biography
| name: |
Avicebron
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Arabic Solomon ben Judah ibn Gabirol
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pronunciation:
[avisebron]
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (c.1020–c.1070)
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| biography:
| Poet and philosopher of the Jewish ‘Golden Age’ in Moorish Spain, born probably in Málaga, S Spain. He lived much of his life in Zaragoza, crippled by disease. A friend of Shemuel ha-Nagid, he wrote a Hebrew grammar in verse when only 19, and became equally fluent in Arabic. He wrote poetry in Hebrew, the best being Keter malkhut (Royal Crown), a philosophical poem with largely biblical sources. He fused the heritage of Hebrew literature contained in the Bible, Talmud and other rabbinical writings with that of the dominant Arab culture of Andalusia, drawing on the Koran, Arab poetry, philosophy, and ethics. Best known as a philosopher, writing in Arabic, he produced Mukhtar al-jawahir (Choice of Pearls) a collection of aphorisms, and Kitab islah al-akhlaq (The Book on the Improvement of Character), a moral and didactic treatise. His most famous work is Yanbu' al-hayya (Source of Life), familiar in the West under its Latin title Fons vitae, and important for passing on the neo-Platonic and particularly Plotinian tradition. His secular poetry includes love poems, portraits of nature and praise of the seasons, and wine songs, as well as panegyrics about his patrons. His poetry became part of the mystical tradition of the Kabbalah. |
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