Creator Bio
Abraham ibn Dā’ūd
ca. 1110–1180
Abraham ben David ha-Levi ibn Dā’ūd, a historian and philosopher, was born in Córdoba, Spain, to a prominent Jewish family. Little is known about his life. He wrote, in Hebrew, The Chronicle of Rome (Zikhron divre Romi); History of the Kings of Israel (Divre malkhe Yisra’el); a midrash on Zechariah 11; and a history of the Jews, The Book of Tradition (Sefer ha-kabbalah). His Arabic philosophical opus, The Exalted Faith (Kitāb al-‘aqīda al-rafī‘a), from 1161, is considered the earliest work of Jewish Aristotelianism, often following the Muslim philosophers al-Fārābī (d. 951) and Ibn Sīnā (d. 1037). Ibn Dā’ūd fled to Toledo, Spain, to escape persecutions and died there, apparently as a martyr.
Content by Abraham ibn Dā’ūd
Primary Source
The Book of Tradition
The purpose of this Book of Tradition is to provide students with the evidence that all the teachings of our rabbis of blessed memory, namely, the sages of the Mishna and the Talmud, have been…
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The Chronicle of Rome
The great city of Rome was built by two generals who were brothers. The elder was named Romulus, and the younger Remulus [Remus]. They built it in the sixth year of [the reign of] Hezekiah, King of…
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History of the Kings of Israel
When Seleucus [IV Philopator], the general and friend of Talmai [Ptolemy], died, Antiochus succeeded him as king in Macedonia. He waged war against Talmai and annexed his entire land; he killed him…
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The Exalted Faith
Kitāb al-‘aqīda al-rafī‘a
The faith of the masses is that they regard [as] common knowledge [the claim] about God, may He be exalted, [that He has a body]. [The reason for…