Elijah ben Moses Abba Delmedigo , c.1460-1497, Jewish philosopher and Talmudist, b. Crete, known also as Elijah Cretensis. He emigrated to Italy as a young man. He studied the Jewish, Islamic, Greek, and Latin classics, composing numerous translations and lecturing on philosophy in Padua, where he was the head of the yeshiva. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was among his Christian pupils, protecting him from his Christian enemies. After Pico's death (1494) he was forced to return to Crete, where he remained until his own death. In the controversy surrounding the question of religion versus phil...
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