4. On the Names of Drugs – (unknown to

Steinschneider) 1 (Meyerhof )

5. On the Causes ofSymptoms

2 (Steinschneider) 4 (Leibowitz andMarcus)

2 The study of Isaacs and Baker (1994) on medical texts in the Cairo Genizaand the editions of different books of Maimonides by Meyerhof (1940), Leibowitzand Marcus (1974), Bos (2002, 2004a, forthcoming) [see under ‘Maimonides’ in thebibliography].

3 Steinschneider (1902), pp. 213–218.




dissemination of maimonides’ medical writings 19

Most of the manuscripts used in these modern editions were also foundin European libraries. Many of them were in Judeo-Arabic and someothers in Arabic. But European Jews were not the only ones who sup-posedly used them, and I wonder whether dif Þcult external conditionsfor preservation, classiÞcation and researchers’ access or a culturalconception about preserving texts in the ancient Islamic world causedthis to be the case: namely, that there are so few known manuscriptsfrom libraries in Arab countries.

The scant number of Arabic manuscripts becomes even more obviousif we compare them with the Hebrew ones: e.g., his Aphorisms, his major

work, has been preserved in 10 Arabic manuscripts and 38 Hebrewones.4 This notable difference between the numbers of manuscriptsin the respective languages baf ßes me, since the number of peoplewho could read the Arabic texts was much larger than the number ofHebrew readers. I wondered whether Maimonides was less appreciatedin the Arab environment.

I therefore decided to compare Maimonides with other physicians.As a criterion to limit the Þeld, I used some Muslim Spanish authorsfor comparison and followed the article “Corpus medicorum arabico-hispanorum”5 by a group of Spanish researchers on Arabic medicine.I expected to Þnd a wide circulation of Arabic manuscripts of texts bythe main authors. (Table 1)

First at all, I compared Maimonides with Averroes because they wereliving during the same period and their works coincide in subject andlanguage. Both were born in Cordova, both wrote philosophical and

Table 1. Arabic mss. dissemination of some Spanish-Muslim authors

Averroes (1126–1198) Kulliyat 5 mss. (Álvarez ed.)Ibn al-Baytar (1197–1248) Jami 86 mss. (Peña et al.)Abulcasis (c. 936–c. 1010) Tasrif 41 mss. (Peña et al.)Maimonides Aphorisms 10 (Bos ed.)Maimonides On hemorrhoids 10 (Bos ed.)Averroes Commentary on

Avicenna’s Ur juzat

15 mss. (Peña et al.)

4 Twenty three of Nathan ha-Meati’s translation and Þfteen of the Zerahia Gracianone. See Richler (1986).

5 Peña et al. (1981).




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medical treatises, both were translated into Hebrew as well as Latinand both had an inßuence on the Christian world, although Averroesfar more so, given his importance to medieval philosophers. I was verysurprised when I discovered that Averroes’ famous medical encyclopae-dia, Kitab al-Kulliyat Þ -l-tibb ( Book of the Generalities in Medicine ) is preservedin only Þve complete Arabic manuscripts.6 This limited disseminationcould have been the result of many things: the pre-eminence of easternauthors such as Avicenna, or geopolitical circumstances, since his periodwas, in many senses, the end of the Muslim domination of Spain andthe end of Islamic philosophy.

However, another factor could have had a decisive inßuence on thelimited distribution of both Averroes and Maimonides in the Þeld ofMuslim studies: censorship under Almohad control, since Averroes wasconsidered heterodox, and Maimonides, Jewish. Such a conjecture isborne out by an analysis of the Hispano-Muslim author Ibn al-Baytar,who mentions Averroes only once, and never refers to Maimonides.The latter omission is even more signiÞcant bearing in mind that theonly Arab manuscript in existence of the Book on the Names of Drugs wascopied by none other than Ibn al-Baytar.7 Camilo Álvarez de Moralescompared various plant names which appear in this book, with Ibnal-Baytar’s Kitab al-Jami li-mufradat al-adwiya wa-l-agiya (The Comprehensive

