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Hello one of the most visited sites in the city of Tiberius on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee is a simple marble tomb

This is the final resting place of the medieval philosopher theologian and lawyer Moses Maimonides

You get some idea of his importance to the history of Jewish scholarship from the Hebrew inscription which reads from Moses to Moses

There arose none like Moses

Today my monides is widely regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the Middle Ages

He spent much of his life in Egypt and was influenced by a rich mix of Jewish Islamic and ancient Greek thinkers

His authoritative magnum office and Jewish law remained central to the subject more than eight centuries on and his book

The guide for the perplexed is one of the masterpieces of medieval philosophy with me to discuss the life and work of my monides are

John Holden professor of philosophy at the University of St Andrews

Sarah Strumser Alice and Jack Ormett professor of Arabic studies and currently rector at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Peter Adamson

Professor of ancient and medieval philosophy at King's College London

John Holden my monides was born in Cordoba in southern Spain around 1135

Could you tell us a bit about the environment?

So this is in Andalusia

Muslim Spain

Cordoba's a cultured affluent

city of merchants learned of people and so on he came from a family that was

We assume relatively affluent professional family his father was both a rabbinical leader and a doctor and so on and

And he grew up as for as early years there would have been ones of some leisure and some afflux as I say

but and also the the surrounding culture was one of relevant

...