orig. Solomon ben Yehuda ibn Gabirol Latin Avicebron
born 0441; 1022, Málaga, Caliphate of Córdoba
died 0441; 1058, Valencia, Kingdom of Valencia
Jewish poet and philosopher.
Educated in both the Hebrew and Arabic literary heritages, he became famous at age 16 for his religious hymns in Hebrew and was later a court poet of the vizier of Granada. The more than 200 secular and 200 religious poems that survive make him an outstanding figure of the Hebrew school of poetry that flourished in Moorish Spain. Other works include influential writings of Neoplatonic philosophy and a collection of proverbs in Arabic.