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Introduction Introduction Little is known about the philosopher and translator Zeraḥyah ben Isaac ben Sheʾaltiel Ḥen, also known as Zeraḥyah Gracian.1 The years of his birth and death are unknown. We know, however, that he was born in Barcelona into a prominent family that for several generations produced rabbis and sages,2 and at a later date emigrated to Italy. In the years 1277–1291, he was active in Rome as a teacher of philosophy, commentator of the Bible,3 and translator. He became a recognized authority on philosophy and philosophical Bible exe- gesis, and for some years taught Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed. In contrast to the rabbinic leadership of the Barcelona community, which at that time was decisively influenced by the teachings of Naḥmanides, the Jewish com- munal leadership in Rome was supportive of Zeraḥyah’s rationalist-naturalist approach.4 He corresponded with other scholars, such as Hillel ben Samuel of Verona, a talmudic scholar, philosopher, physician, and translator of medical works, in a bitter controversy over Hillel’s conservative interpretation of Mai- monides’ philosophy.5 And when Hillel boasted about his theoretical medical knowledge, Zeraḥyah asked him whether he had studied the writings by Hip- 1 For his life and works, see Steinschneider, “Ẓiyyunim le-Toledot R. Zeraḥyah ben Yiẓḥak ben Sheʾaltiel Ḥen;” idem, Hebräische Übersetzungen des Mittelalters, pp. 111–114; Bos, ed., intro- duction to Aristotle, De anima: Translated into Hebrew by Zeraḥyah ben Isaac ben Sheʾaltiel Ḥen, pp. 1–4. For a detailed account of all the relevant sources, see Ravitsky, “Mishnato shel R. Zeraḥyah ben Yiẓḥak ben Sheʾaltiel Ḥen.” See also the summary account in art. “Zerahiah ben Isaac ben Shealtiel,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 21, pp. 514–515 (Ravitsky). 2 In the title of some of his translations, he is named as “Zeraḥyah ben Yiẓḥak ha-Sefaradi ha-Bargeloni,” i.e., “the Spaniard from Barcelona,” and in a passage of his commentary on Proverbs, he remarks that he was “from the nobles of Barcelona.” In his commentary on Job, he explicitly mentions Barcelona as a place “in our land,” he also states: “While in Rome (…), while I was there, I wrote this commentary for one of the pious men from Gerona, near the land of Barcelona, the city of my residence,” and, in another passage of the same work, he writes: “In Rome I stayed for years, [but] the place of my residence and of the residence of my father and my family is Barcelona (…), in the kingdom of Aragon.” 3 In addition to his Biblical commentaries, he also composed a commentary (extant only in manuscript) on parts of Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed (bk. 1, chs. 1–71 and other pas- sages, especially the 25 propositions appearing at the beginning of bk. 2). See art. “Zerahiah ben Isaac ben Shealtiel;” Friedman, “R. Zerahiah ben Shealtiel Hen’s Commentary,” pp. 3–14. 4 Cf. art. “Zerahiah ben Isaac ben Shealtiel.” 5 Zeraḥyah’s correspondence with Hillel ben Samuel has been published in Kirchheim, Oẓar Neḥmad, vol. 2, pp. 124–143. On Hillel ben Samuel, see Bos, Novel Medical Terminology, vol. 1, pp. 9–16. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004428195_002 2 introduction םיילחהרפס ,(De usu partium) םירבאהתלעות pocrates and Galen, such as Galen’s De) םיעגנבותולבחבתואירבהתולובחתרפס ,(De causis et symptomatibus) םירקמהו ’Epidemics, i.e., his commentary on Hippocrates) אימידיב :(methodo medendi De) םירמאמהרשערפס his six major works?);6) םילודגהוירפסהשש ;(Epidemics compositione medicamentorum secundum locos), and whether it is enough for him to diagnose an illness by examining the urine of the patient and consult- רפס ing al-Rāzī’s K. al-Manṣūrī,7 or whether he also consulted Ibn al-Jazzār’s ,Viaticum).8 Little is known about his life after 1291. It is possible) חרואהתדיצ that around that time he returned to Barcelona in order to be buried with his ancestors.9 1 Zeraḥyah as a Translator Zeraḥyah translated the following philosophical works from Arabic into He- brew:10 1. Aristotle, De anima (On the Soul).11 2. Themistius, Paraphrase of Aristotle’s De caelo (On the Heavens).12 6 Steinschneider, Hebräische Übersetzungen des Mittelalters, p. 113 n. 40, surmises that one might have to correct the number six into sixteen, and that Zeraḥyah is referring to the six- teen summaries of Galenic works compiled in Alexandria around 500. These summaries, which have been lost in the original Greek and are only known through the Arabic tradi- tion, under the name Jawāmiʿ al-Iskandarāniyīn (Alexandrian Summaries), are probably associated with those Galenic treatises that formed a curriculum of sixteen books and were taught with formal commentaries and read in a specific order in pre-Islamic Alexan- dria and in the early centuries of Islam (see Bos, “Maimonides on Medicinal Measures and Weights,” p. 255). 7 For this work by the famous philosopher and physician al-Rāzī (865–932), see Ullmann, Medizin im Islam, p. 132. 8 For this work composed by the physician Ibn al-Jazzār from Kairouan (fl. tenth century), see ed. Bos, introduction to Ibn al-Jazzār, On Sexual Diseases, pp. 8–11. 9 In a letter to Hillel ben Samuel, Zeraḥyah states: “Because I have the intention to return to my native country to be buried with my ancestors …” (Kirchheim, Oẓar Neḥmad, vol. 2, p. 124). 10 For his translations, cf. the bio-bibliographical literature mentioned above; see also: Zonta, “Tradizione Ebraica.” 11 Aristotle’s De anima has been preserved in Greek and in Latin, but the extant Arabic ver- sion is different from that used by Zeraḥyah for his Hebrew translation, ed. Bos. 12 Themistius’ Paraphrase is lost in Greek and Arabic. For the Hebrew translation, see Lan- dauer, ed., In libros Aristotelis De caelo. This edition should now be revised on the basis of the archetype copied from the lost autograph, MS Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Cen- trale, II.II.528 (cf. Zonta, “Hebraica Veritas”)..
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