Name

Flavius Romanus Mithridates

Original name

Šemu’el ben Nissim Abū al-Farağ

Main activity

Humanist

Secondary activity

Scholar, Orientalist, Kabbalist

Title

Name variations

Moncada, Guglielmo Raimondo, Mithridates, Flavius Romanus"

Education place

Naples

Education institution

Naples university

Activity place

Rome

Activity institution

Studium Urbis

Activity start date

1480

Activity end date

1489

Place of birth

Caltabellotta

Date of birth

1450

Place of death

Viterbo

Date of death

1491

Bibliographical references

https://www.zotero.org/groups/2447618/euqu_european_quran/tags/Mithridates%2C%20Flavius/library

Descriptive card

Son of an Arab-Spanish rabbi, he converted to Catholicism shortly before 1470. From 1470 he studied medicine at the University of Naples. Around 1477 he moved to Rome, where, for his knowledge of oriental languages ​​and kabbalistic literature, he won the esteem of card. Giovan Battista Cybo (the future Innocent VIII) and Sixtus IV, and entered into a relationship with Federico di Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino: for the latter he translated into Latin different Arabic texts including two suras of the Qur'an (BAV, Urb. Lat . 1384). In 1482 he was teaching theology and oriental languages ​​at Sapienza. Forced to leave Italy by an obscure crime, he went to Cologne, then to Louvain and Basel. Called in 1486 by the humanist Giovanni Pico della Mirandola in Perugia, he taught him the oriental languages ​​and introduced him to the secrets of the Kabbalah. His translations for Pico della Mirandola greatly influenced the entire Florentine culture of the time, and are also reflected in some aspects of Marsilio Ficino's work.

Entry author

Sara Fani