Book on Materia Medica and Foodstuffs), and concluded that Ibn al-Baytarused Maimonides’ work. Why would an author, so apparently generousin reference to sources as was Ibn al-Baytar, overlook other well-knownwriters of the time? It does now appear that this self-censorship wasimposed by the political ambience created by the Almohads.8

Medical books of other Muslim Spanish authors were in generalpreserved in a small number of manuscripts, the exception being twobooks, Kitab al-Jami by Ibn al-Baytar (86),9 and the Kitab al-tasrif li man ajiza an al-ta lif by Abulcasis (41).10 In the aforementioned article,11

6 See the edition by Fórneas Besteiro and Álvarez de Morales (Averroes (1987)),

and modern Spanish translation by Vázquez de Benito and Álvarez de Morales (Aver-roes (2003)).7 Maimonides (1940), ed. Meyerhof, pp. LVII–LXI.8 Camilo Álvarez de Morales has developed this theme in an unpublished confer-

ence talk: “Antecedentes andalusíes del Kitab al-yami` li-mufradat al-adwiya wa-l-agdiya deIbn al-Baytar: las ausencias de Averroes y Maimónides”. I am most grateful for hispermission to use this work here.

9 Peña et al. (1981), pp. 100–102.10 Peña et al. (1981), pp. 83–84.11 Peña et al. (1981).





51 medical authors are quoted, and only these two authors along withAverroes and his Kitab Sarh urjuzat Ibn Sin Þ l-tibb (Commentary on Avicenna’s

Poem on medicine) (15)12 exceeded the number of ten that we found inthe Aphorisms and the Book on Hemorrhoids by Maimonides.

After these comparisons, the number of Arabic or Judeo-Arabicmanuscripts of Maimonides’ medical works no longer seems so small.We can assume that their limited diffusion in the context of Arabmedicine was due more to external circumstances than a lack of esteemfor his works.

Many Arabic texts were in Judeo-Arabic, thus they were most likely

intended for Jewish readers. Nevertheless, this does not exclude Muslimsfrom being readers of Maimonides’ books; in fact some of them werewritten for Muslim nobles. Preservation of his medical works was mainlydue to Jews who were Arabic-speakers, but this can also be attributedto some Muslim authors whose books are known in Hebrew script.13

There are many testimonies to the great prestige which Maimonidesenjoyed in his day.14 We may conclude that Maimonides was quitewell known in the Arabic environment, although he never reached thepopularity of eastern authors such as Avicenna or western ones likeIbn al-Baytar or Abulcasis. He was a relatively late author in regardto the golden age of Muslim medical writings. His medical books wereread, mainly but not exclusively, by Jews in Muslim countries and heinßuenced the western Jewish world for a long time: there is a Hebrewmanuscript copy of the Book on hemorrhoids in oriental script of theseventeenth century.15

Translations of Maimonides’ works

Jews who moved from al-Andalus to Provence, especially the family ofIbn Tibbon, started the translation of Maimonides’ Arabic books intoHebrew early on. The Þrst work of Maimonides that caught their attentionwas the Guide for the Perplexed . Samuel ibn Tibbon, who belonged to the

family’s second generation, translated it when Maimonides was still

12 Peña et al. (1981), p. 93.13 For instance, the only preserved manuscript of Kit ā b al-Adwiya al-Mufrada by Ibn

WāÞd was in Judeo-Arabic; the modern editor converted the Hebrew script into Arabic,see Ibn WāÞd (1995), ed. Aguirre de Cárcer.

14 See Meyerhof (1929) and Ferre (2007).15 Maimonides (forthcoming), ed. Bos.




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alive. Moses ibn Tibbon, who belonged to the third generation of thisfamily, began translating the medical works.

We can observe the same process in regard to Latin translations.The Þrst book to be translated was the Guide for the Perplexed , and thenthe medical works.

