"jDABBI MOSES Ben Maimon or Maimonides, called alsoRAMBAM from the initials of his name, and Moses the Egyptian from his long residence in Egypt, was bom at Cordova in Spain, in the year 1131, or according to some 1138, of the Christian era. His father, who was descended from an illustrious line of ancestors, sustained the office of judge among his own nation; and by his knowledge of jurisprudence, and the ability and integrity with which he executed the difficult and important duties of the magistracy, secured the respect of Christians as well as Jews.
The education of young Maimonides appears to have been conducted,at first, under the immediate superintendence of his father ; but a series of domestic quarrels having subsequently obliged him to quit the paternal roof, he placed himself under the care of the most learned Jewish teachers, and studied, with sedulous attention, the Mosaic Law, and its various Talmudical and Rabbinical commentaries. After devoting some years to the pursuit of Hebrew learning, he attached himself to the great Arabian philosopher and physician Averroes, as one of his pupils and disciples. With these advantages, and possessing a mind vigorous, penetrating, and acute, he not only made uncommon progress in Rabbinical literature, but excelled also in the mathematical, metaphysical, and medical sciences; and added to a knowledge of the Hebrew and Arabic languages, an acquaintance with the Chaldee, Turkish, and Greek, beside the other more modern dialects of the countries in which he resided. As his knowledge was profound, so his reading was extensive and various, having read not only the works of the most celebrated Rabbins of his own nation, but also the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Themistius, Galen, and of the Philosophers in general.
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