Full Description
The wondrous fables of Ibn Sahula in Meshal haqadmoni, presented here in
English for the first time, provide a most unusual introduction to the
intellectual and social universe of the Sephardi Jewish world of
thirteenth-century Spain.
Ibn Sahula wrote his fables in rhymed prose, here
rendered into English as rhymed couplets. They comprise a series of satirical
debates between a cynic and a moralist, put into the mouths of animals; the
moralist always triumphs. The debates, which touch on such subjects as time,
the soul, the physical sciences and medicine, astronomy, and astrology, amply
reflect human foibles, political compromise, and court intrigue. They are
suffused throughout with traditional Jewish law and lore, a flavour reinforced
by the profusion of biblical quotations reapplied.
With parallel Hebrew and English texts,
explanatory notes, indication of textual variants, and references for all the
biblical and other allusions, this edition has much to offer to scholars in
many areas: medieval Hebrew literature, medieval intellectual history, Sephardi
studies, and the literature and folklore of Spain.
Both the translation and the scholarly
annotations reflect Raphael Loewe's deep understanding of Ibn Sahula's world,
including the interrelationship of Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic speculative
thought and the interplay between those languages. Scholars will profit
enormously from the textual annotations, and specialist and non-specialist
alike will benefit from the masterly introduction.
Two full series of illustrations are reproduced
alongside the text: the woodcuts from the second edition (Venice, c.1547), and the splendid vignettes in
the Rothschild Miscellany, a fifteenth-century Italian mansucript in the Israel
Museum.
Contents
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
The Life of Isaac Ibn Sahula • Literary Structure
and Synopsis • Ibn Sahula as Fabulist • Philosophy and Science: The Excursuses
• The Spanish Historical Background • The Social Context of the Fables • Hebrew
Solecisms • The Text • The Illustrations • Translations
Meshal haqadmoni: Fables from the Distant Past
Dedication • Prologue • Introduction • Preface •
Part I: On Wisdom • Part II: On Penitence • Part III: On Sound Counsel • Part
IV: On Humility • Part V: On Reverence • Epilogue
Appendices
Astronomical Diagrams • Supplementary Notes to
the Poem • Notes to the Illustrations
Bibliography
Index of Passages Quoted
General Index