Jewish Scholarship, Science, and the Republic of Letters: Joseph Attias in Eighteenth-Century Livorno

Joseph Attias (1672–1739) was a Livornese savant who was active, in different roles, in both Jewish and non-Jewish circles. Despite his reputation as a great scholar, reinforced by his well-known exchanges with G. B. Vico and L. A. Muratori, Attias did not leave any literary remains and has never been studied in his own right. The catalogue of Attias' extensive library of more than 1200 volumes, one of the largest Jewish-owned collections in the early eighteenth century, which has lately resurfaced in the State Archives of Livorno, allows for a reappraisal of his cultural proclivities. Based on a study of the catalogue, supplemented by published and unpublished sources that include the minutes of the Livornese Jewish council, private correspondence, and travel accounts, Attias' activities as a cultural mediator are reconstructed and his intellectual stance, including his Hebraic learning and role in the Livornese Jewish community alongside his secular studies, is considered. Attias' involvement with the scientific culture of his days, his participation in the Republic of Letters, and his involvement with the Inquisition are investigated.