This major philosophical work was also translated into some Romancelanguages, such as Italian or Spanish,16 but as far as I know, there wereno Romance translations of the medical works.

So we could say that Maimonides’ philosophical work paved theway for the future translations of his medical treatises. The increasing

appreciation of Maimonides as a philosopher encouraged both Jewsand Christians to read his medical books.According to Hasselhoff, “the last years of the philosophical and theo-

logical reception overlapped with the Þrst translation of Maimonides’medical tracts. Here we can see an interesting development. The Þrsttracts were related to (the) philosophical cure of the soul and afterwardsof the body.”17

Dissemination in the Hebrew language

The Þrst book translated into Hebrew, as well as into Latin, was the Regimen of Health,18 a text which, in fact, could be considered a linkbetween medicine and philosophy, especially the third chapter deal-ing with mental health. This chapter contains valuable advice that iscloser to philosophy or ethics than to medical art. Maimonides himselfwrote:

In all of these, the skilful physician should place nothing ahead of rec-tifying the state of the psyche by removing these passions, for truly, thisvirtue is to be attained from practical philosophy, and from the admoni-tions of the Law.19

16 Maimonides (1987), ed. Lazar.17 Hasselhoff (2001), p. 277.18 Arabic text: 4 manuscripts/Hebrew text: 6 manuscripts/Latin text: 4 manuscripts

(8 editions from 1472–1838).19 Maimonides (1964), ed. Bar-Sela et al., p. 25.





Table 2. Translators into Hebrew

On Hemorrhoids 13th cent., anonymousMoses ibn Tibbon

1277–1291 Gracian HenOn Asthma 13th cent., anonymous

1320: Samuel Benveniste1379–90: Yehoshua de Xativa

(Medical) Aphorisms 1277: Gracian Hen1279–83: Nathan ha-Meati

On sexual intercourse 1277: Gracian Hen —anonymous

Commentary on Hippocrates’ Aphorisms 1257–1267: Moses ibn Tibbon —anonymous —anonymous

Regimen of Health 1244: Moses ibn TibbonOn Poisons —Moses ibn Tibbon

—Gracian HenOn the Causes of Symptoms 13th c., anonymous

As we can observe in Table 2 most of the translations into Hebrewwere made in the thirteenth century, mainly by two translators: Mosesibn Tibbon and Gracian Hen.

Moses’ father, Samuel, specialized in the translation of Maimonides’

philosophical works, just as Moses did with his medical ones. Such a proliÞctranslator did not restrict himself to medical texts but extended his workto astronomical and philosophical authors, such as Aristotle or Averroes.

Gracian Hen, also known as Zerahiah ben Shealtiel, belonged toa wealthy family. He was born and grew up in Barcelona and movedto Rome when the great controversy about Maimonides’ philosophywas taking place in Barcelona. The Jewish community of Rome, onthe other hand, seemed extremely interested in the Jewish and Muslimheritage. He was a translator, doctor and philosopher, and an experton Maimonides’ Guide. He also translated Aristotle and Averroes, alongwith important medical works.

The main translators of Maimonides’ medical works were linked tothe Aristotelic philosophical movement.20

The translator Samuel ben Benveniste has not been successfully iden-tiÞed, since this is quite a common name for Catalano-Provençal Jewsand we can Þnd some Jewish people of the period called Benveniste.

20 SpeciÞcally Moses ibn Tibbon and Gracian Hen, who promoted the dissemination ofAristotle’s philosophy through their translations. See Tamani and Zonta ( 1997), pp. 57–60.




