Moses da Rieti | |
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Born | 1388 |
Died | 1466 (aged 77–78) |
Moses da Rieti (Moshe ben Yitzḥak, Mosè di Gaio) (1388–1466) was an Italian-Jewish poet, philosopher, and physician from Rieti who composed works in Hebrew and Italian.[2]
Miqdash me‘at (Little Sanctuary), his major work, is a transitionally post-medieval and philosophical Hebrew poem explicitly inspired by the Divine Comedy in both plot and structure, and also includes an encyclopedia of sciences, a Jewish paradise fantasy and a post-biblical history of Jewish literature.[3] Miqdash me‘at makes explicit metaphor in its structure as an homage to the Temple of Jerusalem.[2] Rieti was influenced by Yehuda Romano.[3] Rieti's style is complex and he speaks on behalf of the Jewish people, with Neoplatonism and Aristotelianism especially in the tradition of Maimonides, and follows the terza rima of Dante Alighieri, the first Hebrew poet to do so. [4] Called a Hebrew Dante, he also authored a poetic dialogue between the Daughters of Zelophehad called Iggeret Ya‘ar ha-Levanon (Forest of Lebanon).[5] Rieti's work exhibits a deep familiarity with the Tannaim, Geonim, and Amoraim, including contemporary philosophy in Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew. It is said he later abandoned philosophy for kabbalah. Deborah Ascarelli and Lazaro da Viterbo translated his hymns into Italian.[6]