Maimonides

c. 1138 – 12 December 1204

Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon, c. 1138 - 1204) was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher, jurist, and physician, one of the most influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. Born in Cordoba, he fled Almohad persecution and eventually settled in Egypt, where he led the Jewish community and served as a court physician. His major works include the Mishneh Torah code of Jewish law and the philosophical treatise The Guide for the Perplexed.

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Life events

Born in Cordoba in Almoravid al-Andalus
c. 1138

Maimonides was born around 1138 (traditionally dated 1135) into a distinguished rabbinic family in Cordoba.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Family fled Cordoba after the Almohad conquest
1148

When the Almohads took Cordoba in 1148 and offered Jews conversion, exile, or death, Maimonides' family left the city and wandered through southern Spain.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Settled with his family in Fez, Morocco
c. 1160

Around 1160 the family moved to Fez, where Maimonides continued his studies despite continuing Almohad pressure on Jews.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Settled permanently in Fustat, Egypt
c. 1168

After a brief stay in the Holy Land, Maimonides settled around 1168 in Fustat (Old Cairo), where he lived for the rest of his life.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Completed his Commentary on the Mishnah
1168

In 1168 Maimonides finished his Arabic-language commentary on the Mishnah, begun a decade earlier during his family's wanderings.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Became a leader of the Jewish community of Egypt
c. 1171

Around 1171 Maimonides was recognized as head (ra'is al-yahud) of Egypt's Jewish community, a role of communal and legal authority he exercised for much of his later life.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Completed the Mishneh Torah, his monumental code of Jewish law
c. 1180

Around 1180 Maimonides finished the fourteen-volume Mishneh Torah, a systematic codification of all of Jewish law that remains authoritative today.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Appointed physician to the court of Saladin in Egypt
c. 1185

By around 1185 Maimonides was serving as physician to Saladin's vizier al-Qadi al-Fadil and to the Ayyubid royal household.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Completed The Guide for the Perplexed
c. 1190

Around 1190 Maimonides finished his great philosophical work reconciling Aristotelian philosophy with Jewish theology, written in Judeo-Arabic.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died in Fustat, Egypt
12 December 1204

Maimonides died on 12 December 1204; according to tradition he was later reinterred in Tiberias, where his tomb remains a pilgrimage site.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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