Diploma of Doctor of Medicine (University of Padua)
Artist Unknown
1695
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This diploma of Doctor of Medicine was awarded to Jacob Mahler by the University of Padua, Italy. Mahler, born in Bingen-on-Rhine, Germany, studied medicine and philosophy, and in 1695 was awarded a diploma consisting of three beautifully illuminated parchment sheets, in the style of the time. Four scholars are depicted, each with a Latin quotation. Top left: holding a skull, Hippocrates (“Opposites are cured by opposites”); top right: Galen (“Life is short, the art is long”); bottom right: seated, Avicenna (“The purpose of medicine is health”); bottom left: with an armillary (celestial) sphere, Aristotle (“Cause of causes, have mercy on me”). The renowned medical school in Padua accepted Jews, who came from all over Europe to study there, but they were required to adopt a Christian name upon entering the university. The name on the diploma is therefore not Jacob Mahler but rather Capilius, son of Yosef Piktor. This document is the first of several pages; the names of other individuals, including signatories to the diploma, appear in the text. Interestingly, this diploma begins with the words “In the name of the eternal God” and is dated “in the current year,” not employing the explicitly Christian phrases commonly found in such diplomas.
Credits
The National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel Ms. Fr. 789.1.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.
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