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All we can be certain of is that he made the translation in 1320 andthat it was known by two titles: Book on Foods (Sefer ha mis adim) and Bookon Asthma (Sefer ha-qatzeret).21

Nathan ha-Meati was not involved with this philosophical activity. Heconcentrated solely on medical translations. I consider him an extremelycourageous translator since he dared to translate two very long works:Maimonides’ Aphorisms and Avicenna’s Canon. In the prologue, whichhe wrote for the latter, he mentioned some topics that I have found inother Jewish translators: the admiration for Arabic writings, togetherwith the conviction that important scientiÞc work had been produced

in Solomon’s times which were subsequently lost. He was aware hewas rendering a great service to Jewish people by offering them all thismedical literature in an accessible language such as Hebrew.22

Not much is known about the later translator Joshua Shatibi deXativa. He was called “a scholar in every science, especially medicine”.23 According to Meyerhof, he translated the text from the Latin versionand not from the Arabic one.24 At the end of the thirteenth century anew era was beginning, the Arabic language was destined to be forgottenand Christian physicians to increase their prestige. On many occasionsthe Hebrew translations from Arabic medical texts were produced onlyas a result of the interest and intentions of Christian universities whichset the books that should be read. This seems to have been the casewith the Hebrew translation of Avicenna’s Canon25 and probably is thesame with this late translation of the Book on Asthma.

Translations and dissemination in Latin

There were three main stages in the Latin translation of Arabic medicaltexts. The Þrst stage was represented by the work of Constantine theAfrican in the middle of the eleventh century in Italy, and the second

21 On identiÞcation problems and the various hypotheses that have been suggested,see the introduction in Maimonides (1996), ed. Ferre, pp. 13–14.

22 Ferre (2003).23 According to the colophon of MS Munich 280; quoted in Maimonides (2002)

ed. Bos, p. xxxvi.24 Maimonides (2002) ed. Bos, p. xxxvi.25 Shatzmiller (1994), pp. 49–50.





one by that of Gerardus de Cremona in Spain from the middle ofthe twelfth century on. The third stage took place from the thirteenthcentury and at the turn of the fourteenth century; there was no oneindividual translator who represented this period. It was in this periodthat the translations of medical books by Maimonides were produced.These translations shared two of the stage’s features, that is, a renewedinterest in the works of Galen and the necessity for the Christians,

since they were less familiar with Arabic, of seeking the assistance ofthe Jews.26

Most of the Latin translations were done by two translators, ArmengaudBlaise and Giovanni de Capua between the end of the thirteenth andthe beginning of the fourteenth centuries.

As regards their relation with Jews, we can say that Armengaud Blaisewas not Jewish but it is well known that he was in close contact with the

Jewish community. He translated several Arabic writings on medicinefrom Arabic. In the colophon of the translation of On asthma he wrote:“ab arabico mediante Þdeli interprete” (from Arabic through a faithfulinterpreter).27 Most likely this “interpreter” was Jacob ben Mahir ibnTibbon who could have read out Maimonides’ text, written in Arabic

26 Jacquart (1990).27 See McVaugh and Ferre (2000), p. 3.

Table 3. Latin translations

On Hemorrhoids Giovanni de CapuaArmengaud Blaise

13/14 c.13/14 c.

On Asthma Armengaud BlaiseAnonymous

1294

Aphorisms Anonymous 14/15 c.?On sexual intercourse Giovanni de Capua

Anonymous13/14 c.14/15 c.

Regimen of Health Giovanni de CapuaAnonymous

13/14 c.14/15 c.

On poisons Giovanni de Capua

Armengaud BlaiseAnonymous

13/14 c.

13051471–5 c.On the causes of symptoms Giovanni de Capua 13/14 c.




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but in Hebrew script. The same method could have been used withthe other translations.28

Giovanni of Capua was a Jew who converted to Christianity. Hedeclared this fact and also admitted in the prologue to the Regimensanitatis that he had to study Latin and Hebrew in order to produce histranslations.29 This implies two signiÞcant facts. First, he did not useArabic original texts but the Hebrew versions. Secondly, he was notthe kind of convert that refused or angrily rejected his former religion.On the contrary, by translating Maimonides he was bringing one ofthe best Jewish authors into Christian culture.

