Between Arabic, Hebrew and Latin: Jewish Translators of Islamic Sciences in the Medieval Kingdom of Sicily

This dissertation explores the processes by which Jewish translators operating in the medieval kingdom of Sicily participated in both the larger cultural trends of the time, and to the construction of kingship and ideology of different royal dynasties ruling over the territory extending from Naples southward. In the 13th and early 14th centuries, Sicily, with its pivotal geographical position, was the ideal locus for the transmission of science and philosophy from the Islamic world to Western Europe. Jews took part in a translation movement of considerable importance and unique characteristics, often mastering at the same time Greek, Arabic, Hebrew and Latin, and translating from and into those languages without intermediaries.

I argue that scientific translations and philosophical debates at the court of Frederick II and later of the Angevin kings shaped both the construction of kingship in medieval Sicily and the way in which Jewish translators conceived of themselves as intellectuals of a specific type, with specific skills and characteristics. The histories of the translations carried out by Jews and the study of personalities involved provide an overview of the translators’ role and engagement at the political-ideological level, at a social-intellectual level, and the individual-religious level.

In order to make this argument, my study analyzes, on the one hand, the role of Jewish translators at the court of several Sicilian kings, focusing on their relationships with other scholars, the monarchs and the non-Jewish culture in general; and on the other hand, the ways in which Jewish translators participated in Mediterranean-wide scholarly networks and exchanges of ideas.

Finally, by studying the translator as a person with a unique identity, this dissertation shows both the cultural importance of translation in creating and transferring knowledge, and the specifically Jewish contribution to the process. This study demonstrates that the translator, normally considered as a sort of invisible and deliberately neutral figure, had a shaping and identity-driven role in the transmission of texts. The values of the society which produced the source text and the ideological, intellectual and human aspects of the translating culture appear through the intermediaries “translating eyes”.