MATTITHIAH ḲARṬIN (known also as Ibn Ḥarṭon):
Scholar of the fourteenth century. He translated into Hebrew verse the "Moreh Nebukim" of Maimonides in 1363 (comp. Wolf, "Bibl. Hebr." i., No. 1682). His work seems to have been lost, unless this Mattithiah is identical with Mattithiah b. Shabbethai of Monte Politiano, a work of whose, in verse, is found in the library of the Vatican (No.258). Steinschneider, after having declared ("Cat. Bodl." col. 1897) that Mattithiah versified the "Morch Nebukim," says, in his "Jewish Literature" (p. 147), that his work is a commentary, in Hebrew verse, on the "Moreh." In the Vatican Library (MS. No. 298) there is a poem of Mattithiah's, entitled "Mebine'Am," which is an acrostic containing his name. Steinschneider thinks that this Mattithiah may be identified with the Italian liturgist called Mattithiah, whose three dirges are found in the library of Parma (MS. De Rossi No. 1205). Zunz ("Literaturgesch." p. 579) supposes that the latter was a poet of the sixteenth century.
- Steinschneider, Hebr. Uebers. p. 428.
