Maimonides lived at the same time as Averroës and was born and raised in the same city- Córdova, Spain. He also came from a prominent family, in his case a Jewish one. At the age of 13, when the Almohads conquered Córdova and made life difficult for the Jews, he escaped with his family first to Morocco, then Palestine, and then finally to Fostat (old Cairo), Egypt. Like many prominent students of the time, he learned medicine, philosophy, and theology. His reputation as an extraordinary doctor earned him an appointment as royal physician to the king of Egypt. As a rabbi, his vast theological knowledge and philosophical agility earned him the position of nagid, head of the Egyptian Jewish community in Fostat.
