SALOMÓN BEN ABRAHAM
(14th century)
A Sevillian rabbi, astronomer and doctor whose existence is known to us through a tombstone preserved in the Sephardic Museum of Toledo. It is made using a white Roman cippus, currently broken into three pieces. It consists of a Hebrew inscription distributed in eight and a half lines in which R. Selomó, son of Abraham ben Yais, is remembered. Apparently, the tombstone was reused when the construction of the cathedral was undertaken in the 15th century.
Although the inscription is damaged in some of its parts, it has been possible to interpret it to a large extent. This is the transcription by Francisco Cantera Burgos:
Who sees in conspiracy? those who... against me/ the eye of... my fate was opened;/ because of... on my eyelids/ I... with enthusiasm?... my footwear./ Who crushes (tramples or vexes) a man.../ in the middle of his net he drew my foot. / This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, as a sign and a reminder. It is written that here a museum of all precious objects concerning the Law and the Testimony was buried, and in the science of the stars he spoke wonders, and with him a book of medicine was hidden. Tree of knowledge, expert physician, pious, upright and truthful: R. Shelomo son of R. Abraham ben Ya`is - may he rest in glory - gathered his people, walking in his integrity, in the month of Sivan of the year five thousand one hundred and five of Creation.
The date (Sivan, 5105) is between May 3 and June 1, 1345. It should be noted that this epitaph is the only information we have about this character, since he is not mentioned in the rabbinical libraries nor does he appear in any other source. However, the quality and extent of his mortuary inscription is exceptional in the context of peninsular Judaism, which is why Rabbi Solomon deserves a mention when speaking of the Jewish quarter of Seville.
Rabbi Salomon's tombstone preserved in the Museo Sefardí de Toledo. The black and white image is taken from the article by Fidel Fita Colomé entitled "El cementerio hebreo de Sevilla. Epitafio de un rabino célebre"
