IMMANUEL BEN SOLOMON OF ROME

(c. 1261- after 1328)

Italian poet and rabbinic commentator. He was born in Rome and lived in various cities in Italy. He wrote philosophical commentaries on the Bible, poetry and hymns; he introduced Spanish metrical forms into Italy and the sonnet form into Hebrew. HisMahberot Immanuelcontains poems on love, wine and friendship, riddles, epigrams, epistles, elegies, religious poems, and an account of a journey through Hell and Paradise. The piyyutYigdal, which is included in the daily prayerbook, is an adaptation of one of his poems in this work.