Medieval · 1138–1204
Who influenced Maimonides?
Influences and legacy
Showed how Jewish scripture and Aristotelian reason could share one house.
Maimonides was influenced by Aristotle, Avicenna and Solomon ibn Gabirol, and went on to influence Thomas Aquinas, Gersonides and Baruch Spinoza. That is 6 lines of the 448 documented lines of influence between the 279 thinkers on this map.
Read on Wikipedia Portrait: Blaisio Ugolino, Public domain See the whole map
Who was Maimonides?
Maimonides, also known as Rambam, was born in Córdoba. When the Almohads took over in 1148 his family refused to convert to Islam and left Spain, living in Fez, Acre, Jerusalem and Alexandria before settling in Fustat, near Cairo. There he became known as an astronomer, philosopher and physician, served as personal physician to Saladin and led the Jewish community of Egypt.
His fourteen-volume Mishneh Torah, a code of Jewish law, and his thirteen principles of faith still carry great authority in Judaism. His philosophy drew on Aristotle, al-Farabi, Avicenna and his contemporary Averroes, and his work was also valued in the Muslim world. He had many critics in his lifetime, especially in Spain.
Summarized from the lead of the Wikipedia article.
Who influenced Maimonides?
3 direct influences on this map, earliest first.
- Aristotle 384–322 BC
- Avicenna 980–1037
- Solomon ibn Gabirol c. 1021–1058
Who did Maimonides influence?
3 thinkers on this map draw directly on Maimonides.
- Thomas Aquinas 1225–1274
- Gersonides 1288–1344
- Baruch Spinoza 1632–1677
The line of teachers behind Maimonides
The longest documented line of influence ending at Maimonides runs 9 generations back, to Thales of Miletus.
Two steps away from Maimonides
Indirect influences
- Through Aristotle: Plato
- Through Avicenna: Al-Farabi
- Through Solomon ibn Gabirol: Saadia Gaon
The second generation
Contemporaries of Maimonides
Thinkers on this map born within 25 years of Maimonides, with no direct line between them.
- Averroes 1126–1198
- Suhrawardi 1154–1191
- John of Salisbury c. 1120–1180
Maimonides by the numbers
- Direct influences
- 3
- Direct followers
- 3 — #34 of 279 on this map
- Thinkers upstream
- 21
- Thinkers downstream
- 138
- Wikipedia languages
- 86 — #11 of 58 among medieval philosophers
- Card rarity
- Epic
Questions about Maimonides
- Who influenced Maimonides?
- Aristotle, Avicenna and Solomon ibn Gabirol.
- Who did Maimonides influence?
- Thomas Aquinas, Gersonides and Baruch Spinoza.
- When did Maimonides live?
- 1138–1204. The map files Maimonides under the medieval period.
- How rare is the Maimonides card?
- Wikipedia carries an article on Maimonides in 86 languages, which makes it an Epic card. Legendary starts at 100 languages, Epic at 50 and Rare at 25.
More medieval philosophers
- Augustine of Hippo AD 354–430
- Thomas Aquinas 1225–1274
- Avicenna 980–1037
- Ibn Khaldun 1332–1406
- Al-Ghazali c. 1058–1111
- Averroes 1126–1198
- Erasmus 1466–1536
- Hypatia c. 355–415