new indexes and other additions. Characteristics of his works The distinction of Samuel's translation is its accuracy and faithfulness to the original. Some critics have been concerned that he introduced a number of Arabic words into Hebrew, and, by analogy with the Arabic, he gives to certain Hebrew words meanings different from the accepted ones. But generally the scope and success of his work are not questioned. Especially admirable is the skill with which he reproduces in Hebrew the abstract ideas of Maimonides, as Hebrew is essentially a language of a people expressing concrete ideas. When the struggle between the Maimonists and anti-Maimonists arose, Samuel was reproached for contributing to the spread of the ideas of Maimonides. His chief critic was Judah al-Fakhkhar. Samuel translated the following works of Maimonides: A treatise on Resurrection under the Hebrew title "Iggeret" or "Ma'amar Tehhiyath ha-Metim"; Mishnah commentary on Pirkei Avoth, including the psychological introduction, entitled "Shemonah Perakim" (the Eight Chapters); Maimonides' "Thirteen articles of faith" (originally part of his Mishnah commentary on tractate Sanhedrin, 10th chapter) A letter to his pupil Joseph ibn 'Aḳnin, Samuel also translated the following works of other Arabic authors: 'Ali ibn Ridwan's commentary on the Ars Parva of Galen (according to Paris MS. 1114), finished in 1199 in Béziers Three smaller treatises of Averroes, under the title "Sheloshah Ma'amarim" (edited by J. Herez, with German translation: "Drei Abhandlungen über die Conjunction des Separaten Intellects mit den Menschen von Averroes, aus dem Arabischen Uebersetzt von Samuel ibn Tibbon," Berlin, 1869). Samuel translated these three treatises both as an appendix to his commentary on Ecclesiastes (see above) and separately (Steinschneider, ibid p. 199). Yahya ibn al-Batriq's Arabic translation of Aristotle's Meteora, under the title "Otot ha-Shamayim" (also quoted under the title "Otot 'Elyonot"), translated on a voyage from Alexandria, between the two islands Lampedusa and Pantellaria. It is extant in several manuscripts. The preface and the beginning of the text have been printed by Filipowski (c. 1860) as a specimen. Samuel made this retranslation, at the request of Joseph ben Israel of Toledo, working from a single and bad Arabic translation of Batriq (Steinschneider, ibid p. 132.). See also Ibn Tibbon a family list. Hachmei Provence Notes External links "Samuel ibn Tibbon", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 1150s births 1230s deaths People from Lunel Provençal Jews Philosophers of Judaism 12th-century French rabbis 13th-century French rabbis Arabic–Hebrew translators French Orthodox rabbis