Roman Holiday: Conjectures on Johann Reuchlin as a Pupil of Obadiah Sforno

The article proposes, on the basis of estensive evidence, a solution to the question of what might have been the object and the textbook(s) perused by Obadiah Sforno in his advanced course of Hebrew, which he imparted to Johann Reuchlin in 1498. Although Reuchlin referred on several occasions to that memorable session of learning in Rome, during his embassy to the Pope Alexander VI, he never mentioned explicitly, since his command of Hebrew was already more than intermediate, what he might have read with the Jewish physician and philosopher Sforno. On the basis of the quotations, explicit and implicit, of Maimonides in Reuchlin's works after the year 1498, I surmise that the teaching was based on philosophical works, such as the Ruah Chen and, in particular, the Guide of the Perplexed, obviously in Hebrew translation. This contention is corroborated, among others, by the fact that still in the 17th century (Johann Buxtorf the Younger) Maimonides' masterpiece was used as textbook for learners of Hebrew, precisely in Judah ibn Tibbon's translation from the original Arabic.