Published in Medieval and Early Modern Iberian Peninsula Cultural History

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Initiated by Philo of Alexandria at the 1st century of Christian Age in dialogue with Hellenistic thought, philosophy was developed among the Jewish during the Middle Age in territories under Islamic political power and for many centuries it was written in Arabic. Hebrew was a language used for prayer, and for centuries, it did not have appropriate words to translate the concepts of Greek philosophy. For this reason, until the 13th century Jewish philosophy was written almost exclusively in Arabic. It migrated from Orient to Occident and, especially in al-Andalus, it had a very expressive development, through the efforts of the Caliphate of Cordoba and in the next period too, with the support of some of the separate kingdoms (Tawâ’if).