"The result of fifteen years of research, #Merchants of Knowledge tells the story of the #multilingual and #transregional #Jewish #scholars who acted as a conduit between the powers through their commercial and intellectual connections.
A key thing to remember about these “merchants of knowledge,” said Morrison, is that while they were scholars, they came from families who were also involved in commerce. These commercial links are described in the book as “the scaffolding of #intellectual exchange.”
Furthermore, stressed Morrison, this exchange of #knowledge was expansive and went beyond Copernicus and #astronomy to cover fields such as #philosophy, #Qabbalah, #astrology, #medicine, and other branches of #science. Furthermore, these #merchants of knowledge, who were largely #Romaniot #Jews originating from the #ByzantineEmpire, belonged neither entirely to the eastern #Ottoman culture nor to the western #European tradition."