With regard to Galenism, Maimonides was a true and faithful admirerof Galen as a doctor. Indeed, he was understood and recognized withinChristian circles Þrst and foremost as a scholar of Galenism, as isevident in the Latin title of his Aphorisms: Aphorismi secundum DoctrinamGaleni . Muntner listed 87 works of Galen.30 I believed also that theCommentary on Hippocrates’ Aphorisms was never translated into Latinbecause the Christian physicians preferred the Commentary by Galen tothis one by Maimonides.

Besides those translations, the authors of which are known, severalanonymous versions were produced. Some of the treatises, such as Devenenis, were translated three times.31

After the period that runs from the end of the thirteenth to thebeginning of the fourteenth centuries, there emerged a new interest inMaimonides, particularly at the end of the fourteenth and the beginningof the Þfteenth century, when some of his books were again translated:

De coitu, De asmate, De venenis and perhaps Regimen Sanitatis.Nevertheless, and despite the fact that most of his medical books

were translated into Latin, I have not found many quotations fromMaimonides among the Christian authors I have worked on, includingsuch well-known doctors as Arnau de Vilanova, Bernard de Gordon orGerard de Solo, as well as unknowns like Johannes de Parma.

28 A list of common compound medicines written by Blaise was translated intoHebrew by Estori ha-Parhi. See McVaugh and Ferre (2000), pp. 1–3. We have foundsome more examples of this kind of collaboration between translators, such as Simon Januensis who translated from the Arabic, or more probably from the Hebrew, themateria medica of Abulcasis’ Kit ā b al-tarif ( Liber servitoris ), and the Kit ā b al-adwiya al-mufrada (Liber de simplici medicina) of ibn Sarabi with the help of Abraham ben Shem Tob actingas dragoman, see Sarton (1927–1948), vol. 2, pt. 2 (1931), p. 1085.

29 Hasselhoff (2001), pp. 277–278.30 Maimonides (1964), ed. Bar-Sela et al., p. 7.31 Hasselhoff (2001), p. 276.





One of the main reasons for the absence of Maimonides’ medicalworks is related to the time when the Latin translations were made. Themain Christian authors quoted above probably did not know of theseworks, since they had lived most of their lives before the translationsappeared. The next question that arises is, why were the translationsdone so late? The main body of Latin translation, the Corpus Salernitanum and the Corpus Toletanum, predates even the redaction of Maimonides’medical books. After these two stages, the number of translationsbecame less and focused on the newly translated books by Galen, orby Muslim authors who contributed to the spread of his theories, such

as Avicenna, Rhazes, al-Kindi and Averroes.The renewed interest in Galen’s books was encouraged by Bernardde Gordon and Arnau de Vilanova in Montpellier. It was Arnau deVilanova who chose the books that should be translated. Pope ClementV followed his advice and criteria when he Þxed the compulsory lec-tures for medical students at Montpellier. Arnau de Vilanova did notuse Maimonides’ works or mention them, although he did refer to him.In his Repetitio super canone Vita Brevis, a discussion of aphoristic style,Arnau wrote in regard to Maimonides’ commentary on Hippocrates’Þrst Aphorism: “In hoc fuit deceptus Raby Moyses, quia non bene dis-tinxit hanc partem a sequenti”.32 Although the Latin translation of theAphorism was subsequent to Repetitio super canonem “Vita brevis” , Arnaude Vilanova had no need of it since, as a translator from Arabic intoLatin, he could read Arabic perfectly.

