Moses Hamon

Moses Hamon (c. 1490–1554), born in Granada, fled with his father Joseph to Constantinople, where he became personal physician to Suleiman the Magnificent, accompanying the sultan on every campaign. Versed in Arabic, Turkish and Persian, he patronised Jewish learning and printed Hebrew books in Constantinople as early as 1515, founding a school there.

After a blood libel against the Jews of Amasya around 1545, he persuaded Suleiman to reserve such charges for the royal court. In 1546 he paid for printing Persian and Arabic translations of the Pentateuch, and often settled disputes within the empire's Jewish communities.