- Abraham Portaleone
Abraham Portaleone (died
July 29 1612 ) was an Italian-Jewish physician inMantua . He was a pupil ofJacob Fano .Life
The Dukes Guglielmo and Vincenzo of Mantua, in whose service he was, granted him privileges in 1577 and 1587 respectively; and
Pope Gregory XIV . gave him a dispensation which enabled him to attend Christians.Works
At the request of Duke Guglielmo he wrote two medical treatises in Latin, which he dedicated to his patron, under the titles "Consilia Medica" and "Dialogi Tres de Auro" respectively; the latter treatise was published in 1584.
His "Shilte ha-Gibborim" (or "Shiltei", meaing 'shields of the heroes' - other works share this title) was an encyclopedic work [ [http://web.uniud.it/isr/data/s/ase.htm] :"Included in the central theme of the description of
Solomon's temple and the liturgical service are scientific and profane subjects. Related to the theatra mundi, the work originates in the meeting of Lullyian medieval mnemotechnical theories with Hermetic Cabbalistic thought. Solomon’s temple acquires a metaphysical meaning: the tempus sapientiae takes the place of the theatrum mundi."] that related arts and sciences to the Temple [Matt Goldish, "Judaism in the Theology of Sir Isaac Newton", p. 86.] ; it included techniques of warfare [Raphael Patai, "The Jewish Mind" (1996), p. 171.] . It was printed in 1612 [ [http://www.authorama.com/chapters-on-jewish-literature-21.html Chapters On Jewish Literature - Chapter XXI. Historians and Chroniclers (by Israel Abrahams) ] ] . Abraham Melamed ["Medieval and Renaissance Political Philosophy", p. 433, in "History of Jewish Philosophy", edited Daniel H. Frank and Oliver Leaman.] considers he was clearly influenced byMachiavelli . B. Barry Levy ["Planets, Potions, and Parchments: Scientifica Hebraica from the Dead Sea" (1990), p. 57.] notes it as the first Hebrew book to adopt European punctuation, but also considers it typical of Renaissance thought in its integration of science and religion.Family
He was great-grandson of
Guglielmo Portaleone (son of David, son of Lazzaro, son of Guglielmo).Notes
External links
* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=455&letter=P]
* [http://www.chez.com/jec2/archportaleo.htm Lecture by Alessandro Guetta]]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.