The Arabic-Latin Gospels and the Context of Their Translation, or “Eleven Reasons for Learning Arabic”

This chapter analyzes how the study of Arabic was promoted in Rome as a tool for learning as well as for missionary activities around 1600. It further connects the first edition of the gospels in Arabic to the revisions of the Vulgate that led to the publication of the “Vulgata Sixtina” and “Vulgata Sixto-Clementina.” From 1584 to 1590/91 the Roman printing shop “Typographia Medicea” worked on an Arabic edition of the gospels, which was published in 1590 and was followed shortly by a bilingual edition in Arabic and Latin (1591). While operating as a business owned by Grand Duke Ferdinando de’ Medici, the printing shop was also closely connected to Vatican authorities and its activities were endorsed by a series of Popes. A congregation of Cardinals and their subordinates supervised the work on the Arabic gospels, and many of these same men were at the same time occupied with the revision of the Latin Vulgate. This chapter reveals connections between these two projects that have remained unexplored up to now and shows that the editors’ goals in promoting Arabic went well beyond missions.