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Maimonides (Israel)

The stamp

This stamp was issued in Israel in 1953, on the occasion of a History of Science Congress. Its value is 110 pruta. It still has its descriptive tab, common on Israeli stamps.

The doctor

Moses Maimonides (1135 – 1204) - whose name means "Moses son of Maimon" was born in 1135 in Cordova, Spain.

His family later moved to Fez, in Morocco and then to Fostat (Old Cairo) where he was appointed Court Physician to the Regent of Egypt.

Reputedly, he declined an offer from Richard the Lionheart to become his personal physician.

He has been described as the greatest Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages and the spiritual leader of the Jewish community in Egypt.

The urology connection

Maimonides wrote a treatise on urinalysis, and another on sexual intercourse (at the request of the promiscuous nephew of the Sultan) containing recipes for aphrodisiacs!

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