In Liber de vinis, a text written at the beginning of the fourteenthcentury and attributed to Arnau de Vilanova ( probably a false attribu-tion), Michael McVaugh found the following reference: “vinum quodrabi moyses in libro suo in tractatu de regimine sanitatis sanum etconvalescentium preeligit”.33

32 Arnau’s Repetitio super canone Vita brevis is being edited by Michael McVaugh andFernando Salmon for the Arnaldi de Villanova Opera Medica Omnia, and they have dis-covered that the version printed in the Renaissance editions is incomplete; almost allof the Þrst of the work’s three parts was omitted in the Þrst (1504) and subsequenteditions, and this is where Arnau’s discussion of Maimonides occurs. The quotationhas therefore been taken from the fuller text in MS Munich, CLM 14245, fol. 16v.The McVaugh-Salmon edition has not been published yet. I sincerely thank MichaelMcVaugh who provided me with all these data about the references to Maimonidesin works by Christian authors.

33 Arnaldus (1520), fol. 264va.




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The third book in which Prof. McVaugh found a reference toMaimonides was Henri de Mondeville’s Chirurgia (written before 1319),where mention is made of Maimonides’ Aphorisms, On Hemorrhoids andOn poisons.34

With regard to the Þrst printed editions, the major surveys of incu-nabula by Klebs35 and Sarton36 provide quite illuminating information.Three of Maimonides’ books were printed, one in Hebrew, two intheir Latin version: Regimen sanitatis and Aphorisms. In the list of the 77authors whose works were printed more more than once, we do notÞnd Maimonides or any other Jewish author, only Þve Arabic writers

(Razi, Avicenna, Mesuë the Younger, Averroes and Abulcasis) andGalen, appearing in the 28th position. It is quite clear that there hadbeen an important change in the mentality of readers of medical texts;they had started to substitute the classic medical authors for modernones. On the other hand, we can appreciate the presence of a largenumber of Italian and German authors in the list: most printers weresettled in Italy or Germany. The most popular author in the Arabiclanguage seemed to be Razi, even more than Avicenna.

We Þnd only three Jewish authors: two physicians, Isaac Judaeusand Maimonides, and Abraham ibn Ezra, with one of his astrologicalworks.

It seems quite obvious that there was a trend to value new Christianmedical authors (Albert the Great is the Þrst in this list, Arnau deVilanova the fourth) and reject or ignore classical, Arab and Jewishauthorities in the list. Given these circumstances, we should considerand appreciate as a very valuable fact that two of Maimonides’ medicalworks are in this list of incunabula.

Even if he was not the most popular author, Maimonides was notcompletely absent from university education or medical practice in theChristian world. For example, the University of Bologna included his

Regimen sanitatis as a topic for a curricular lecture37

Such a quantity of translations had to have a public and perhapswe should not look for it in the university world but among the physi-

cians. Thus in the private library of Giacomo Zanetini from Padova

34 Henri (1892) ed. Pagel, p. 303.35 Klebs (1937).36 Sarton (1938).37 This was for the academic course of 1405. Apparently there were no problems

for Jews to become students on this course. See Cosmacini (2001), p. 215.





(d. in 1402) we Þnd De regimen sanitatis among a variety of books ofphilosophy and science.38

Conclusions

It is time now to draw some conclusions, to answer my opening ques-tions: Did Maimonides play a leading or a supporting role in the his-tory of medieval medicine? Have we exaggerated his importance as amedical author?

Dissemination of his medical works was always associated with the Jewish people. This is quite obvious with regard to Hebrew translations,but we have also found a close link with the transmission of Arabictexts written in Judeo-Arabic, and with the Latin translators who hadties to Jewish communities. The Þrst stage of translation took place inthe thirteenth century, with the Hebrew ones preceding the Latin ones.In a second stage, at the end of the fourteenth century, the movementseems to have been in the opposite direction: Latin translations precededthe Hebrew ones and the Christian University set the pace.

Moreover, most translations of Maimonides into modern languageshave been made from the Hebrew medieval versions. Until now therehave been few Arabic editions and no modern Latin editions.

At times I have thought that interest in Maimonides’ works hasnot been based on a genuine interest in his medical books, but ratheron unconditional admiration of his strong and brilliant personality.Research has paid more attention to praising Maimonides than in reallyknowing him in the context of the history of medicine.

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38 See Federici Vescovini (1983), p. 237.




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