Noah about to be baptised. In medieval Christianity, Noah's three sons were generally considered as the founders of the populations of the three known continents, Japheth/Europe, Shem/Asia, and Ham/Africa, although a rarer variation held that they represented the three classes of medieval society – the priests (Shem), the warriors (Japheth), and the peasants (Ham). In medieval Christian thought, Ham was considered to be the ancestor of the people of black Africa. So, in racialist arguments, the curse of Ham became a justification for the slavery of the black races. Isaac Newton, in his religious works on the development of religion, wrote
Shem-Tob ben Isaac of Tortosa the four seasons of the year. According to the superstitions of his time, he believed in the influence of the planets on man; and accordingly an entire treatise deals with astrology. His translation was undertaken with the view of spreading medical science among the Jews, so that they might not be dependent on Christian physicians (comp. 'Ab. Zarah ii.2). The translation is not literal; and in this Shem-Ṭob departed from the method of the earlier translators. As to the various names of diseases and medicaments, Shem-Ṭob employs all that he could find in the Bible and in Talmudic literature. Others