Is There a Doctor in the House of Jacob? Jacob Anatoli and the Foundations of Philosophical Study in Hebrew

In 1232, Jacob Anatoli translated the first complete corpus of Aristotelian logic into Hebrew in the form of Averroes’s five central logical middle commentaries. In an afterword to these translations, Anatoli thanks Emperor Frederick II Hohenstaufen for abundant financial support. Although scholars have suggested that Anatoli received imperial support in return for his contribution either to the Latin translation of the same works or to the intellectual milieu of Naples at the time, I suggest that in fact the emperor wanted Anatoli to prepare the Hebrew translation of these works. Indeed, in 1231 Frederick II had enacted legislation for southern Italy requiring three years of studying logic before one could begin studying medicine. I suggest that Frederick II’s goals in supporting this project were to enable Jews to acquire the same preparation perhaps along the way to becoming recognized—even somewhat informally—as medical doctors. When Anatoli moved from the Midi region of France to Naples and the imperial court and then adapted his project underway translating logical texts to the needs of the court, he was effectively contributing to this goal.