Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, Talmudist, Halachist, physician, philosopher and communal leader, known in the Jewish world by the acronym "Rambam" and to the world at large as "Maimonides."
Bands of Muslim soldiers roamed the streets of Cordova, their curved swords clinging to their hips. In the darkness of the night, flames soared upwards from the great synagogue, formerly the center of Cordova's Jewish population.