Abraham Portaleone and Alessandro Magno: Jewish and Christian Correspondents on a Monstrous birth

Abstract

This article explores an epistolary exchange between Abraham Portaleone, a Jewish physician of Mantua, and Alessandro Magno, his Catholic colleague. It presents several letters from Portaleone's unpublished Book of Medical Responses and Consultations that discuss a monstrous birth in Luzzara in 1594. The article has two aims: to broaden our knowledge of Portaleone's written output, and to argue that Jewish and Christian physicians maintained close professional contact in late Renaissance Italy.